VALUES
[Side note: _The Color Scheme_]
After the subject has been mapped out in pencil, and before beginning
the pen work, we have to consider and determine the proper disposition
of the Color. By "color" is meant, in this connection, the gamut of
values from black to white, as indicated in Fig. 23. The success
or failure of the drawing will largely depend upon the disposition
of these elements, the quality of the technique being a matter
of secondary concern. Beauty of line and texture will not redeem
a drawing in which the values are badly disposed, for upon them
we depend for the effect of unity, or the pictorial quality. If
the values are scattered or patchy the drawing will not focus to
any central point of interest, and there will be no unity in the
result.
[Illustration: FIG. 23 C. D. M.]
There are certain general laws by which color may be pleasingly
disposed, but it must be borne in mind that it ought to be disposed
naturally as well. By a "natural" scheme of color, I mean one which
is consistent with a natural effect of light and shade. Now the
gradation from black to white, for example, is a pleasing scheme,
as may be observed in Fig. 24, yet the effect is unnatural, since
the sky is black. In a purely decorative illustration like this,
however, such logic need not be considered.
[Illustration: FIG. 24 D. A. GREGG]
[Side note: _Principality in the Color-Scheme_]
Since, as I said before, color is the factor which makes for the
unity of the result, the first principle to be regarded in its
arrangement is that of Principality,--there must be some dominant
note in the rendering. There should not, for instance, be two principal
dark spots of equal value in the same drawing, nor two equally
prominent areas of white. The Vierge drawing, Fig. 25, and that
by Mr. Pennell, Fig. 5, are no exceptions to this rule; the black
figure of the old man counting as one note in the former, as do
the dark arches of the bridge in the latter. The work of both these
artists is eminently worthy of study for the knowing manner in
which they dispose their values.
[Illustration: FIG. 25 DANIEL VIERGE]
[Side note: _Variety_]
The next thing to be sought is Variety. Too obvious or positive a
scheme, while possibly not unsuitable for a conventional decorative
drawing, may not be well adapted to a perspective subject. The
large color areas should be echoed by smaller ones throughout the
picture. Take, for example, the Vierge drawing shown in Fig. 26.
Observe how the mass of shadow is relieved by the two light holes
seen through the inn door. Without this repetition of the white the
drawing would lose much of its character. In Rico's drawing, Fig.
11, a tiny white spot in the shadow cast over the street would, I
venture to think, be helpful, beautifully clear as it is; and the
black area at the end of the wall seems a defect as it competes
in value with the dark figure.
[Illustration: FIG. 26 DANIEL VIERGE]
[Side note: _Breadth of Effect_]
Lastly, Breadth of Effect has to be considered. It is requisite
that, however numerous the tones are (and they should not be too
numerous), the general effect should be simple and homogeneous. The
color must count together broadly, and not be cut up into patches.
[Illustration: FIG. 27 HARRY FENN]
It is important to remember that the gamut from black to white is
a short one for the pen. One need only try to faithfully render
the high lights of an ordinary table glass set against a gray
background, to be assured of its limitations in this respect. To
represent even approximately the subtle values would require so
much ink that nothing short of a positively black background would
suffice to give a semblance of the delicate transparent effect of
the glass as a whole. The gray background would, therefore, be
lost, and if a really black object were also part of the picture
it could not be represented at all. Observe, in Fig. 27, how just
such a problem has been worked out by Mr. Harry Fenn.
It will be manifest that the student must learn to think of things
in their broad relation. To be specific,--in the example just
considered, in order to introduce a black object the scheme of
color would have needed broadening so that the gray background
could be given its proper value, thus demanding that the elaborate
values of the glass be ignored, and just enough suggested to give
the general effect. This reasoning would equally apply were the
light object, instead of a glass, something of intricate design,
presenting positive shadows. Just so much of such a design should
be rendered as not to darken the object below its proper relative
value as a whole. In this faculty of suggesting things without
literally rendering them consists the subtlety of pen drawing.
It may be said, therefore, that large light areas resulting from the
necessary elimination of values are characteristic of pen drawing.
The degree of such elimination depends, of course, upon the character
of the subject, this being entirely a matter of relation. The more
black there is in a drawing the greater the number of values that can
be represented. Generally speaking, three or four are all that can be
managed, and the beginner had better get along with three,--black,
half-tone, and white.
[Illustration: FIG. 28 REGINALD BIRCH]
[Side note: _Various Color-Schemes_]
While it is true that every subject is likely to contain some motive
or suggestion for its appropriate color-scheme, it still holds that,
many times, and especially in those cases where the introduction
of foreground features at considerable scale is necessary for the
interest of the picture, an artificial arrangement has to be devised.
It is well, therefore, to be acquainted with the possibilities of
certain color combinations. The most brilliant effect in black
and white drawing is that obtained by placing the prominent black
against a white area surrounded by gray. The white shows whiter
because of the gray around it, so that the contrast of the black
against it is extremely vigorous and telling. This may be said to
be the illustrator's _tour de force_. We have it illustrated by
Mr. Reginald Birch's drawing, Fig. 28. Observe how the contrast
of black and white is framed in by the gray made up of the sky,
the left side of the building, the horse, and the knight. In the
drawing by Mr. Pennell, Fig. 29, we have the same scheme of color.
Notice how the trees are darkest just where they are required to
tell most strongly against the white in the centre of the picture.
An admirable illustration of the effectiveness of this color-scheme
is shown in the "Becket" poster by the "Beggarstaff Brothers,"
Fig. 69. Another scheme is to have the principal black in the gray
area, as in the Vierge drawing, Fig. 26 and in Rico's sketch, Fig.
11.
[Illustration: FIG. 29 JOSEPH PENNELL]
[Illustration: FIG. 30 B. G. GOODHUE]
[Illustration: FIG. 31 JOSEPH PENNELL]
Still another and a more restful scheme is the actual gradation
of color. This gradation, from black to white, wherein the white
occupies the centre of the picture, is to be noted in Fig. 20.
Observe how the dark side of the foreground tree tells against the
light side of the one beyond, which, in its turn, is yet so strongly
shaded as to count brilliantly against the white building. Still
again, in Mr. Goodhue's drawing, Fig. 30, note how the transition
from the black tree on the left to the white building is pleasingly
softened by the gray shadow. Notice, too, how the brilliancy of
the drawing is heightened by the gradual emphasis on the shadows
and the openings as they approach the centre of the picture. Yet
another example of this color-scheme is the drawing by Mr. Gregg,
Fig. 50. The gradation here is from the top of the picture downwards.
The sketch of the coster women by Mr. Pennell, Fig. 31, shows this
gradation reversed.
The drawing of the hansom cab, Fig. 32, by Mr. Raven Hill, illustrates
a very strong color-scheme,--gray and white separated by black,
the gray moderating the black on the upper side, leaving it to
tell strongly against the white below. Notice how luminous is this
same relation of color where it occurs in the Venetian subject by
Rico, Fig. 14. The shadow on the water qualifies the blackness
of the gondola below, permitting a brilliant contrast with the
white walls of the building above.
It is interesting to observe how Vierge and Pennell, but chiefly the
former, very often depend for their grays merely upon the delicate
tone resulting from the rendering of form and of direct shadow,
without any local color. This may be seen in the Vierge drawing,
Fig. 33. Observe in this, as a consequence, how brilliantly the
tiny black counts in the little figure in the centre. Notice, too,
in the drawing of the soldiers by Jeanniot, Fig. 34, that there
is very little black; and yet see how brilliant is the effect,
owing largely to the figures being permitted to stand out against
a white ground in which nothing is indicated but the sky-line of
the large building in the distance.
[Illustration: FIG. 32 L. RAVEN HILL]
[Illustration: FIG. 33 DANIEL VIERGE]
[Illustration: FIG. 34 P. G. JEANNIOT]