233 : 
H.EKAM1C STUDIO 
1 4^§^ 
[BRUSH WORK 
^ . W. P. Jervisiand FlH^Rhead 
LESSON VIII. FIGURES 
THE illustrations to this lesson are intended only as a few 
sini]>le examples to show the different methods of drawing 
with the brush. It is well known what wonderful figure 
drawings the Japanese produce on a few strokes. However 
few these may be, however broad and sketchy they are, their 
figures always convey the idea of life and motion. This goes 
to prove their strict observance of nature. You are in a fair 
way to know a foreign language when you think in that lan- 
guage. The Japanese with wonderful dexterity can draw 
about as fast as they can think, and they think what they 
draw. Keep your e3^cs open and observe carefully, for other- 
wise it is impossible to retain impressions of things seen during 
the day and equally impossible to draw them. Ask any 
artist friend, or try yourself, to draw a person walking. . It 
will be found no siraj^le matter to correctly indicate the swing 
of the body, the poise of the head, the positioii of the arms, 
if you have not noticed very carefully indeed, these by no 
means little details. It is all a question of the old story of 
Eyes and no Ej'es, or the sense of seeing. A Japanese will 
jot the walking figure down almost as quickly as j^ou can 
sign your name and one shall be as legible as the other. Nos. 
2, 3 and 4 are examples in point; Nos. 6 and 7 are good practice 
for facial subjects. The other examples are merely suggestions. 
The Sea Nymph panel, if done in underglaze colors, 
would look well with a background of light green with the 
side panels in purple and black lettering. The figure should 
be a paler green than the background; the tail a dark warm 
green. The pebbles should be in russet brown; stems of 
leaves in crimson, the leaves themselves in a warm dark 
green. The hair should be light red and the cymbals in a rich 
j-ellow, the whole panel being outlined with a strong black 
line. The stibject is also suitable for pj^rography. 
Primarily intended to encourage the study of form and to 
express the same in the easiest possible method, with a brush, 
more particularly in the 5-oung, these notes have been written 
with an entire alDsence of technical terms and it is hoped with a 
simpleness and directness that all may understand. There is 
much more to teach and to be learned about brush work 
than is even hinted at in these primary lessons, but if the 
student has carefulty observed the examples and instructions 
and if moreover he has supplemented these exami)les by 
others made bj' himself, we thinly a certain facultj^ of expressing 
his thoughts will have been obtained, impossible under any 
other sj^stem of tuition. It would be interesting to see ex- 
amples of what has been acquired, especially from those who 
had no previous knowledge of drawing. 
