These lectures were delivered in the Slade School, University College,
at the request and suggestion of Professor F. Brown, and, I believe,
were the first, or among the first, serious attempts in this country
to point out all the various methods of making and reproducing
drawings for book and newspaper illustration.
Since they were first delivered, now some three winters ago, courses
of lectures on illustration, and classes for instruction in drawing
and engraving have been started in almost all art schools.
It seemed to me, therefore, that a small manual on the subject might
be useful.
There is no attempt in this book to define Art, or even to tell the
student how to draw; that he learns in his ordinary school work. Still
less is there any endeavour to dictate, or even suggest, any especial
style, or manner of handling, or technique.
But illustration is, up to a certain point, a mechanical craft, which
must be learned, and can be learned, by any one. And ignorance of the
requirements and absolute necessities are evident all around us.
The book, therefore, might rather be described as a series of tips or
hints--to put it on as low a plane as possible--the result of
practical experience, which should enable the student to make his
drawings so that they will produce a good effect on the printed page;
but, first of all, he must be able to make the drawing well. No one
can teach him that; but he can be taught what materials he should use,
where he can get them, and how he should employ them. That is all I
have tried to do.
As I have said in this book repeatedly, processes are discovered and
perfected almost daily. Since these lectures were last given, the
method of etching zinc and copper half-tone blocks has been entirely
revolutionised. Now, there is no inking up of plates; the photograph
on the metal serves as a protecting and acid-resisting ground, and the
biting is done as simply as in ordinary etching; though, of course, it
is the lines or dots which are left in relief.
Possibly before the book is out, even greater improvements and
developments may be made.
Nor have I attempted to describe all the tricks, dodges, and clever
schemes employed in newspaper offices for making blocks from
photographs, or for the rapid reproduction of sketches, such as
drawing on lithographic transfer paper, making photographic
enlargements on fugitive prints. All are most useful and valuable in
their way, but not exactly what one would tell a student to do. If he
becomes an illustrator he will learn these things fast enough.
As the book is passing through the press Mr. W. Lewis Fraser, the art
manager of "The Century" magazine, writes me that he thinks it "a good
practical book, likely to be of much use to the young illustrator, and
save the art editor many a pang and many a sorrow." I hope so, and it
is with this hope that the book is published.
JOSEPH PENNELL.
London, _Oct., 1895_.