TECHNIQUES TO TRACE, TRANSFER, & COPY SKETCHES & DRAWINGS

Tracing and Transferring Drawings

Offset Sheets.—Necessity frequently arises for transferring outlines, etc., from one surface to another, as, for instance, from a pencil drawing on absorbent paper to a less absorbent paper suitable for pen drawings. For such a purpose, a thin sheet of firm paper with a surface that is not too smooth should be provided. This sheet can be made into fairly permanent transfer-paper by spreading over one side with any dry pigment, such as powdered indigo, red chalk, or the scrapings from the point of a pencil.

Another way is by a rubbing movement of the side of a soft pencil of any color. The entire surface of the paper should he covered. Whichever method is used, the surface should he blended by "stumping" or rubbing gently with the finger or a soft rag. Place this prepared paper with the colored side down on the blank paper that is to receive the copy. Over the former place the drawings from which the lines are to be transferred. Next take a stylus or sharp-pointed hard pencil—if a pencil, the harder the better—and trace over the lines that are to be repeated or transferred on the white paper below.

The result will be a faint outline that can be touched up if required with a pencil, or the picture maybe completed at once with pen and ink. The "offset sheet," as it is called, may be preserved for frequent future use. Tracing paper treated in the same way may be used. Tracing paper is useful in many ways, but its general use is not to be recommended for the pupil. There are times, however, when tracing paper is a great help.

Pencil Transfers.—When a pencil drawing has been made that one wishes to preserve and also to reproduce practically line for line, in pen and ink, the use of tracing paper is advisable in order to transfer the outlines of the pencil drawing onto the paper on which the pen drawing is to be made. To do this proceed as follows :

Take a piece of tracing paper (in lieu of the regular kind, any thin, firm, transparent paper that is not oily will answer the purpose). With a finely-pointed rather soft pencil trace the outlines of the pencil drawing.

Then lay the tracing paper on another sheet of white paper, with the pencil lines of the tracing paper on the under side. Then again draw the lines on the tracing paper, but on the side opposite to those made before. The lines are now drawn on both sides of the tracing paper. Now place it on the paper on which the pen drawing is to be made with the lines that were last drawn underneath; that is, they should be in contact with the pen drawing paper. The tracing paper should now be briskly rubbed on the upper surface with the side of a stylus or stiff, flat-surfaced ivory or bone paper cutter. The thumb nail is sometimes used for this purpose, but its use should be discouraged, as it wears away the nail very quickly.

Tracing Transferred.—The tracing will now be found to be more or less faintly transferred to the pen-paper. If necessary, the transferred tracing may be touched up here and there, where a greater definition seems necessary to guide the pen.

Preserve Tracings.—The tracing paper after use need no be discarded, for it may be used several times, although after each transfer the "offset" will become more and more dim. Greater pressure is required then, and the lines on the tracing paper may have to be strengthened. By preserving tracings, subsequent impressions are available in case the first drawing in pen-and-ink is unsatisfactory, or in case one desires to work up the same theme in a different style of treatment.

Transfer from Opaque Paper.—Whenever necessary to make a transfer from a piece of paper that is not transparent, the reverse drawing (the lines which make the offset) can be made by placing the paper against a window pane, which will cause the paper to appear transparent, when the lines may be traced.

Interesting and Practical Experiment —When it is necessary to make the transfer in contact with any certain part of the drawing this can be accomplished by placing the paper near the desired place and then rapidly lifting and lowering the transfer until the part on the transfer and the part on the drawing underneath appear as one. The phenomenon is similar to the principle on which moving pictures are based.

To illustrate the experiment make the drawing A in Fig. 1. Then another drawing B, which place over A. Then move up and down very quickly, as indicated in Fig. 2, in the directions as shown by the arrows E and F. Bring C towards vou from D sufficiently far that the eye may see A as well as B. If moved with sufficient speed, A and B will appear as they do at the left of Fig. 3.

For the purpose of making both halves of a design precisely alike fold a thin piece of paper and on one side draw half of the design. Then fold again and by rubbing briskly on the back of the paper with any hard substance, the design will even appear sufficiently legible to be penciled over. It can then in turn be transferred to paper that is not creased. The method is shown in Fig. 8. The heavy lines represent the half first drawn, while the dotted lines show the folds and transfer. If the subject is a wreath an initial may be added. In the upper right-hand corner is shown half of a "B" started in this manner.

Fold a piece of paper in the middle (Fig. 9). Draw half a butterfly on one side of the fold ; transfer it. Pencil the transfer. A very pretty and interesting variation of this exercise consists in using colored chalks instead of pencil, and then intensifying the transfer.

Take a piece of drawing paper about four inches square and fold it four times, according to the straight dotted lines in Fig. to. Fold towards you, and open the paper after each folding. In one of the spaces, as at A, draw a design similar to the one shown. Crease and make a transfer, as at B. Pencil the transferred line. Fold at CC. Transfer the quarter design to the space E. Pencil as before, fold at DD and transfer to FFFF. Then pencil the transfer. Medallions can be drawn in a like manner by making the outside of the design follow an eighth of a circle, as at G.

The designs "e" and "f" are composed principally of the units a, b, c and d transferred, reversed, inverted and repeated somewhat according to the methods described in the chapter on Pastel-Stenciling. For exercise draw the same units or others, and construct other designs in a similar manner.

It is advisable to make tracings of both front and back of each unit. If the face of a tracing is rubbed for the purpose of transferring lines that are on the other side, the lines on the face will no longer transfer. For general use as a tracing point or stylus, the 6H pencil is very good.