_COMPARISON OF PROCESSES._
The method of drawing in line referred to in the two preceding chapters
may be regarded as traditional and of the normal character, and we shall
next take under consideration various other methods of drawing equally
suitable for reproduction by line process.
In the meantime, we will see how the processes for producing blocks in
relief may be applied and see by a few examples how the results compare.
With the artist, the Swelled Gelatine process will probably rank as
first favourite, and this because it is less exacting in its
requirements.
Although only rendering the drawing in black and white, it is certainly
more sympathetic, and does to some extent recognise the weaker
impression of a grey line. By this process many ordinary black and white
drawings, made without any regard for the demands of the process man,
reproduce well, but would be impossible by the cheaper zinc etching;
moreover, it is admirably suited to reproduce drawings in which a
mixture of pen and pencil has been employed, an example of which will be
given later.
[Illustration: MOONLIGHT.
_Example of medium tint._ (_Original 4 x 7._)]
The artist or draughtsman is not, however, usually master of the
situation; the printer and publisher will use the cheaper methods, to
suit which we must adopt, to a certain degree, a conventional manner. If
a drawing be seriously studied, it is often surprising how much of the
feeling of the draughtsman is conveyed to us through the strokes of his
pen or pencil, and it is just this feeling which the Gelatine process
preserves in great measure, but which the commoner methods sift out and
give us a mere mechanical translation. Still, by suiting ourselves to
these more ordinary processes, much may be done to compensate for the
lack of sympathy which they display.
I have given (pp. 82, 83) two reproductions from the identical drawing,
in order that comparison may be made.
The Bitumen process is characterised by the crude, sincere, line given,
ignoring many finer lines, and bringing others up black and hard.
The Albumen process is the one by which probably the greatest number of
blocks are made in this country, and, when carried to a high degree of
perfection, yields some very pleasing results which, though inferior to
swelled Gelatine, are better than the Bitumen. Ordinarily, however,
there is not very much to choose between these two, and a very great
number of examples would have to be examined in order to properly
exhibit the differences.
The comparison of results by these three processes is a subject which
has given rise to some controversy. The artist, who has also usually
been the author in this matter, has pronounced favourably for the
swelled gelatine; but in this the process expert is in disagreement.
After comparing carefully a variety of results, I am inclined to think
that perhaps too much importance is attached to the supposed advantages
of the swelled gelatine, and two powerful contributories to success are
not sufficiently considered. Swelled gelatine is not used for ordinary
newspaper work, and is charged at a much higher rate; and for this
reason, probably, greater care is taken in the block-making, and, being
used in higher class publications, it is more carefully printed from
than is possible in the vast majority of cases when the cheaper blocks
are used. The use of zinc blocks in cheap, rapidly printed publications
probably prohibits the process having full justice done to it, and we
are apt to judge its possibilities by the examples we too often see.
Cheapness, short time, and rapid printing are factors calculated to
spoil the reputation of any process. If bitumen and albumen could
receive the same amount of care and attention as is customarily bestowed
upon the more expensive swelled gelatine, there seems little reason why
results should not be equal.
[Illustration: PEN DRAWING.
_Three different shading media._ (_Original 8 x 5-3/4._)]
[Illustration: UNTOUCHED LINE BLOCK.
(_Original 7 x 6._)]
In considering the application of such various methods, we are brought
to that somewhat singular contest which seems to exist in every sphere
of work wherein art is concerned, it is the disagreement and
misunderstanding which exists between artist and craftsman.
The enterprising endeavour of the process-block maker is to perfect his
process to produce a clean, bright, faultless piece of technical work; a
process which shall produce from all kinds of originals an equally
brilliant print, so that, when he is called to reproduce a special
effect which the artist may desire, he seems incapable of understanding
as desirable anything which falls short of his own arbitrary standard.
It is as though the artist's colourman said to the painter, you must
varnish all your picture so as to show the full richness and gloss of
the colours, no matter whether the painter reckoned on some degree of
dulness to give a certain effect.
[Illustration: LINE BLOCK LIGHTENED BY ROULETTE.
(_Original 7 x 6._)]
So the material maker will aim at supplying canvas or board of as fine
and smooth a surface as possible, and it is at first difficult to
persuade him that the artist is right in desiring a coarse, rough
surface. The process man and material maker are ever on the side of
polish, brilliancy, and fineness.
Execution and craft invariably seem to be at war with feeling and art,
and I would strongly caution my reader against being too much concerned
about the relative virtues of various processes, or too much prejudiced
by what others may have to say. Whatever your artist friend may advise
is pretty certain to be discounted by your block-maker; and in course of
time, and after experience, you will probably form your own individual
opinion, which will be at variance with both.
It is at this stage that more particular mention may be made of the use
of the _roulette_ to correct by hand, on the zinc block, the
misinterpretations of the process. The roulette consists of a
sharp-edged toothed wheel of minute proportions, which is passed
backwards and forwards across lines which have come up too black, thus
breaking such lines into tiny dots, which therefore print greyer.
It is well to know that such a revision of the block, as first turned
out, is possible, and we shall sometimes be glad to make use of it.
Still, as before pointed out, such hand-work must not be relied upon.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]