SKETCHING FROM NATURE. 



109 



mend ; it in short and easy, and wo may remark, for tho encou- 

 ragement of the timi-l, HUTU IK no nood to carry it to the extent 

 required by architect*. AH we proceed with our lessons, our 

 pupiU will easily find out for theuiHulvoH how much is requisite, 

 because, according to tho clan* of subjoot we are drawing, 

 occasions will present themselves which will make it necessary 

 for ua to rrfiT to those rules which are applicable to the cam, 

 and moot of which will bo found already given in tho previous 

 page* of tho POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



We will now direct tho attention of our pupils to Fig. 2, 

 which ia nothing more than an arrangement of straight lines in 

 various </iY- r/i./u.s, each of which, whatever tho direction may 

 be, is subject to Home especial rule for its treatment. The view 

 we have selected (and wo call it a 

 view, because we wish to talk about 

 it to our pupils aa though we were 

 actually out of doors in front of 

 it) is as practical and simple in wo 

 could soloct : it is taken from a 

 email street in one of our Yorkshire 

 towns. Wo have just said, " it is 

 an arrangement of straight lines in 

 various directions." Now lines in 

 the positions of those which com- 

 pose our subject arc so common, 

 that there will scarcely bo found an 

 out-door scone which does not con- 

 tain them; therefore the observa- 

 tions we are about to make will be 

 found not only applicable to thou- 

 sands of a similar description, but 

 to numerous others of a much more 

 ambitious character. If we were 

 drawing the interior of a cathedral, 

 we should have to repeat all that wo 

 have to say here, with as much 

 more as might be rendered neces- 

 sary by the different positions of 

 other lines found in the cathedral. 

 Our pupils must now refer back to 

 Lesson III. (Vol. I., page 71), and read 

 again the fixed principles relating to 

 retiring lines and planes, as we are 

 about to show how they may assist 

 ns to understand and draw the lines 

 of the houses before us. The in- 

 structions we speak of referred more 

 immediately to drawing from copies ; 

 wo will now make them applicable 

 to drawing from nature ; and if they 

 have been clearly understood in the 

 former case, we have an easy task 

 before us. Let us suppose that wo 

 are seated opposite the end of the 

 street, at about twenty or thirty 

 yards from the nearest building, 

 and that we hare looked it over 

 before we begin, and ascertained 

 which linos retire from, and which 

 are parallel with our position, and 

 have particularly observed tho 

 general arrangement and the cha- 

 racter of the details. Wo must first determine the line of 

 sight, or as it is sometimes called, the horizontal line, HL ; by 

 holding the pencil horizontally before tho eye, and noting tho 

 places where it cuts the lines of the subject, it will bo seen in 

 our view to cross the door on the right hand at about one-third 

 from the top. This is a very necessary step to take at the com- 

 mencement, and must not be omitted, when we know that all 

 h orizontal retiring lines have their vanishing points on the line of 

 ight. Our next consideration will be, if we find that half of 

 the subject upwards is above the eye (that is, the HL), and the 

 other half below it, then tho HL will be drawn across the 

 middle of the paper; if the HL is placed as in the view be- 

 fore us, at about two-thirds from the top of the subject, then 

 the line must bo drawn at two-thirds of tho distance from the 

 top to the bottom of the paper. Afterwards we must determine 

 the position of the point of sight : this is always opposite the eye 



on the line of tight. In general practice we must K> place our- 

 elves, when we are looking down a street, that the parallel 

 idea of the street shall be parallel to tho imaginary line called 

 the direction of tight, which goes from the eye to the PS La 

 other words, the sides of the street munt retire at right angle* 

 with our position. Fig. 3 is a plan representing our position, 

 or station point at a; 6 the point of sight opposite the eye ; d c 

 the sides of the street which, when parallel with each ether, and 

 also when they retire directly, or at a right angle from ns, hare 

 the PB (point of sight) for their vanishing point; tho aides 

 e and / are parallel with our position, and consequently are 

 drawn across the picture. In our view (Fig. 2) P8 is the point 

 of sight, and all the lines of the buildings on the right vanish at 

 it viz., the eaves of the roof, the 

 tops and bottoms of the windows, 

 the tops of the doors, the foundation 

 line, and the courses of the bricks, 

 all these lines being parallel with 

 each other, and at right angles with 

 our position. The lines of the build' 

 ing on the left vanish at vp 1 , be- 

 cause they do not retire in the same 

 direction, the two sides of the street 

 in this case not being parallel. 



It is not a difficult matter to de- 

 termine precisely where the point oj 

 sight is to be found. If the pupil 

 will do as we recommended in the 

 last lesson that is, hold his pencil 

 between his eye and one of the 

 upper retiring lines, say the eaves, 

 so that the line of the eaves shall 

 coincide with, or be made apparently 

 to lie upon the length of the pencil, 

 and when thus placed, carry his eye 

 downwards along the pencil until it 

 comes to the line of sight he will 

 find the pencil directed to the point 

 opposite the eye. This can be proved 

 by placing the pencil upon another 

 line which is parallel to the eaves, 

 say the foundation line of the wall ; 

 the pencil thus placed will point in 

 the same direction, and it would do> 

 the same if it be made to coincide 

 with the tops of the doors, or with 

 any othei lines that may be parallel 

 with them. There is another way 

 of proving that the point of sight 

 is the vanishing point for lines going 

 off at a right angle with our position r 

 if we hold out our arm horizontally, 

 and place it in a parallel position 

 with the retiring side of the street; 

 we shall find we are pointing to the 

 point of sight. Let the pupil try 

 this, which he can do in a room, if 

 ho places himself in such a position, 

 that on looking before him the 

 direction of sight shall be parallel 

 to the sides of the room on the 

 right hand and the left (see Fig. 

 3). We shall have to refer to this again when we place 

 ourselves before a subject in which there is a building having 

 an angle towards us, and not a side; we especially request 

 our pupils to read again Lessons in Drawing, III. and IV., 

 Vol. I., pages 72, 103. The first line that the pupil must 

 mark in (we do not advise him to dratc any lines until he has 

 first determined the places of all the principal ones) will be the 

 one nearest the PS. Let this bo the course of procedure in all 

 cases, that is, when arranging the positions of the lines he must 

 begin from the point of sight, and as he passes on, if to the right, 

 mark the place for each line which crosses the line of sight aa 

 he comes to it, then take up those lines on the left, commencing 

 from the PS, and treat them in the same way ; then he must 

 determine the heights of the perpendicular lines drawn through 

 these points of position. He must exercise his judgment in this 

 matter by the comparison of widths and heights iu the original. 



