10. As this exercise in shading is very tiresome, it will be well to
vary it by proceeding with another at the same time. The power of
shading rightly depends mainly on lightness of hand and keenness of
sight; but there are other qualities required in drawing, dependent not
merely on lightness, but steadiness of hand; and the eye, to be perfect
in its power, must be made accurate as well as keen, and not only see
shrewdly, but measure justly.
11. Possess yourself therefore of any cheap work on botany containing
_outline_ plates of leaves and flowers, it does not matter whether bad
or good: Baxter's British Flowering Plants is quite good enough. Copy
any of the simplest outlines, first with a soft pencil, following it, by
the eye, as nearly as you can; if it does not look right in proportions,
rub out and correct it, always by the eye, till you think it is right:
when you have got it to your mind, lay tracing-paper on the book; on
this paper trace the outline you have been copying, and apply it to your
own; and having thus ascertained the faults, correct them all
patiently, till you have got it as nearly accurate as may be. Work with
a very soft pencil, and do not rub out so hard[2] as to spoil the
surface of your paper; never mind how dirty the paper gets, but do not
roughen it; and let the false outlines alone where they do not really
interfere with the true one. It is a good thing to accustom yourself to
hew and shape your drawing out of a dirty piece of paper. When you have
got it as right as you can, take a quill pen, not very fine at the
point; rest your hand on a book about an inch and a half thick, so as to
hold the pen long; and go over your pencil outline with ink, raising
your pen point as seldom as possible, and never leaning more heavily on
one part of the line than on another. In most outline drawings of the
present day, parts of the curves are thickened to give an effect of
shade; all such outlines are bad, but they will serve well enough for
your exercises, provided you do not imitate this character: it is
better, however, if you can, to choose a book of pure outlines. It does
not in the least matter whether your pen outline be thin or thick; but
it matters greatly that it should be _equal_, not heavier in one place
than in another. The power to be obtained is that of drawing an even
line slowly and in any direction; all dashing lines, or approximations
to penmanship, are bad. The pen should, as it were, walk slowly over the
ground, and you should be able at any moment to stop it, or to turn it
in any other direction, like a well-managed horse.
12. As soon as you can copy every curve _slowly_ and accurately, you
have made satisfactory progress; but you will find the difficulty is in
the slowness. It is easy to draw what appears to be a good line with a
sweep of the hand, or with what is called freedom;[3] the real
difficulty and masterliness is in never letting the hand _be_ free, but
keeping it under entire control at every part of the line.