DRAWING. 



In outlining, the line must be carefully varied 

 in strength, otherwise it will appear hard. Those 

 lines and portions of lines next to the light should 

 be lighter than those away from it ; thus giving 

 variety to the general effect, and assisting the 

 expression of character at the same time. 



The system of dotting the spaces before drawing 

 the lines, although essential when beginning to 

 draw, may be dispensed with when the eye has 

 been in some measure trained to judge of dis- 

 tances relatively. The system of blocking, or 

 sketching-in, may then be resorted to. This 

 consists in first drawing-in lightly, with a soft 

 pencil, the leading features and general forms 

 only of the subject. These, although mere indica- 

 tions, should be extremely correct, because the 

 subsequent filling up and making out of parts de- 

 pend entirely on their being properly allocated. 



Before beginning to draw-in firmly, the pre- 

 liminary sketching-in should be rubbed nearly 

 out with bread-crumbs, leaving merely enough 

 to guide the subsequent drawing; otherwise, the 

 lines would give a confused appearance to the work. 



When the subject is complicated by having a 

 number of parts, the plan of division and subdi- 

 vision should be resorted to, by finding the centre 

 in the copy, and noting what occurs there ; and 

 again dividing the parts, and noting what occurs j 

 at each of the divisions, the most complicated sub- 

 ject becomes merely a collection of parts, each in 

 itself simple enough, and, as a whole, merely a 

 matter of time and patience. 



LIGHT AND SHADE. 



Those parts of a drawing that are exposed to 

 the direct rays of the sun are termed the lights, 

 and, as a whole, are termed the light. Those 

 portions which, from their position, do not receive 

 these rays, are termed shadows, and, collectively, 

 are termed the shade; and it is quite common to 

 speak of the relative amount of light or shade a 

 drawing may possess. 



Surfaces in light vary in brilliancy according 

 to the angle they present to the sun's rays : those 

 at right angles that is, placed directly across 

 receive them in their fullest intensity ; and those 

 at an angle that is, those that receive the rays 

 sloping obtain a weaker light in proportion to 

 the angle they present. This may be seen by a 

 very simple experiment. If a book be laid open 

 flat on a table, and one of the leaves raised 

 straight up at right angles, it will be observed that 

 it receives the light much stronger than the flat 

 page. If this leaf is laid gradually backward, 

 sloping more and more, it will receive less and less 

 light, until it becomes flat like the other, when, of 

 course, they are illumined both alike. And if the 

 page that originally lay flat, be gradually raised 

 up, it will get darker and darker, until it reaches 

 the same slope as the rays of light, when it then 

 begins to be in positive shade, and will cast a 

 shadow on the opposite page, which will be 

 darker than the shaded side of the leaf, because 

 the leaf exposed to the light throws back reflected 

 light, and, to a certain extent, lights up the shaded 

 leaf ; but the cast shadow on the lighted leaf has 

 no such reflection, and is consequently darker. 



What is true in this case, is true in all If the 

 wall of a cottage is placed directly opposite the 

 sun's rays, it is lighted up as high as it pos- 



sibly can be ; but if placed at an angle, it will be 

 lighted only in proportion to the inclination of its 

 surface. 



Fig. 4 represents an octagonal block of stone. 

 It will be observed that its peculiar form is ex- 

 pressed principally by the difference in illumina- 

 tion of the surface exposed to the light. In cir- 

 cular objects, such as the fragment of a pillar 

 indicated in fig. 5, the same effect will be ob- 

 served, the only difference being that the transi- 

 tion from light to shade is gradual A vertical 



Fig. 4. 



Fig- 5- 



strip of light will be noticed on that part directly 

 opposed to the sun's rays ; this is gradually toned 

 down as the surface recedes either towards the 

 right or left. The gray tint on the left is useful 

 in giving distinctness to the outline on that side ; 

 and that on the right in connecting the light with 

 the shadow. The shadow will be observed to be 

 equally varied and softened ; it also has its strip, 

 but of intensest shade : this is most decided on 

 that part next the light, so as to form a distinct 

 line. This is always the case with rounded forms. 

 The most intense portion of the shadow begins 

 at that part where the rays cease to reach the 

 surface ; the remaining portion of the shadow 

 towards the right is illumined by reflected light, 

 assisting still further the expression of the circular 

 form. The cast shadow will be observed to be 

 much darker than any portion of the pillar itself, 

 and is useful in giving spirit and effect to the 

 whole. The same is true of all cast shadows : 

 they are generally small, and afford those 

 piquant, sharp, dark touches so much valued in 

 drawing. 



Light has much to do with the textures in 

 drawing, such as those of ground-walls and roofs. 

 When a circular tower, as in fig. 6,. is illumined, 

 that portion immediately opposed to the rays 

 exhibits scarcely any texture, however rough the 

 wall may really be. The reason is obvious : the 

 light penetrates every crevice, and any projec- 

 tions that may occur have no shadows ; but as 

 soon as the surface begins to round off from the 

 light, the roughness begins to be seen. By the 

 crevices beginning to receive less light, these 

 become more and more obvious, till midway 

 between the high light and the deep strip of 



643 



