The Bonnat portrait of Cogniet becomes p_Drawing for Printers. A practical treatise on the art of designing and illustrating in connection with typography. Containing complete instruction, fully illustrated, concerning the art of drawing, for the beginner as well as the more advanced student.

this view point, e. g., practice for the sake of observation. It

is executed by a process of no value to the printer of the country

newspaper, but there is food for thought in the way the form is brought

out by the juxtaposition of masses of light and dark that are not

lines. Ordinarily we do not recommend to the printer to experiment with

such effects, but rather to confine himself to outline or silhouette,

but the value of the white-line will be considered in connection with

wood engraving, and any practice in drawing from nature in light masses

will help you appreciate the judicious use of white-line in wood

engraving, or strong contrasts of white and black in any medium. We

publish, for example, two very different kinds of drawing as companions

to the Bonnat. One in which Verdyen has obtained an effect of the

brilliancy of fireworks by scratching out whites from a very black

drawing. Similar effects may be got with great ease in wood engraving.

A still more clear effect of light is got in the Bonnard tailpiece,

where, by simply breaking the window sash with the light fold of a

curtain, he makes us feel the color of the curtain from the top to the

bottom of the picture. We should advise you to practice in any medium,

endeavoring to get similar effects, as they are most valuable in saving

a drawing from monotony. In the Brun drawing, for example, no casual

observer■

{93} [Illustration: A FETE AT BRUSSELS.

Drawn by Verdyen, probably on ruled scratch-board (see tones in the

sky), with crayon, in sky, and with brush, in figures; the plate very

much retouched by hand.]

■{94} would appreciate the white pillars, and an untrained draftsman

would be likely to cover them with tones, but as a matter of fact they

help immensely to give variety to the drawing. In an architectural

exhibition we are frequently tired by the monotony of similar drawings

where the draftsmen, in their desire to render texture and local color,

cover such surfaces with lines meant to represent stone, brick or

mortar.

We would remark also that just as our own repetition of the Watts

analysis apropos of the Bonnard’s Choudieu portrait was intentional,

so the apparent conglomeration of portrait studies, landscapes and

buildings is not the result of careless arrangement on our part, but

is intentional, that it may be shown that a certain principle in

drawing, studied from one object, may be applied to any other. If you

draw a friend’s face by lamplight and pick out the lights upon it and

his cuff, as in the Bonnat Cogniet, you will be prepared to pick out

similar lights on portions of buildings as in the pillars in the Brun

drawing; or on window curtain folds as in Bonnard’s tailpiece.

It may be interesting to printers for us to narrate the difficulty of

preparing a proper legend for the Choudieu. It was a tailpiece to an

article in a French magazine, and bore no legend. To all appearances it

was the portrait of one Mr. Dangers, but knowing how liberal the French

are in their use of cognomens, we took the precaution to investigate. A

Frenchman may be born Smith, but in manhood is known to the public by

one or a dozen other names. He may marry Miss Brown, and, therefore,

parade as Mr. Brown; his Uncle Jones■

{95} [Illustration: TAILPIECE, BY PIERRE BONNARD.]

■{96} may leave him money, so he publishes his articles under the

name of Jones; he was born in the city of Boston, so he signs himself

_de_ Boston, meaning _of_, or _from_, Boston. Under this name he

paints his first picture, but the town council does not buy his works

as he hoped it would, and the council of Albany does, so he discards

“de Boston” and, in his gratitude, he afterward signs his canvases

d’Albany (abbreviation of _de_ Albany). But now as to Christian names.

Our friend Smith was, perhaps, named by his father Henry, but at

his baptism there were added the names of Lewis and Charles and his

mother’s name, Black. Then, when at the age of fifteen he comes to be

confirmed, he takes the name of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, plus Mary.

And with any of his surnyms he may at any time combine any two or half

a dozen of these pronyms. So that a French biographical dictionary is

one-half biography and one-half cross-reference. Thus—_Brown_, see

_Jones_; _Black_, see _White_.

Knowing this, we referred to the periodical from which this was cut,

and found it was a tailpiece to an article signed Pierre Réné Choudieu.

Ah! this gave us a clue; but, who then was Dangers? Was Choudieu a

sculptor as well as a writer, and was this a medallion portrait by

him of Dangers? Or was it a portrait of Choudieu by a draftsman named

Dangers? The artists were not mentioned in the index nor on any page

in the body of the magazine, but on the title-page we found “Dessins

de Pierre Bonnard,” meaning that the drawings in the magazine were by

one artist—Pierre Bonnard. Therefore, D’Angers could not have been the

artist, so■

{97} [Illustration: AT THE CAFÉ APHRODITE.

Pen Drawing by A. Brun.]

{98} [Illustration: Example of French Art School studies, from plates

published under the direction of Bargue and Gérôme, showing method of

blocking in a cast, both outline and shadows.]

{99} [Illustration: Example of French Art School studies, from plates

published under the direction of Bargue and Gérôme, showing method of

shading in simple tones without much reflected light or half-tones.]

■{100} we must search further; this we did, and luckily, in the back

of the magazine, found the advertisement of a series of articles

by Pierre Choudieu, and one of the paragraphs in it read, “Pierre

Réné Choudieu, naquit a Angers,” etc. This translated meant that he,

Choudieu, was _born at_ Angers, so that we fathomed our problem at

last, and give the result under the cut.

The foot plates are identical in treatment with the plates of hands

given on pages 66 and 67. The reader should compare these plates, that

he may understand that a method may be learned from the drawing of one

object and applied to the drawing of a thousand other objects. You must

not expect that in a brief treatise of this kind we can give specimens

of every object that the printer may have occasion to draw—we should

have to publish an encyclopædia for that—but we do purpose to give

_methods_ which will enable him to draw every kind of tangible object

with light and shade upon it. These hands and feet studies may be used

as guides to show how any such object may be “modeled,” i. e., shaded

so that the object seems to be solid.

{101} CHAPTER XI.

MORE ABOUT THE NASO-LABIAL LINE — IT SUGGESTS OLD AGE — ABSENT IN

YOUTH — DRAWING NOT ARBITRARY — LINES INTRODUCED BECAUSE THEY ARE IN

NATURE — LINES MADE BY THE ORBICULAR MUSCLE AND THE CROW’S FEET (THESE

SUGGESTIVE OF OLD AGE) — LINE AT THE CORNER OF THE MOUTH — LINES MADE

BY THE FRONTAL MUSCLE — SUGGESTIVE OF OLD AGE OR OF PASSION — MUCH USED

BY THE ACTOR.

Let us harp a little longer upon the naso-labial line. We reproduce

two very beautiful drawings by Grellet, the one of a young girl, the

other of an old man. How suggestive is the old man’s head because of

the strong marking of the naso-labial line. Do you not realize how

easily you could draw this line, and the whole head for that matter, in

the manner of the Bonnard Choudieu? But valuable as it is by itself,

how much more suggestive in connection with the young girl’s head,

where the naso-labial line is hardly perceptible. This is a lesson in

negation, at the value of which we have hinted so often. It is your

business to learn when to put in a line, but equally your business to

learn when to leave it out. Therefore we give with this chapter some

heads of younger persons, that you may learn this very lesson. Take the

Fred Walker head. How like the Watts drawing, so far as its treatment

goes; but the naso-labial line is missing. What is the result?■

{102} [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF FRED WALKER.

Pen drawing by E. G. T.

Note entire absence of naso-labial line, and of line about orbicular

muscles. Absence of these lines indicate youth. Contrast with the Watts

and Choudieu heads, where strong markings are prominent because of

advanced age of the subjects.]

■{103} Why, we have the characteristics of a younger man. In this

little comparison you have the foundation of all art study. Drawing is

not arbitrary; we do not introduce lines into a face simply because

this artist or that artist did so; we introduce them because their

counterpart is found in nature. It is not in the province of these

papers, as we have said, to tell the printer how he should draw every

object he may attempt to delineate—a waste-paper basket, the head of a

cow, a printing press, or a hat. But we can give him hints which will

help him to observe for himself the characteristics of any object under

the sun which he may wish to draw. If he finds around the mouth of a

cow more pronounced lines than in a calf, he must put them in. If in

one trash basket the wickerwork runs upward with each line parallel,

he must draw it by perpendicular parallel lines, while in another one

the wickerwork is interwoven diagonally and he must represent it by

diagonal lines. In a coat sleeve, the arm hanging down, there are but

few cross-folds, so he introduces few cross-lines into a sketch of such

a sleeve, but when the arm is bent many more folds occur at the elbow

and he therefore introduces more cross-lines in his drawing of the

sleeve. This is about all there is to the science of drawing.

Now let us proceed a little further. In the Watts we notice two or

three lines below the lower eyelid; these we find also in the Gaillard,

but they are absent in the Donatello Young Girl’s Head by Grellet; they

are very perceptible in the Brontolone. Here we have to do with another

muscle. In the human head the eye is■

{104} [Illustration: LITHOGRAPH CRAYON DRAWING.

From bust of a young girl by Donatello, by F. Grellet.

Note absence of strong marking of naso-labial line, the absence of

line at the angle of the lips, and of orbicular muscles. The absence

of these markings indicates youth. To be compared with the Lefebvre

drawing.]

■{105} set in a cavity in the skull called the orbital orifice,

and in a very old person the lower edge of this cavity is sometimes

perceptible under the flesh, and occasions a line in an artist’s

drawing. But the main cause for the lines around the edge of an eye

is that the eye is surrounded by a soft muscle, which is called the

orbicular muscle. The part of this muscle which forms the eyelid is

called the palpebral part; the part above the eyelid, the superior

orbital orbicular; and the part below the lower eyelid, the inferior

orbital orbicular. At the outer corner of the eye, as the two parts

come together, they show in an old person’s face habitually, and in a

child’s face laughter creates radiating lines called crow’s-feet. These

lines called the crow’s-feet, and still more the folds in the muscles

below the eye between the lower eyelid and the base of the orbital

orifice are, like the naso-labial line, very conspicuous in old age and

almost entirely absent in childhood. If you understand this you will

turn to the beautiful drawing by Lefebvre, and realize why, although

there is a great deal of shading on the hair, ear and jaw, and quite

a perceptible piece of shading on the wing of the nose, there are no

lines down the cheek between the eye and the lips. Indeed, in the

original drawing, the white paper was there left entirely uncovered.

Of course, the artist might have filled the entire space with shading,

but in that case it would have been a graduated tint suggesting the

roundness of the cheek, as in the Grellet Young Girl, but there would

have been no suggestion of lines; the moment lines are introduced

the characteristics of old age are {106} suggested. At the corner

of the mouth is a line which runs in about the same direction as the

naso-labial line. In youth the cheek is slightly rounded out from the

lip, and in a side view it is usually the outline of the cheek■

[Illustration: CRAYON STUDY OF A CHILD.

By J. Lefebvre.

Half-tone from a lithographic reproduction by F. Grellet.]

■which makes the little line at the corner of the lips in the Lefebvre

and the Grellet Young Girl, and always in the side view of a baby’s

head; but as the head becomes less babyish it is the muscles of the

lips which cause this line. The muscles of the lips are exactly like

those of the eye; they run entirely around the lips, but at the

corner of the mouth, instead of having the radiating line like the

crow’s-feet, the threads of the muscle have a more perpendicular trend

and create a line running in the same direction as the naso-labial

line; while below this, but attached to it, is the triangular muscle of

the lips, or the {107} depressor of the angle of the lips; this, in the

ordinary old person, creates a long line, starting at the corner of the

lip, running down considerably. This line is very conspicuous in the

Brontolone, but absent in the Young Girl and the Lefebvre. It is seen

plainly in the Choudieu, and we do not see how you can ask for a better

lesson in drawing than the comparing of the highly finished Brontolone

with the very simple Choudieu!

Once more, above the eyes the forehead is covered with the frontal

muscle. The fibers run perpendicularly, but when they contract, as

when a person frowns, the folds in the flesh run horizontally; these

folds are particularly perceptible in old age. Though every mother will

remember their alarming occurence in babyhood, we do not associate them

with youth; and so in the Grellet Young Girl we find no lines in the

forehead, nor are they in the Lœwe-Marchand, hence a placid temperament

is suggested in that portrait. Many men no older than Monsieur X. have

constant lines in their forehead, and the actor uses these muscles

continually for expression. We write the plural because the muscle

is frequently divided into right and left portions which follow the

direction of the eyebrows, so that when the muscle is contracted the

eyebrow’s are no longer horizontal but have an M shape across the

forehead. In the Watts there is a very perceptible line which curves

over the right eye, taking the direction of the eyebrow; this is part

of the frontalis muscle. If the line on the other side were completed

it would take a similar direction over the left eye.

{108} [Illustration: MR. COLQUHOUN. SIR JOHN WILLOUGHBY. MR. H. H.

CHAMPION.

ENGLISH NEWSPAPER PORTRAITS.

Sir John Willoughby, Mr. Colquhoun, and Mr. H. H. Champion, from the

_Pall Mall Gazette_. Undoubtedly traced from photographs. Executed

in a simple manner, suitable for quick printing on a cylinder press.

Note absence of naso-labial line, except perhaps in the case of the

right-hand side of Mr. Colquhoun’s head. This is either a slip of the

pen, meant to come lower down to represent the mustache, or it is the

naso-labial line, and its companion was lost in the engraving process.

(This line could very well have remained in Mr. Colquhoun’s face, as

he is evidently much older than Mr. Champion and Sir John Willoughby.)

Also note absence of strong marking about the orbicular muscles, and

absence of lines in the frontalis. The absence of these lines indicates

youth. Compare with the Choudieu and Watts, where the introduction of

these lines represents old age.]

{109} [Illustration: LITHOGRAPH CRAYON DRAWING.

From Bust of Brontolone by Luca della Robbia, by F. Grellet.

Reproduced by half-tone. The original was 12 by 9 inches. Strong

marking of the naso-labial line, line at the corner of the lips,

crow’s-feet, and orbicular muscle, typical of old age. To be compared

with the Bonnard Choudieu.]

We have thus covered the muscles of the face which have most to do

with expression, and so you see that, besides drawing the eyebrows,

eyelashes, eyeballs, the bridge of the nose, the nostril, the lips,

and the chin, the artist has to do with a great many muscles, and the

novice must not only be warned about them, that he may know when to

introduce them, but he must remember that they have principally to do

with old age or {110} abnormal expression (laughter, grief, hate,

etc.), and they must be used to express such attributes only. Hence

the three English drawings represent very admirably the normal, placid

expression of middle-aged men. If with the foregoing hints you attempt

to draw a portrait for your newspaper, we fancy that, if you follow our

advice faithfully, you will meet with more success than you imagine.

{111} CHAPTER XII.

THE SCIENCE OF PEN DRAWING — PEN DRAWING MAY BE ANY SIZE — THE WATTS

IN TWO SIZES — DRAWING MAY BE ENLARGED OR REDUCED — FROM THE PRINTER’S

VIEWPOINT PEN TECHNIC LESS IMPORTANT AS REGARDS ITS ADAPTABILITY

TO REDUCTION THAN AS REGARDS THE PRINTABILITY OF THE CUT MADE FROM

IT — THE PRINTER’S OWN EXPERIENCE A GUIDE IN THIS MATTER — THREE KINDS

OF PRINTING CONSIDERED, FOR CONVENIENCE CHARACTERIZED AS I. “MAGAZINE,”

II. “CITY NEWSPAPER,” III. “COUNTRY NEWSPAPER” PRINTING — CROSS-HATCHED

LINES SUPPOSED TO FILL UP MORE RAPIDLY THAN SINGLE LINES — PORTRAIT

OF STEVENSON BY WYATT EATON THE NE PLUS ULTRA OF NEWSPAPER

PORTRAITURE — THE NASO-LABIAL LINE IN THIS DRAWING SUGGESTED BY

SHADING, NOT BY A SINGLE LINE — A DRAWING BY SICKERT — ANY PEN MAY

BE USED FOR THESE DRAWINGS, BUT THE LINES MAINLY TO BE CONSIDERED AS

THICK OR THIN, SINCE THEY MAY BE PUT UPON CHALK PLATE, AND NOT DRAWN IN

PEN-AND-INK AT ALL.

In our last chapter we said that we believed that if you would attempt

to draw a portrait for your newspaper, following our advice faithfully,

you would meet with more success than you would imagine. But you say,

perhaps, that you are not prepared to attempt a portrait because we

have given you no directions for pen drawing. Well, here you are partly

right and partly wrong. There _is_ a science of pen drawing that■

{112} [Illustration: GEORGE FREDERICK WATTS, R.A.

An English newspaper cut—from _Tit-Bits_, artist unknown. An excellent

example of newspaper work. Note that the skull-cap is not represented

partly gray and partly black because the artist meant to indicate a cap

that was one color in front and another in the back, but he meant to

show the rounding of the cranium, just as Gaillard did in varying the

tones in the hair of the old woman.

An enlargement of this cut was given in Chapter VIII. If a drawing is

made the size of that enlargement, it can satisfactorily be reduced

to the size of the cut above. Of course it may reduce to smaller

dimensions; the greater the reduction the nearer the lines come

together, and their closeness makes them more difficult to print.]

■{113} you may study with profit, but in order to draw a simple

portrait for your newspaper it is not necessary for you to have any

further instruction than we have given you. If it is going to pay you

to follow drawing at all, you should be able at this stage of progress

to make a tolerably good drawing for a newspaper portrait. But, you

say, “What size should I make the drawing?” We reply, “Almost any size,

though usually not smaller than the cut is to appear.” But that it

may be smaller is seen by our two Watts cuts. Here is a cut the exact

size of the original Watts, as it went to the engraver, who by mistake

enlarged it to the size it appeared in Chapter VIII. I accepted this

enlargement gladly, so as to show you that a drawing may be enlarged

or reduced, but more especially with the idea of showing you the usual

size that a drawing is made for reduction; for you will always be safe

in making your portrait the size of the Watts in Chapter VIII if you

wish it to appear the size of the present cut. I cannot over-emphasize

the importance of your realizing that you have been told sufficient

about pen drawing for you to go ahead and make drawings for your paper.

If there is anything more to be learned I am candid in saying that you

are better able to find out what it is than I am, for it is almost

entirely a matter of printing, and not of engraving. Photo-engravers

can nowadays reproduce almost any kind of a drawing, but a cut which

might print well in a magazine might not print at all in your country

newspaper. You know better than I do the trouble of “bringing up” a

fine cut on poor■

{114} [Illustration: THE GRANDMOTHER.

Pen Drawing, by E. Renard, from a French Catalogue.

The parallel lines in the background represent a tint, and herein is

the foundation of pen drawing, as distinguished from wash drawing:

parallel lines are used to represent a tint; if they are farther apart

they represent a lighter tint, if nearer together a darker tint; or

again, if the artist presses on his pen more heavily on one set of

lines than another, he can also get a darker tone without putting

the lines any closer together. For newspaper work such a method is

preferable to placing the lines near together; the Wyatt Eaton shows

the pressing on the pen method perfectly.]

■{115} paper, on a cylinder press, and when you are making your

drawing it is for you to keep in mind the kind of paper it is to be

printed on, and to keep your lines sufficiently open accordingly.

Ordinary intelligence should be your guide. Let us take the Renard

Grandmother for an example; in the background is a series of the

simplest lines imaginable. If you should make your drawing the same

size as our cut, and the lines the same distance apart, it could

be easily reduced to an inch wide, and print in a magazine, but it

would not then print in a country newspaper; the lines would be so

near together that they would fill up. The cut might print in a city

newspaper, but it is not likely. The truth is that a printer can tell

better about this than I can. All I can say is that as a general thing

a set of parallel lines print better than cross-hatched lines.

(In using the expressions, “a magazine,” “a city newspaper” and

“a country newspaper,” to represent first, second and third class

printing, I am well aware that the distinction is an arbitrary and

not a real one; that sometimes by using good ink, good stock and by

printing _slowly_, the country printer can run a cut in his newspaper

with better results than can a city paper using poorer stock and ink

for the sake of economy, and printing at lightning speed. But the

reader will kindly let the expressions stand for (1) perfect press,

good stock and ink, and expert overlaying; (2) perfect press, ordinary

“news” stock, poor ink, and little overlaying; (3) poorest stock, ink,

cheap press, and not expert overlaying.)

{116} [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

Drawn, probably with a quill pen, by Wyatt Eaton, in 1888, the original

8 by 10 inches. The drawing was made in an open manner so that it would

print on the poorest kind of paper, as it was used as a placard to

announce a story by Stevenson, in the New York _Sun_. Reproduced by

kind permission of the S. S. McClure Co., by whom it is copyrighted. A

reduction of this drawing, greater than the above, adorned the cover of

the March, 1897, _McClure’s Magazine_.]

{117}

Next to the preference of one set of lines to cross-hatched lines, it

is to be said that a dark is better obtained by pressing on the pen

than by putting the lines near together. We publish a superb example

of pen drawing for newspaper work—the Stevenson, by Wyatt Eaton. We

believe that this is the _ne plus ultra_ of newspaper portraiture,

for the lines are strong and vigorous, there being no possibility of

their running together in printing. I should advise you to look at this

portrait under a magnifying glass that you may realize how very simple

the treatment is.

McClure’s “Human Documents” contains a baker’s dozen of half-tones of

Stevenson, from photographs. You might procure this pamphlet and copy

the half-tones in pen, using the Wyatt Eaton as a guide.

(And in parentheses I would say you will notice that the naso-labial

lines on both sides of the face are strongly marked, and yet instead

of there being one line going in the direction of the muscle, as in

Bonnard’s “Choudieu,” we have on the light side of the face eight

perpendicular lines, and on the shaded side six blots with almost

horizonal, but slightly oblique, direction! Do you not, therefore, see

that it is not the kind of line you use, not a matter of “what way

the lines go,” but where you put your tones, that counts in drawing?

If Wyatt Eaton had not seen the strongly marked naso-labial line on

Stevenson’s face, he would not have put these two triangular forms

radiating from the nostril. Moreover, Eaton could have represented

these lines in another way just as well. Also, it would {118} take too

long to explain other subtle features of this drawing, but we would add

that you will rarely see so much tone on the light cheek as in this

drawing. Stevenson was an invalid, and this tone represents the sunken

cheek of ill-health.)

Now, if you will examine the Sickert portrait of Wilson, you will

find an equally artistic drawing, but one not quite so adaptable to

newspaper printing; for the darks are partly obtained by putting

the lines near together rather than by great pressure, and in our

reproduction they have frequently run together where in the original

print, which was 6 by 9 inches, they were separated. And so also in

printing on poor paper; there is a chance that the interstices will

fill up, while they would not in the Eaton.

As, however, this drawing was made for printing on a thin manila paper,

not on coated paper, and there is great deal of pressure on the pen

(note especially the side of the nose), which was put on knowingly by

the artist, it contains much that should be imitated in newspaper work.

In regard to the way to make such heavy lines, we would say that it is

a mere matter of practice; the selection of pen has little to do with

it. Excellent results may be got by using a brush instead of the pen,

and we dare say that Mr. Eaton used a quill pen. But as a matter of

fact, the artist usually prefers to use a very fine pen such as a crow

quill, or mapping pen, which is flexible, it thus being that a dark

line is got, not by a blunt-pointed pen, but by allowing the nibs of■

{119} [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF C. RIVERS WILSON.

Pen drawing by Walter Sickert. From the London _Whirlwind_, 1890. An

example of artistic portrait-drawing suitable for newspapers, showing

darks obtained both by placing fine lines near together (see just above

mustache on shaded side), and darks obtained by pressing on the pen

(see heavy lines on shaded side of nose).]

■{120} a flexible pen to spread so that the ink flows very freely

from it. For ordinary purposes a Gillot 303 or 170 is frequently used

by the artists. But it is a matter of practice mainly, and the pen you

usually write with is apt to be the best medium for practice at first.

In fact, we are particularly anxious to have our reader not worry about

pen technic. Let him realize that he might wish to put his drawing upon

the chalk plate, in which case he would make a tracing of a photograph,

and, placing it upon the chalk, press upon it with a hard-pointed

pencil, and thus transfer his outline into an indentation on the chalk.

He would then take the scraping tool and clear away the chalk wherever

he wishes a line. The fact being that he would introduce lines only

where he knew there should be lines in nature, as in the case of the

naso-labial line, the eyelids, etc.; and he would broaden his lines

only where he knew the tones should be darker in nature than where he

had used a set of fine lines. There would be no use of pen at all!

So you see we have come right to the milk in the cocoanut—right to the

matter this series was to teach. Many readers no doubt were disgusted

when they did not find in our first chapters directions for the use

of the pen and a list of materials for pen drawing, but those who may

have occasion to do their portraits in chalk plate will thank us for

our hints on the study of nature and the study of lines, no matter how

made.

{121} CHAPTER XIII.

STUDY OF PEN TECHNIC CONTINUED — THE PRINTER MUST NOT EXPECT

THE KNOWLEDGE OF PEN TECHNIC TO TAKE THE PLACE OF KNOWLEDGE OF

DRAWING — EXAMPLES CONSIDERED — THE GRANDMOTHER BY RENARD — THE

MARCHETTI, THE VIERGE, THE ST. ELME, ARE GOOD EXAMPLES OF PEN

DRAWING — THE GUILLAUME AN AMUSING EXAMPLE OF USE OF PARALLEL

LINES — THE FORAIN A GOOD EXAMPLE OF NEWSPAPER CARTOON STYLE; THE

VALLET, OF NEWSPAPER NEWS STYLE — THE MOULLIER AN EXAMPLE OF ECCENTRIC

USE OF DOTS — METHOD OF PEN PRACTICE SUGGESTED.

[Illustration: INITIAL LETTER BY MARCHETTI.

Pen drawing from _Paris Illustré_.]

Judicious study of pen technic is helpful to the printer-designer. I

use the adjective “judicious” because I need a word beginning with J

for our initial letter. What I mean is, that just so far as the printer

studies drawing, he may study pen technic, but he must not expect to

progress further in the latter than he has progressed in the former; so

while this chapter will be exceedingly helpful to the reader who has

followed the previous ones, it will only lead to failure■

{122} [Illustration: ILLUSTRATION TO PABLO DE SEGOVIE.

Pen drawing by Daniel Vierge, one of the most celebrated of modern

pen-draftsmen. If you will scrutinize this drawing under a magnifying

glass you can examine this technic with more ease than with the naked

eye.]

■{123} if the reader does not follow our advice in regard to training

the eyes to see as well as in regard to pen technic.

We said in our last chapter that the parallel lines in the background

of “The Grandmother,” by Renard, showed the foundation of pen drawing.

The same is■

[Illustration: Illustration (pen drawing); chapter heading, but without

initial letter, by Marchetti. From _Paris Illustré_.]

■true of our initial letter, in which we find a set of parallel lines

which, contrasted with the white of the illumination thrown by the

lantern, gives us an effect of gray. This is found again in the other

drawing by Marchetti; and if you will study these two drawings, and

then turn to the Vierge, you will find that nine-tenths of it is drawn

in the same way. Here and there to get a certain vibration of tone,

Vierge uses crosshatch, but you will notice that the lightest gray and

the intensest dark are got without crosshatching.

In the St. Elme you may also distinguish very clever use of parallel

lines, without much crosshatching. We have purposely reproduced this,

together with the page it decorated, so that you may see the artist had

a good reason for not crosshatching; he wished his drawing to form a

decoration about the page, and he did not want it to be too heavy, so

he abstained from crosshatching.■

{124} [Illustration: Pen drawing by St. Elme, decorating a page of a

French journal, 9 1/2 by 13, showing a clever use of parallel lines,

and a method of decorating a printed page, which will be considered

later on.]

■{125} The best practice for you is to make drawings for your

publication in any manner you see fit, and after you have had

experience in printing the same, you can tell very well how much

crosshatching is advisable, and how much clogs up in the printing.

There are■

[Illustration: Caricature of the French painter (whose works are

somewhat dark and misty in effect) Eugène Carrière at work. By

Guillaume. From the French daily, _Gil Blas_.]

■several caricaturists in this country whose work is printed in daily

papers in a thoroughly satisfactory manner, and yet they use a great

deal of crosshatching, but of course they know just how open to keep

the lines, for they know just what results their printer can {126} get

and what not. But we would say it is a good principle, to begin with,

that the less crosshatching in your work the better it will print.

Hence the Marchetti and St. Elme drawings are given as examples.

In the portrait of the painter Carrière, we have an amusing example

of the effective use of parallel lines. Instead of giving us a black

silhouette, the artist—Guillaume—has given us a gray one, which

suggests the subject seen through a fog. Had the artist wished to

represent the palette as being of dark wood he could have pressed on

his pen lines and thus given us that effect. Had he wished to show that

the canvas was lighter than the figure, he could have refrained from

pressing so heavily on his pen lines, or, better still, distributed his

lines farther apart and thus obtained the effect of a lighter tone.

Bear in mind, however, that I used the term pen lines in speaking of

this drawing because the original was made in that medium, but the same

graduation or contrast of lines is applicable to nearly all methods of

line drawing; to etching and chalk plate as well. You will, perhaps,

have a better grasp of the subject by thinking of it as—the theory of

tone imitation by lines.

When you have grasped the theory of this pen technic, _alias_ the

representing of tone by lines, you will be prepared to make your own

deductions from various specimens of illustration.

Some of our friends, for example, who might have been interested in

our first chapters and the specimens of caricature given therein, may

have been disappointed {127} that we have given so much attention to

portraiture recently, so we have made an effort in this chapter to give

a _mélange_ that will cover many fields of newspaper illustration. In

the Forain we have a splendid example of such work. It was printed on

very poor paper stock, but it came out admirably, harmonizing with the

type, which is larger than that used in this country, long■

[Illustration: NEWSPAPER CARICATURE.

By Forain, from _Figaro_. This composition evidently makes fun of Mr.

Berthelot, who has had, or expects to have, some dealings with England,

for the visitor says, “May I see my honorable master?” and the maid

responds, “Mr. Berthelot is not receiving; he is taking an English

lesson.” The cut in _Figaro_ was 8 by 8, and it represents an excellent

method of newspaper drawing, and one that could be easily imitated in

chalk plate. We would also call attention to the drawing of the broom.

Our readers who followed the directions of our first chapters will see

that the silhouette of the broom is indicated in a masterly manner.]

{128} [Illustration: Example of news drawing, by L. Vallet, from a

French periodical.]

■{129} primer predominating. The drawing of the still-life objects

is particularly interesting. Look at the duster the woman holds: is

not its form exactly what you would see if it were held up against the

window and viewed in silhouette?

A good example of a news illustration is given in the Vallet page,

which could easily be imitated in chalk plate. The artist viewed a

collection of English army costumes, or witnessed a drill, and he shows

us in very simple lines the style of accouterment. Any newspaper editor

who could sketch tolerably well could do the same thing for his county

fair.

In the Moullier we have a specimen that is well-nigh as amusing as the

artist in the fog, for here we have a pen drawing that is not made by

lines, but by a series of stipples. While the newspaper tyro should not

employ this technic too frequently in his practice, still, realizing

that the tone effect is graphically gained without the use of the

conventional line, it must quickly dawn upon him that there are many

technics, and, having practiced drawing mantelshelves according to the

instructions in our early chapters, he will also appreciate the fact

that the artist was in front of this mantelshelf, as the horizontal

lines do not tip, and that the shelf was higher than his eye, as the

top of the mantel is not shown. This knowledge gathered allows the

student to see that various technics may represent the same truth in

nature.

A good method of practice for pen work is as follows: Take a wood

engraving or half-tone from some■

{130} [Illustration: Pen drawing by Marc Moullier, for _La Plume_,

showing a clever and eccentric use of dots. It may be remarked that

since the mantelpiece is above the eye we cannot see the top of it. It

is parallel to the artist’s eyes, and so is represented as a horizontal

line. So far as correct drawing is concerned, it makes no difference

how that line is made. One artist makes it a thick line with a blunt

pen, another a thin line with a fine pen, and another, like Moullier,

makes it with a series of dots, but each of these methods is a matter

of technic, and the rules of technic are arbitrary, not fixed as are

the rules for drawing. You may invent your own technic, but you cannot

invent perspective.]

■{131} periodical, the larger the better, go over the back of it with a

blue pencil, lay it on a sheet of bristol board or paper, face upward,

and go over the outline with a hard pencil, using such a pressure

as will transfer to the bristol board a blue outline. The object in

using blue is, that you do not have to erase it, but may work over

it with a pen, as the blue does not photograph. Besides transferring

the outline it is also advisable to outline the shape of any of the

shadows you intend to introduce. You then endeavor with the pen lines

to imitate the delicate shadows of the half-tone or wood cut. Perhaps

instead of saying imitate, we would better say approximate, for you

must not expect to be able to imitate with pen the extreme delicacy of

a half-tone.

{132} [Illustration: DES GUEULES (STUDIES OF MOUTHS, JAWS) BY HERMAN

PAUL.]

CHAPTER XIV.

A CHAPTER OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND A RÉSUMÉ — VALLOTTON HEADS

ONLY UNDERSTOOD BY THOSE WHO CAN SEE LIGHT AND SHADE UPON

OBJECTS — MEDALLIONS BY DAVID D’ANGERS SHOWING THE PLANES OF THE

FACE — THESE PLANES BROUGHT OUT IN SOME OF THE VALLOTTON HEADS,

AND IN MEDALLIONS BY LORMIER AND D’ILLZACH, AND IN DRAWING BY

CHAUME — LANDSCAPE BY LE ROUX, CARICATURE BY FORAIN — THE LE ROUX AND

THE PAUL DRAWINGS INDICATE THE FORCE OF OUTLINE — EXAMPLES OF DIFFERENT

KINDS OF TECHNIC.

The definite character of our illustrations to the last two chapters

should have made so strong an impression upon the reader (_if_ he

practices drawing) that there ought to be little necessity of further

letterpress explaining the different technics of pen drawing. {133}

So please permit us to introduce a large number of illustrations in

this chapter, with slight comment; it being surmised that the reader

will, however, give a fuller consideration to the drawings themselves

than we do. Each one should be studied again and again, the reader not

copying it, but making a drawing in the same style of some similar

object. This chapter, moreover, must serve as a general résumé of our

instruction in freehand drawing and pen drawing; it virtually ends the

first part of our text-book; the succeeding matter will be confined to

the consideration of different methods of decorating title-pages, and

of designing chapter headings, tailpieces, etc.; and the third part

will consist of the consideration of different methods of engraving,

chalk-plate, wood engraving and color printing.

Now for our résumé.

In order to learn to draw you must first learn to discern the outline

of objects, which you may do by seeing them in silhouette.

To draw the hair in outline, as in Vallotton’s third Nietzsche, you

must first see the hair as in the first Nietzsche; that is, see it in

mass or in silhouette in nature. Before Vallotton took a brush in hand

to put on the solid black of the hair in number one you may be sure he

drew a pencil outline like the outline in number three; but before he

drew that outline he saw the mass as in number one.

The Vallotton drawings may be further studied from two very different

view-points. The third Friedrich Nietzsche is pure outline, like the

examples of Engström■

{134} [Illustration: FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE. FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE. FRIEDRICH

NIETZSCHE.

{135} FELIX VALLOTTON. MALTHUS. PAUL ROBIN.

HEADS DESIGNED BY F. VALLOTTON.

Vallotton has made it a practice to engrave a great many of his own

designs. We do not know whether these heads were engraved by him, or

merely drawn by him and photo-engraved, but the manner in which they

are designed—that is, with great economy of line, and a few simple,

telling spots—is one which is the outgrowth of his practice in wood

engraving; he would work exactly like this if drawing on wood. (We

shall treat of wood engraving for printers in a future chapter.)]

■{136} given in our early chapters, and is very simple and easy to

understand, though not by any means easy to draw. The drawing of

Malthus, on the other hand, is not easy to understand, for in addition

to the outlines it is modeled—that is, it contains masses of shadow

which bring out the different planes of the face. And it is necessary

to study light and shade, as indicated in Chapter VII, before we can

fully understand a drawing of this kind.

In order to model, you must learn _to see the light and shade upon

objects_. When your eye is trained to see light and shade, you can draw

the hair as in the second Nietzsche, and you can see planes in the

face, as in the Malthus.

Although the David d’Angers diagrams were drawn to show the general

masses of the head as they are brought out in successive stages by a

sculptor, yet they become very interesting to the printer who has not

had the benefit of an art school education, for they show him at a

glance how much of the character of the human head is dependent upon

the different planes of the face, and it explains better than words

what is meant by planes. Chapter VIII should be read in connection

with it, and the Vallotton portraits, especially that of Malthus, may

be examined critically with this in mind, for you will then see that

Vallotton has introduced masses of black with the idea of suggesting

planes in the face.

We introduce the de Chaume to accompany the David d’Angers, Lormier

and d’Illzach medallions, to emphasize the matter of the planes of the

human face.■

{137} [Illustration: Medallion portrait of Hahnemann, after David

d’Angers. Drawing by Carl Robert. Showing successive stages in

modeling, from the flat to the relief.]

■We do not want our readers to think that the shadows we have

pointed out in our text are the only ones to be noticed in the human

face. Under certain circumstances, notably when an actor’s face

is illuminated by the footlights, there are shadows upon it quite

different from those we have analyzed in previous chapters. But the

shadows we have pointed out are those most prominent in a photograph,

and those most frequently employed by the artist, but if your drawing

is to be very extensive you must learn to look for new shadows in new

aspects; and the de Chaume shows some such shadows, yet in the case of

the naso-labial line it is easy to see that■

{138} [Illustration: Crayon drawing, from a medallion of Alf. Leroux, by

E. Lormier. Drawn on stipple tinted board; or else on plain paper, and

the mechanical stipple added to the same after the drawing was made.]

[Illustration: Medallion portrait of M. A. Soisson, by Ringel

d’Illzach. Drawn by the sculptor on scratchboard with horizontal line

tint, the blacks drawn with crayon, the whites scratched out with a

penknife. As in the Monet, our engraver, instead of reducing the cut

by the direct process, reduced it by half-tone, through a screen with

diagonal lines, hence the horizontal lines have disappeared. (See page

148)]

■{139} it is not far different from other naso-labial lines which we

have considered.

Again, much of our instruction has been given using the human face as

a basis of study; but it is not for a moment to be surmised that the

study of drawing should be limited to the human face. We have intended

only to suggest a process of study; this process may be■

[Illustration: “HAWKS DINNA PIKE OUT HAWKS’ EEN.”

J. C. DOLLMAN, R.I.

Pen drawing from the artist’s water color, made for an exhibition

catalogue. This cut shows an excellent style of newspaper drawing,

consisting of outline, and a gray got by parallel lines, without

crosshatching.]

■applied to anything under the sun. Hence we give the Forain and the Le

Roux outline to portray still life and landscape. And it is worthy of

note that still life need not be circumscribed to mere drill; on the

contrary, it is very frequently introduced into drawing—much to the

perfecting of the composition. The dishpans, pots■

{140} [Illustration: ON THE BANKS OF THE ISOLE. BY E. LE ROUX.

Pen drawing by the artist from his painting.]

{141} [Illustration: Mask of Béranger. Drawing by Geoffroy de Chaume.

Drawn by the sculptor from his model, with (lithographic) crayon, on

grained paper with a specially prepared tooth.]

{142} [Illustration: Newspaper caricature, by Forain, from _Figaro_.

The butler says: “I have heard him say that you spice your dishes too

much.” The chef says: “Yes, he misses his Blanchette du Havre.” (Some

local hit, blanchette in cookery being a wrapper of pastry, bacon,

etc.) “If he is not satisfied why doesn’t he leave?” There are few

draughtsmen in the world more expert in the use of line than Forain.

He is most wonderful in his construction of forms; every line means

something. The French do not mind a free line—one that runs a little

too far out—if it has meaning to it; hence we see a line through the

butler’s nose, and his mouth extends to the right of the naso-labial

line in quite an unnatural fashion, but since the line of the cheek is

beautifully attached to the eyesocket and upper eyelid, it does not

annoy the French at all.]

{143} [Illustration: Pen drawing by Guillaume, from the French daily

paper _Gil Blas_. This is given as a good example of newspaper work of

a kind that could be easily imitated on chalk plate. It is reproduced

with adjacent head-line and type that you may get an idea of the

typographical appearance of the French newspaper. The legend says:

“Today _Gil Blas_ publishes its twelfth supplement, which should be

delivered gratuitously (by the news agents) to all the purchasers of

the paper.” The cut, then, is merely a little joke to call attention to

the more important supplement inside, which supplement in itself is a

pictorial one; French readers are fonder of illustrations than American

readers.]

{144} [Illustration: An example of pen drawing. Book illustration, by F.

H. Lucas. This shows splendid modeling with very delicate pen work, and

a certain amount of variety in the background. It is less adaptable to

newspaper work than our other illustrations. It is given as a specimen

of eccentric line work as regards the background, which is not unlike

the Moullier.]

■and coal shovel, in the Forain, are particularly suggestive from

this view-point. The Le Roux is given in order that our text-book may

include an example of landscape, and also that the pupil may realize

that drawing is frequently a matter of the right line in the right

place. As we said in Chapter XIII, just as we studied the matter of

the naso-labial line, and the orbicular muscle, one should study the

direction of the wickers of a trash basket, so the artist has studied

here the characteristic lines of tree trunk, foliage, hillside, and

grasses. If you will study a city street or a shipyard in the same

spirit—that is, search for the characteristic lines—you will be able to

make a drawing which, even though it lacks■

{145} [Illustration: Illustration from the _Paris Illustré_. An example

of combined use of outline, parallel lines and solid black, with very

little crosshatch. Mainly interesting because of the introduction of

still-life objects, which hint at subjects suitable for practice. The

novice would do well to select a group of similar objects and endeavor

to render them in a similar manner.]

■artistic finish, will have a certain graphic value; and for this very

reason (we mean, to show that outline may be graphic) we purposely

introduce into this chapter the Paul caricatures, consisting mainly of

outlines, like those we gave in our first chapters, and we bid you harp

upon them with the fact ever in your mind that they are not arbitrary,

but each line stands for some prototype in nature; and that we may go a

little farther in the analyzation of the face, we publish some models

in relief in which the planes of the face are brought out. These planes

were considered in Chapter VII, and you must■

{146} [Illustration: Illustration from _Paris Illustré_. Pen drawing, by

M. Luque, evidently from an instantaneous photograph, containing all

the elements of pen drawing without crosshatch. This has been reduced

too much; the shadows in the building seem black because the lines have

run together. In the original illustration the lines on the building

were separated, and the effect was one of gray, which is the right tone

for shadows seen at a distance on a clear day. The outlines of the

clouds were probably drawn with an unbroken line, and after they were

engraved were rouletted on the plate, and hence print as a series of

dots.]

{147} [Illustration: Pen drawing, by Maurice Leloir, showing admirable

effect gained by use of parallel lines without crosshatch; a splendid

example for the novice to study.]

■{148} look at Fantin-La-Tour’s cast head in order to understand them.

Do so, and then let your eye jump to the Vallotton heads, and we think

you will grasp their characteristics immediately, for you will see

wherein they differ from the Engström drawings. They differ in this:

that in addition to pure outline, they mass the constructive shadows

found in the David d’Angers. In other■

[Illustration: Marine, by Claude Monet. Drawn with lithographic

crayon on scratchboard, the lines running perpendicularly, instead of

horizontally as in the d’Illzach, the lights scratched out with the

penknife.

This cut has a peculiar interest technically. The foregoing was

dictated with the original in hand, which was a direct process

cut in which one set of lines ran perpendicularly. Our engraver,

however, instead of reducing the cut by the direct process, reduced

it by half-tone, through a screen with diagonal lines, hence the

perpendicular lines have disappeared.]

■words, the black under Vallotton’s eyebrows does not mean that his

eyebrows are abnormally thick, but it means that he has deep sunken

eyes, and that there is■

{149} [Illustration: Portrait of Fred Walker, by E. G. T., from an

English periodical. Reduced to a smaller area than when given in

Chapter XI. By comparing this with the cut on page 102 we notice that

the drawing is so simple that there is very little difference in the

general aspect of the two, but here and there, as under the jaw, the

lines have run together a little more in the smaller cut, giving a

darker effect than in the larger one; the lesson is obvious.]

■_a shadow under_ the eyebrows and in the plane of the superior

orbicular muscle, which recedes, and Vallotton wishes to emphasize

this. And in the Malthus he does not mean that Malthus had a triangular

birth-mark on his right cheek, but he means that he had a prominent

cheekbone, and a sunken cheek beneath it; hence the shadow, which is

what we call “a modeling shadow.”

{150} [Illustration: Portrait of C. Rivers Wilson. Pen drawing by Walter

Sickert. From _The London Whirlwind_, 1890. Reduced to a smaller

area than when given in Chapter XII. By comparing this with the cut

on page 119 you will see that many of the lines, especially in the

shadow of the nose, have run together, and we do not find as strong a

contrast between the black accents on the nose and the gray half-tones

produced by the open lines in the larger cut. It is often the case

when a drawing is too greatly reduced that it loses snap, because the

_graduation_ from the grays to the blacks is not so perceptible as in

the original. Still the lines were so open in this drawing that the

present cut is a very fair one. The result is much better than could

have been got from so fine a drawing as the Renard. (See page 114.)]

We cannot complete our chapter without mentioning that the styles of

drawing we have suggested by no means exhaust the different methods

at your disposal. While it is well to confine yourself to outline, or

outline and solid black, or outline and slight shading, yet you may

experiment in many more complicated methods, as seen in the Monet, and

the Ringel d’Illzach, for even if you do not use these methods for

illustrations they help you to observe the capital lights and darks in

nature.

{151} PART II.

{153} [Illustration: GOETHE’S MOTHER.

Old-fashioned silhouette. See chapter on wood engraving.]

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION TO PART II.

INSTRUCTION IN DRAWING ABANDONED AND DESIGN CONSIDERED — THIS

INSTRUCTION LESS ABSOLUTE THAN INSTRUCTION IN DRAWING — THE PRINTER TO

USE AS MUCH OF THE SUBSEQUENT MATTER AS SERVES HIS PURPOSE — IN THE

STUDY OF LETTERING ALL STYLES HAVE TO BE COVERED, THOUGH ONLY ONE OR

TWO MAY BE OF VALUE TO THE PRINTER — WOOD ENGRAVING VALUABLE BECAUSE IT

TEACHES CONCENTRATION AND ECONOMY OF LINE — THE PRINTER IN AMERICA NOT

ABLE TO BE ALWAYS ARTISTIC, BUT MUST INTRODUCE ART FROM TIME TO TIME AS

OPPORTUNITY ARISES.

The reader is asked to view this second part of “Drawing for Printers”

differently from the first part. In the first part the writer aimed at

establishing {154} recognized rules for drawing rather than giving his

individual opinions.

He thinks that very little of the first part of the book can be

questioned. For example, it is not a matter of personal opinion that

the horizon line is on a level with the spectator’s eyes, or that a

mantelshelf on such a level should be drawn with a straight line; it

is a matter of fact, which he merely reiterates as the writer of a

grammar reiterates the indisputable facts of a language, that a noun is

a name word, a verb an action word, an adverb a word which qualifies

a verb. But when the writer of a literary text-book has exhausted

his rules of grammar and takes up the subject of rhetoric, although

he endeavors to give only such examples of writing as are excellent,

still his own personal taste is apt to guide him in his selections, and

he may claim as admirable that which is to be criticised. A rhetoric

of the eighteenth century would necessarily contain much artificial,

sentimental and Latinized English which a teacher of today would not

put before his students.

So it is that in the following chapters I may advocate,

(1) That which may not meet with the approval of my readers.

(2) That which may not suit my readers’ customers, and even

(3) That which is wrong.

You therefore may use as much of my advice as you find practical in

your daily work, and discard that which is impractical. {155}

But do not forget that that which may be impractical today may come in

handy some time next year!

That there will be much that you will find impractical goes without

saying. It is absolutely necessary that the student of the arts (as the

writer of these papers) acquaint himself with that which is classical;

he then becomes fascinated with it and recommends it. But the classical

covers an immense field, embracing that which is best in many ages

and in many different lands, and it is utterly impossible that the

practical worker in the arts should utilize all the classical styles at

one time. Hence only a fragment of any text-book built upon the study

of the classic can be practical at any given time.

Let us be more specific. Let us take the department of lettering alone.

If an author publishes a work on lettering, and he is a cultivated

man, he must examine the many styles of the past. He examines the

monumental letter of classic Rome and the monumental letter of the

Renaissance; the Caroline letter of 700 A. D., as well as the Gothic

and the Visigothic. It is not his business to place one above the

other, but to explain the beauty of all. If, however, you are a printer

of today, and the Morris style of type is most in vogue, and you have

stocked your cases with it, it is the Gothic letter you are most

interested in, because it is what you are using and what your customer

has just been trained to like; so the most practical part of a book on

lettering would be that which would treat of the Gothic letter, and its

offspring, the Old English; while the chapter on Visigothic, with its

twisted letters, would seem quite■

{156} [Illustration: NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION.

From the Paris _Figaro_, showing harmony of drawing, type, and rules—a

method of drawing that could easily be imitated on chalk plate.]

{157} [Illustration: COVER DESIGN OF THE WESTMINSTER BUDGET.

This mortised portion was used for advertisements.

Printed on light weight yellow paper, 10 by 13. An excellent example of

the use of silhouette in design.]

■{158} impractical to you as you could not use the examples given. Yet

it would be the business of the writer on alphabets to analyze them

thoroughly, otherwise his work would be incomplete.

Now then, I shall try to be practical, and in the chapter on lettering

bear in mind that the modern fonts are the Morris, Caxton, Jenson,

Erhard Ratdolt, Old English and Touraine. I shall try to give a little

more attention to the letters after which these are patterned than I

shall to the Phœnician or Etruscan, the Visigothic, the Aldine, and the

Irish text letter. But, on the other hand, no printer can be educated

without knowing something about these latter alphabets. And so you must

bear with me while I analyze them, though they may not be practical.

Once more, suppose you do agree that a style of lettering not now

in vogue is a pleasing style, and one worth imitating, the question

arises, How much time can you give to the study of it in order to use

it? Nearly all artistic work requires hand labor, and hand labor is

slow.

In our chapter on wood engraving, we shall recommend the study of

that art, both because it can be used and because it trains you to

appreciate good designing; but how many printers can neglect their

business in order to spend hours and hours in practicing an eminently

slow art, when rapid and cheap photo-engraving will serve the purpose

almost as well? Very few, I fear.

So, also, when we come to the matter of taste, we come to the question

of what should artistic printing {159} look like? Even if you are

convinced that coated paper and the half-tone do not belong to ideal

printing, how many can afford to attempt a piece of rough printing

with heavy type, coarse paper and an outline device, and expect to

retain his customers, when his rival, Smith, is using coated paper

and half-tones that almost equal photographs? Very few printers, I

fear, would be able to pay expenses by such a course. There are very

few merchants but would have their catalogues printed by Smith with

half-tone illustrations of photographs of their wares. Or even if the

printer does not apply his art methods to job printing, but to his

own publications, he will probably find few buyers who are cultured

enough to appreciate his rough printing, so between the amount of

time necessary for preparing artistic productions and the poor chance

they have of receiving patronage, it is very difficult for a cultured

printer to attain his ideal.

The writer has followed our art periodicals for years and knows too

well that nearly all of them have failed. If artistic periodicals

advertised for years to art-loving people have failed, how little is

the chance of art methods succeeding with the people! We must, then,

bear in mind that I may recommend methods because I know them to be

artistic without expecting them to be accepted or put in practice.

The practical printer’s course must be a compromise. He introduces

an artistic principle here, another there, without ever reaching his

ideal. Sometimes it is his own circular, sometimes a literary pamphlet,

or {160} sometimes a poster that allows him to experiment, while his

average printing is commercial, nothing more.

But, let us say in parenthesis, that while we deprecate the lack of

artistic culture that prevents our printers from turning out artistic

work, we do not for a moment claim that that which is not artistic

is poor, or that all printing that is not rough is not artistic. The

half-tone and coated paper have their use. If, as a matter of news or

information, exactness is required, any sensible printer will turn to

the half-tone for assistance. Even Mr. Walter Crane, in publishing his

book on “Decorative Illustration,” though he uses 303 pages of rough

paper to exemplify the superiority of the simple wood cut of the past,

employs eleven sheets of highly calendered paper to reproduce delicate

facsimiles of old manuscripts! He felt that the purpose of these

supplementary pages was to illustrate and not to embellish the book; so

he sacrificed artistic harmony for science. So, also, a printer does

well, when getting up a catalogue of houses, horses or chickens for

sale, to insert a frontispiece of coated paper and print on the same a

half-tone which gives an adequate idea of the house, horse or chicken

to be sold. That is a scientific piece of work. The point is, that a

catalogue printed on cheap paper with an insert of a half-tone printed

on coated paper can never be an artistic unit, can never be exhibited

as a piece of artistic printing. The French, who are extremely artistic

people, have carried delicate printing as far as it will go, and the

French printer will get you up a catalogue with a half-tone {161}

frontispiece, but everything will be in harmony with it; the paper of

the body of the book is coated paper, the type is delicate, the initial

letters are equally fine, and the printing of the entire brochure is

so delicate that it is in keeping with the frontispiece. That is the

right principle for bookmaking, that the work be harmonious. There is

no objection to fine type (so long as it is not so fine as to tire the

eyes) if it is printed properly. The main reason for recommending such

heavy type as Morris’ is, that it is pretty sure always to print well.

When a French printer turns out a cheap newspaper he uses large type

and heavy headlines, accompanied by illustrations that harmonize with

such type and headlines.

Our examples of Forain’s work (see previous chapters) show the style

of the French drawing made for the daily newspaper in harmony with the

typography and in a suitable manner for printing on poor stock. The

clipping from the French newspaper we give with this chapter, showing

different styles of watch chains, is an excellent example of good taste

in this direction. The type, the drawing, and the rules all harmonize.

With a chalk-plate outfit a clever printer could supply such diagrams

for his paper each week without feeling that he was transgressing the

canons of the highest form of art.

From this example it will be seen that one of the requirements for a

good newspaper drawing is that it harmonizes with the type page. You

may feel then that it is not required of you to make a finished drawing

for {162} a newspaper—in fact, the more finished it is the less likely

it is to be a good newspaper design.

Another example of good newspaper designing is the _Westminster Budget_

cover. The original covered a folio 10 by 13 inches. The paper being a

cheap stock (yellow) and the design being bold and effective, serves as

an admirable example of what we choose to call a poor-paper design.

This design will in future be again considered in connection with wood

engraving and lettering; and in the next chapter we shall consider

similar headings and covers.

{163} CHAPTER II.

THE MATTER OF TASTE AGAIN UNDER REVIEW — “MAGAZINE,” “CITY NEWSPAPER”

AND “COUNTRY NEWSPAPER PRINTING,” ARBITRARY TERMS — A STYLE OF DESIGN

APPROPRIATE FOR CERTAIN KINDS OF PERIODICALS MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR

OTHER KINDS — SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF DESIGNING — A BROAD, BLACK

LINE DESIRABLE FOR LETTERING, “DEVICES” AND DESIGNS IN GENERAL; A FINE

LINE MAY BE USED FOR ILLUSTRATIVE CUTS — BOLD MASSES OF LIGHT AND DARK

APPROPRIATE FOR ROUGH PRINTING — THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE DESIGNS FOR

JUGEND, PAN, LA REVUE ENCYCLOPÉDIQUE, ETC., CONSIDERED.

I suppose a very orderly writer would have finished his introduction in

the last chapter, beginning in this with definite instruction. But I

feel so overwhelmingly the importance of the subject treated of in the

last chapter—that is, the matter of taste—that I must before proceeding

add a few more words to the subject. Besides, further review will

strengthen the reader’s understanding of my principle of instruction,

which is that the fitness of things, the taste which you display in

following a certain kind of design, is as much a matter of study as is

the drawing of an object.

For example, I used the words in the last chapter, “printing on rough

paper.” Now, of course, that {164} term is indefinite, and, like our

terms “magazine,” “city newspaper” and “country newspaper” printing,

can stand only for some style of printing agreed upon■

[Illustration: Front page of the French weekly, _Gil Blas_. Originally

10 3/4 inches by 15 3/4. This shows an excellent arrangement of

type for the heading and subtitles. Also, the front page cartoon, done

in excellent style, shows the use of outline and solid blacks on the

main objects, with a little parallel lining behind the objects. The

title means, “The Week in Pall Mall,” i. e., in London. “The Grand Prix

[that is, the Spring race, the Derby] has been run; brothers, we must

depart.”]

■by the writer and reader. Therefore, if you will allow, the term

“rough printing” will stand for printing corresponding to all that done

prior to the introduction of {165} coated paper, and where the type

used was long primer or larger. And I choose, as a matter of taste, to

insist upon it that all printing is bad that is not done in this way.

Now, do not set me down as a faddist. I am not thoroughly converted to

Morris’ printing, because in his matter the words are so closely run

together that they are not read with ease, and, above all things, I

do not consider the so-called “deckle-edge, handmade paper”—which in

all probability is never handmade—such an “artistic” cloak to cover a

multitude of sins as many printers consider it. The very fact that it

is artificial and imitative makes it as objectionable as coated paper,

which also is artificial and insincere.

The matter can be explained in this way: We may have no objection to a

dress suit and high silk hat. We recognize in it as legitimate a style

of dress as the workingman’s overalls; but we do not like to see a man

working in a ditch clothed in a dress suit and silk hat. With this

objection almost everyone will agree. But there are those who, wishing

to follow the dictates of society, do not like to see a man, even if he

is a lecturer or a bridegroom, disporting himself in a dress suit and

silk hat at any hour of the day earlier than six o’clock.

Now, there are two distinct lines of judgment. The first is drawn so

broadly that nearly all will agree. The second line is drawn so finely

that but few may agree. But it is a fact that in either case the

question is a matter of taste. So, then, when I claim that the title of

a newspaper should be in heavy type, and not in such script as would be

appropriate for a lady’s visiting■

{166} [Illustration: DESIGN FOR THE COVER OF A DICTIONARY, PUBLISHED IN

PAPER-COVERED PARTS.

By Eugene Grasset.

Admirable lettering (more closely following the Caroline manuscript

than the design for _La Revue Encyclopédique_), united with harmonious

design, the artist not being contented merely to introduce a girl

with poster-like hair, but bringing out an idea—that of the expansive

distribution of knowledge, signified by the dandelion seed, which is

freely distributed by the wind; see motto “_Je seme a tout vent_.” I

sow (or spread) seed with every wind.]

■{167} card, most of you will agree with me. But when I claim that

the title should be in very heavy block type, and not in French Old

Style, I shall not have so many followers. Of course, it is true that

circumstances alter cases, and while I think it quite necessary that a

“Daily News,” “Journal” or “Press” should have the heaviest of type,

I will acknowledge that a dainty little weekly in 8vo, called “The

Needlewoman,” or “Embroidery Notes,” might be properly printed with a

pica italic heading.

I think the reader now understands the object of the second part of

“Drawing for Printers,” and will see that nearly all the illustrations

in it are selected with a view to their appropriateness for rough

printing, simply because it is therein that you need to study the

subject of designing for printing. It is self-evident that to print a

half-tone cut you need calendered or coated paper, and that with this a

little half-tone initial letter could be used, but as we study printing

on poor stock, familiarity with the styles of the past is necessary

to acquaint you with what is best in pictorial, or rather decorative,

effect.

This much said, let us fall to considering some principles of

designing. Other things being equal, a broad black line is best if

there is any shadow or detail in the drawing. But if there is no shadow

the outline need not be very heavy, but the drawing may partake of a

diagram effect, as in the watch-chain illustration from the _Figaro_,

given in a preceding chapter (page 165). Such a thin line harmonizes

with the type and does not {168} attract too much attention. It is

also well suited for the unimportant elements in a heading design. But

if you wish to introduce in a heading an important element like the

American eagle, the coat-of-arms of a state, or an emblematic design

for a class paper, then a strong line or a solid black is preferable.

Strong lines and blacks are also preferable for an initial letter that

is to form part of the decoration of a page.

Therefore, if we consider the front page of a paper or catalogue

consisting of a heading, an initial letter and an illustration, we

may treat each design according to the following principles. If the

illustration is to be the main thing, the heading and initial letter

would best■

[Illustration: Heading to a novel in _The Pall Mall Budget_, an example

of free-hand lettering and device, showing elements suggestive of the

subject matter. The lettering is not heavy enough for the title-page of

a periodical, nor is it so heavy as to interfere with the effect of the

illustration on the same page.]

■be mostly in outline, as in the _Figaro_ watch chains. But if there

is no illustration, and we wish the heading and initial letter to be

decorative, a heavy outline and solid black may be used. As an example

of heavy outline and solid black we have selected the dictionary cover

by Grasset. This is strong enough to serve as a heading for a newspaper

or periodical, but in the case of a {169} chapter heading such heavy

lettering might not be desirable, and the lighter _Pall Mall Budget_

design might be preferable. So, too, as in the _Jugend_, since■

[Illustration: TITLE-PAGE TO VOLUME II OF JUGEND.

Showing harmonious uniting of free-hand designed letter, type, and

device. The device, however, is a little too pictorial; it would be

better if its background were simpler.]

■the illustration is not the most important thing, heavy blacks may be

used; it is an excellent example of the {170} proper heaviness of the

heading contrasted with an unimportant illustration. Here, however, the

black is around, not upon, the letter.

Perhaps one of the most enjoyable features of the printer-designer’s

work is that of designing covers for booklets and pamphlets. If he

does not have to confine himself to a definite idea, he may choose

a motive from a thousand and one different elements. Of course, he

must be more or less logical in his choice of motive, and not put a

Pierrot upon a church fair programme, nor a bunch of violets upon a

stove manufacturer’s catalogue, though we frequently run across such

designing. One of the enemies to good designing is the prevalent

taste for photographic half-tone covers, where the stove manufacturer

requires the reproduction of his stoves on the cover. Now, we are

utterly opposed to this; not on the ground that the picture of a

stove is not a fit emblem for a stove manufacturer’s catalogue—for it

certainly is quite proper—but we object on the ground that the printing

of it requires coated paper, which often is not tenacious enough for a

cover; and, secondly, on the ground that the delicacy of the half-tone,

which has no strong outlines or masses of light or dark, does not make

a picture that can be seen at a sufficient distance to warrant its

being a cover. The brevier that you use in the body of a book is not

the proper type for its cover, and so a delicate half-tone that is

appropriate for the reading pages of your catalogue is not appropriate

for its cover. The specimens we give in this chapter, therefore, are

nearly all of them■

{171} [Illustration: Cover design for a German periodical entitled

_Pan_, by Franz Stuck. Original, 8 by 12. Printed in black on heavy

green cover paper.]

{172} [Illustration: Department heading designed by Eugene Grasset for

_La Revue Encyclopédique_, showing an excellent style of lettering

(founded on the Caroline), also an admirable decorative outline made to

give a finished effect, or an effect of delicacy.]

■adapted to rough, heavy paper, which will make a durable cover.

The design for _Pan_, by Franz Stuck, is a particularly good example.

Possibly the shadow thrown by the head is a disturbing element in the

composition; it makes the right-hand side heavy and is not in itself

decorative.

The spacing also between the P and the A is greater than between the A

and the N, without, so far as we can see, having a valid reason for so

being. But the design was for the cover of a publication of artist’s

sketches, and it was consequently more permissible for the artist

to draw with freedom than had he been designing a more conventional

cover. Stuck is one of the best letterers in Europe; and, in his more

serious moments, is most exact in his spacing. The two most interesting

characteristics of the design are the elegance of the letters and the

boldness of the drawing of the head; {173} substitute more commonplace

lettering as in the “Roebuck” heading (page 168) and such delicate

drawing as in the Grasset “Encyclopédie,” and the design would lose

force as a pamphlet cover.

The _Westminster_ design, given on page 157, recommends itself because

of the silhouette steeple, which could be easily engraved on wood,

and also because of the lettering, which is as good an example of

“pen-hand” as is the _Pan_ of “monumental” lettering. It also suggests

effects to be got by white on black, as does the _Jugend_.

The “Roebuck” (page 168) lacks the elegance of the _Pan_ and the

robustness of the _Westminster_, but it shows a good style for such

newspaper lettering as has to be made quickly; as, for example,

drawn on the chalk-plate in half an hour, when perfect spacing and

proportioning is out of the question. There are times also when a

letter is needed that is not truly elegant. It seems sacrilegious, as

it were, to design a heading for “On the Diamond and Gridiron” with

letters from a Lucca Della Robbia monument, or the Mazarin Bible.

Therefore, some such lettering as the “Roebuck” comes in appropriate

for the light departments of a paper.

Akin to the _Pan_ design is the _Jugend_ (page 169), though it is not

nearly so good. It would be better with a border about it, and still

better if the _Jugend_ letters were not quite so narrow, and if the

background behind the girl were more simply drawn; but the letter is

good and strong, and the figure, being in outline, {174} might be

printed upon the roughest paper. The whole page is interesting also as

showing recent movement in type design in Germany. This is the result

of the William Morris movement in England. It will be noticed that

the type letters are broad and well proportioned; they are virtually

modernized Jenson.

{175} [Illustration: HEADING DESIGN BY GEORG AURIOL.

From _La Revue Encyclopédique_.]

CHAPTER III.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS ILLUSTRATIONS APPROPRIATE FOR DIFFERENT

PURPOSES — THE RIVOIRE APPROPRIATE WHERE EXPENDITURE IS

UNLIMITED — HALF-TONES USED FOR NEWS-GIVING OR INFORMATION-GIVING

PURPOSES — THE HASSALL OUTLINE APPROPRIATE FOR POSTERS AND DECORATIVE

PRINTING.

Let us resume the consideration of some miscellaneous illustrations

for the sake of investigating the different styles of design and the

principles which underlie them. As we said in Chapter II, the French,

who are the most ready to use simple designs printed on rough paper,

also are experts in preparing with most exquisite workmanship most

delicate designs. Let us cite the cover of the _Paris Illustré_—you

will see that here a half-tone and a wood engraving have been used, and

that each is virtually a picture. The type of the title is very fine

French Old Style (by fine we mean thin), and while, of course, the hair

lines in the a and e are due to our great reduction of the cut, yet in

the original these lines were very fine, and therefore by no■

{176} [Illustration: Cover design, by Rivoire, for a summer number of

_Paris Illustré_, the flowers printed in slate color, in half-tone; the

portrait, of Mlle. Weber, a wood engraving, and the title, printed in

black. The original 11 1/2 by 15 inches.]

■{177} means as well adapted to ordinary printing as the Grasset,

Caspari (_Jugend_), and Stuck designs given in Chapter II. Yet I

consider the present design an admirable one. But what are the facts

in the case? The art editor, in getting up this design, had plenty of

money at his disposal. The cover was of heavy calendered paper, the

flowers were printed in half-tone in color, and the woman’s portrait,

printed in black, was beautifully engraved on wood, a very costly

process. This single cover may have cost as much as the entire sixteen

pages of the body of the weekly.

The Auriol heading of this chapter is French also, and is no less

artistic than the realistic flowers on the _Paris Illustré_ cover; but

on account of its simplicity it is far superior to the _Paris Illustré_

as a floral design for ordinary printing, simply because it can be

printed on cheap stock and can be cheaply and quickly reproduced. There

ought to be no mistake, then, about my attitude in recommending one

style of designing above another. I do so from a practical point of

view.

A third example is found in the two Burns cuts. Surely, when I found

the half-tone among the news columns of an English art periodical I

did not object to its realism; on the contrary, it gave me a very good

idea of what the original statue was like. But think of the expense of

having a half-tone made large enough for a poster! Also, how vague it

would appear from across the street if the poster were in half-tone.

But, turning to the Hassall, see how admirably the artist has given us

the impression of Burns, how■

{178} [Illustration: BURNS STATUE.

By F. W. Pomeroy. Recently unveiled at Paisley. Half-tone from a

half-tone from a photograph, published in the _Magazine of Art_.]

{179} [Illustration: POSTER DESIGN FOR THE BURNS EXHIBITION, GLASGOW.

By J. Hassall.]

■{180} well his design would appear from across the street, and how

cheaply it could be reproduced. Therefore, what an excellent style his

is as a guide for my printer readers.

Hence, if the printer readers wish to make a cover design containing

a portrait and flowers, I advise them not to follow the Rivoire—not

for the reason that it is inartistic, but because it is too expensive

for ordinary printing, and for cheap printing a poor imitation is

abominable; while a design like the Caspari (_Jugend_, see page 169),

where the portrait would be an outline and the lettering broad so it

could be quickly read like the word “Jugend,” and in which the floral

form should be decoratively treated like the dandelion design in the

Grasset “Larousse,” or like the Auriol, page 175, would be just as

pleasing to the eye, would print on the cheapest kind of stock, and

would, therefore, appear to the critical as an artistic design.

{181} CHAPTER IV.

AN IMPORTANT CHAPTER ON LETTERING — LETTERING CAN NEVER BE WHOLLY

ORIGINAL, IT MUST FOLLOW HISTORICAL MODELS; MUST BE BLACKLETTER

OR ITALIAN — THE STUDENT ADVISED TO MASTER THREE OR FOUR STANDARD

ALPHABETS — STRANGE’S BOOK ON ALPHABETS RECOMMENDED — MONUMENTAL

LETTERS CONSTRUCTED UPON A GEOMETRICAL BASIS — MR. GLEASON WHITE ON

CHARLES RICKETTS AND THE VALE PRESS QUOTED — IT IS RECOMMENDED TO

COPY A MONUMENTAL ALPHABET, AND TO GIVE SOME STUDY TO THE COMPLEX

GOTHIC ALPHABETS, THAT THE STUDENT MAY UNDERSTAND THE PRINCIPLES OF

THE THICKENING OF DIFFERENT PARTS OF A LETTER BY PEN PRESSURE — IT IS

RECOMMENDED TO PRACTICE THE CAROLINE HAND FIRST, AND THEN THE GOTHIC.

This and the following chapters devoted to lettering give much

practical information to the printer which may be enhanced in value

if, before reading them, he will proceed as follows: Let him turn to

the advertising pages of some printers’ magazine and copy, _as best

he can_, three or four lines of ornamental lettering of three or four

different fonts. After he has done this, then read this chapter and the

next, and _follow the suggestions therein_. We think he will then get

a fuller benefit from them than if he reads our suggestions first and

then proceeds to letter according to our directions.

A great deal of time is wasted by the beginner who attempts to letter

because of his impression that he can originate new styles of letters.

Now, a critic sometimes speaks of “original lettering,” meaning that

the lettering shows individuality in treatment, and is not the mere

slavish copying of some conventional form. {182} But in comparison

to the other branches of art there is no such thing as originality in

lettering. Your letter must be, broadly speaking, either Gothic (or

blackletter, thus «A») or Italian (or roman letter, thus A); that is,

it must be built upon Gothic or Italian principles. The best thing

for the beginner to do is to obtain some examples of good lettering

and master two or three alphabets of Gothic or Italian style. After

he has done this, he will see how all other alphabets he may come

across in printed books will conform to the same general principles of

the alphabets he has mastered. He will see how certain minor changes

may be made, and if, in the end, he is anxious to be original he

will, by broadening a letter where it may be broadened, or bringing

its cross-bar down a little lower than usual, give a suggestion of

originality to his work. (The chances are, however, that he will prefer

to prove himself a good workman, and be content to combine, place and

execute traditional letters.)

Strange’s “Alphabets,” published a few years ago, is an excellent

book to study, and we shall give several alphabets from it. The old

books on the subject are apt to be too ornamental for the printer,

and the example we give from Niedling’s “Book Ornaments” is of far

less practical use than the Strange examples we shall give. But the

Bauernfeind alphabet is valuable for study. It shows the construction

of the capitals on a geometrical basis, giving an idea of how

monumental letters are made. It is easy to see that with such a guide

as this, made by an architect, the commonest workman, with the aid of

the■

{183} [Illustration: Page from a Minnesingers’ song-book in the

University library at Heidelberg. Example of Gothic letter. The initial

letters were in black and terra cotta. The letter W was half black and

half terra cotta; the U, H, and I were terracotta; the ornamentation

was black. In all probability the letters were half an inch or an inch

high. If you examine them under a magnifying glass you can understand

their construction better than as they now appear. The first verse

reads as follows:

“Winter, dine trüben stunde

und din kelte magnivalt,

ob ich das erwenden kunde,

daz siu wurden has gestalt,

das liesse ich dur die lange naht,

und durh die vil minneklichen

diu mir froeiden vil hat braht.”

]

■{184} square and compass, could cut in marble an immense dedication of

a building or archway, though the letters might be two or three feet

high. A little study of this alphabet will give you the ability to

understand anything written upon the subject of roman letters, so that

the following quotation from an article by Gleason White, taken from

the _Magazine of Art_, will immediately become intelligible to you. Mr.

White was writing of Charles Ricketts and the productions of the Vale

Press. He said the Vale Press had its own type, its own paper with its

own watermark, but the printing was done by Messrs. Ballantyne. The

type designed by Mr. Ricketts was “based on the precedents of the best

Italian alphabets.”

Mr. Ricketts believes that the plan on which all letters should be

based is that of the perfect circle or the perfect square; it matters

not which geometrical form you choose, since a certain number of

letters—M, L, H, and the like—demand a parallelogram, and others—C, G,

Q, O—an ovate or circular plan. If to draw this distinction between

types based on the oval or the circle appear a mere quibble, we must

remember that the difference between the Byzantine and the Pointed

styles, which divide architecture into two great sections, is one

of similar limit. There is all the difference in the world, to a

specialist in types, between a small “b,” “g” or “o” that follows

the circle (○), and one that is planned upon an oval (⬯)—I wish to

emphasize this point, because I know that the designer regards it

as vital; and I, for one, agree entirely with his estimate of its

importance. The question of “ceriphs” and the angles of certain

strokes; whether a W consists of interlaced V’s, or of two connected

only by the ceriph; whether the ceriphs of a capital T are vertical, or

slant divers■

{185} [Illustration: Reduced page from “Nimphidia,” by Michael Drayton;

design and lettering by Charles Ricketts. Lettering to be compared with

the Italian “Lucidario.”]

{186} [Illustration: Facsimile of the title-page of the “Lucidario” (A.

Mischomini: Florence, 1494). Original size of rule, giving proportion

of page, 4 7/8 by 7 7/8 inches. Showing early Italian type letter

and wood-cut design in harmony with same.]

■{187} ways, or parallel—all these are secondary matters, but the plan

of the letter is not secondary.

In the beautiful Kelmscott type, as in the famous Foulis fonts and

other notable instances, the O is ovate, and all other letters

agree with it. In Mr. Ricketts’ “Vale” type, the square and the

circle dominate every letter. If this distinction be passed over

as unimportant, further contention is useless. But on this point

no compromise can be entertained. If it be unimportant whether the

arch is a semicircle, or planned, like Euclid’s first problem, upon

the intersection of circles, then it matters little. But so long as

architecture is separated by such structural difference, it follows

that an O based on a circle, or an H based on a perfect square, must

be entirely unrelated to the ovate O or the oblong H. When taste is in

question, one allows the adversary equal vantage; but when geometry

comes in, axioms must be observed. Therefore, the ill-founded assertion

that Mr. Rickett’s type copies any modern font cannot be allowed. You

may dislike his symbol for the ordinary “&,” or dispute over the beauty

of his ceriphs and the oblique strokes of certain letters; but if you

maintain that a circle and an oval are practically alike, the question

of these nicer points need not be raised.

We give a reproduction of a page from the Vale Press, and for

comparison the Lucidario printed in Florence in 1494. The similarity in

the style of lettering is evident.

An evening or two spent in copying the Bauernfeind alphabet, and then

making up one upon the principle that most of the letters should be

contained in a square will lead you to understand the monumental

letter, or what you recognize as upper-case Roman. You might then begin

to collect pictures of mediæval and classical monuments, and you would

at a glance be able to see {188} the principles upon which their

inscriptions are constructed, and you would see that though the letters

of certain monuments differed in proportion from others, yet the

letters themselves of all the classical monuments would be virtually

the same, and most of the Italian mediæval inscriptions the same in

character. An Albrecht Durer alphabet given by Strange (on page 174) is

particularly interesting, being constructed in the same manner as the

Bauernfeind.

The Stimmer and Rogel Gothic alphabets are almost worthless for

printers’ designing, but it will not be without profit for you to

realize that they are built upon the principle of the swell made with

a quill pen, and this will lead you to the study of what you recognize

as Gothic letters which grew out of the pen hand of the middle ages.

Whether in solid black or white, any Gothic letter must have more or

less the principles of the Stimmer and Rogel alphabets. Space will not

permit of a full analyzation of the matter, so let us take the letter

L only. In its simplest form it consists of two lines (or “limbs”) at

right angles—one perpendicular, the other horizontal. Both lines may

be the same length; but conventionality has ordered that if either

be the shorter, the horizontal should be. The irregularity of the

ends of the letter, as in the monumental letters, is not a necessary

characteristic of an L (which may consist of two simple lines); but it

is the most frequent form in the monuments and is associated with our

idea of a capital letter. When made with a pen in the middle ages it

was sometimes customary to give the two lines■

{189} [Illustration: Examples of seventeenth century alphabets. From

“Bücher Ornamentik,” by A. Niedling, Weimar, 1895. B. F. Voigt. The

first alphabet, after Michael Bauernfeind, is a monumental letter

based upon the square, the margins of the letters being obtained by

segments of circles. With such a diagram a letter ten feet high could

be made as easily as one an inch high, and by an ordinary workman. The

printer would not advisedly map out his letter with such exactitude,

but it would be well to copy several of the letters, if not the whole

alphabet, that he may study the character of the monumental letter. The

second alphabet is after Chr. Stimmer; the third after type, the dies

of which were cut by Hans Rogel.]

■{190} an undulatory character, and there is hardly any kind of twist

or curve that has not been given to them. In making initial letters, in

order to fill up the space it became the practice to make two lines of

the upright shaft, and sometimes three lines were used. Cross-bars were

also introduced, so that in Caxton’s initial letters the L looks like

the monogram P. E. L. Almost nothing restrained the caligrapher; and if

he chose to make a dozen or two upright shafts, each getting smaller

than the other on either side of the letter, the whole ending in some

such Celtic interlacing as the base of the Niedling plate, he could do

so. But none of this is an organic form of the letter L; and additional

curve is pure ornament. The distinction between the superficial

ornament and the organic lines of a letter is easily understood by

first practicing the Caroline hand and then the Gothic. In the next

chapter we shall be more explicit as regards details.

{191} CHAPTER V.

THE DISTINCTION IN LETTERING BETWEEN SUPERFLUOUS ORNAMENTS AND ORGANIC

LINES — A SOLID FOUNDATION FOR THE STUDY OF LETTERING — STUDIES, WITH

THE QUILL PEN, OF THE CAROLINE ALPHABET AND ITS MODERN REVIVAL IN

FRANCE BY GRASSET AND AURIOL — THE MINNESINGER LETTER NOT VERY ORNATE

BUT MORE COMPLEX THAN THE CAROLINE — THE MINNESINGER CORRESPONDS TO THE

STIMMEL AND ROGEL ALPHABETS — THE BERGOMENSIS LETTER MORE COMPLICATED

AND MORE REGULAR THAN THE MINNESINGER — THE ITALIC LETTER MORE SIMPLE

AND ROUNDER THAN THE MINNESINGER.

In the last chapter we said, “The distinction between the superficial

ornament and the organic lines of a letter is easily understood by

first practicing the Caroline letter and then the Gothic.” Let us

explain the benefit of this practicing; the keynote to the matter is

found in our Caroline example. Draw the second I and you will find that

it is virtually a simple shaft with a little spreading at the top and

bottom. If you draw with a quill or reed pen it is very easy to get

this swell by a little extra pressure as you begin to draw and as you

finish; and in almost all Caroline writing the I is made freehand and

the shape depends upon pen pressure and varies a little each time the

letter is made. It is not mapped out beforehand. The thin curved line

on top of the first I is superfluous ornament; that line is made by a

second stroke. We find several such ornaments in the first two lines

which form the head of a chapter, just as we find much ornamentation

of the initial letter; but we {192} do not find any ornamentation of

the I’s in the eight lines of text. There the I’s are all made with a

single stroke of the pen, so that the top and bottom of each one is a

trifle different from that of the others. In the first line of text

there is superfluous ornamenting of the T’s, and of the H. Otherwise

this is a true pen hand; the I made with one stroke, the C, D, L, O, P,

Q, U, X, etc., with two strokes, the A, B, E, M, N, R, S, with three.

The reader is advised to copy this alphabet with as large a quill pen

as procurable, making the letters from half an inch to an inch high,

and then, turning to the Grasset “Nouveau Larousse Illustré,” it will

dawn upon him that he knows exactly how the letters there were made;

and he will have little trouble in imitating almost to perfection

the three words, “En Six Volumes.” When he tries the words, “Nouveau

Larousse Illustré,” he may have some trouble with the A, the S and with

the O, which does not show its separate halves as in the Caroline: the

horizontal line of the L also is more difficult to make than if it were

the same width throughout. The I, R, N and V he will find quite simple.

As he familiarizes himself with the Caroline M, D, V and I; with the

H in the second line of the text under the ornamental H; and with the

P, S, C, he will begin to realize that upper and lower case letters

were originally the same. He will also be surprised, if he next falls

to studying the Minnesinger letters (last chapter) under a magnifying

glass, to find how like they are to the Caroline. Is not the capital I

somewhat clumsier than the first I in the Caroline top line? Are not

the c, d, h, i, o, p, s, u, v and y clumsier, more angular drawings of

the same letters as in the■

{193} [Illustration: TITLE-PAGE BY JACOBUS PHILLIPPAS FORESTI

BERGOMENSIS.

(Ferrara, 1497.)

A splendid example of Gothic lettering. It is to be remembered that

this was originally designed with a reed or quill pen, and the

ornamentations are such as may be easily made with that instrument. But

its regularity is also due, in a small measure perhaps, to its having

been engraved on white metal. In an entire book written in this style

the letters would be less regular—a little more like the Minnesinger

letters.]

Drawing for Printers. A practical treatise on the art of designing and illustrating in connection with typography. Containing complete instruction, fully illustrated, concerning the art of drawing, for the beginner as well as the more advanced student. · 第 15 / 16 章

The Bonnat portrait of Cogniet becomes particularly interesting from