Basic Representations of Form
he outline of any object is usually the part that appeals to the eye first, except possibly the color, because outline takes in the object as a whole. By outline is meant the extreme outer edge, such as G (Plate 1). In drawing, this is usually the first thing put upon paper. If the object—such as a cube, or the cylinder, C (Plate 2) --is seen in perspective, the corner (as Z) is also usually considered as part of the outline. Consequently, an outline drawing may be said to be a drawing of the most important parts of an object in plain, simple lines, without any shadows, or tonal colorings. Occasionally, however, an outline is modified, so that, while the shape of an object is shown in outline, the shadows are indicated by varying the thickness of parts of the outline, as in Plate 3.
Roughly speaking, the parts nearest to us, or those which have a hollow space below them, and so, probably, a shadow, are drawn in heavier lines; while those portions which are farthest away, or which project toward, or catch the light, are drawn in thinner lines. By varying the thickness of the lines in this manner, an outline drawing may give a very good idea of thickness of parts projected toward us, or of parts which recede into the body of the object, as in the manner in which the pen shows across the corner of the inkwell.
An outline drawing can be in any stage of detail. The mere outward shape of width and height may be drawn, as in G (Plate i), or the principal divisions of the object may be added, as in B (Plate 2), or the smallest details may be depicted, as in D or E (Plate 3). These are all outline drawings. For certain types of work, the detail is always drawn in pencil, especially where the drawing is to be finished later in pen and ink or trans-
parent wash, and, if drawn lightly and carefully, may be readily covered over or easily erased. Proceeding in this manner, the finishing process, with pen lines or brush tones, is simply an elaboration of the pencil drawing, and may be done with little fear of going astray in shape, position, or proportion.
While the correct outline of an object is very necessary in any drawing, it is not always enough to make the shape of that object plain. Take an egg, for example. The outline of this is an oval, which is simply a flat geometrical form (see H, Plate I), whereas an egg is not a flat geometrical form by any means. It is rounded, partly spherical, and without corners; consequently, to represent correctly the shape of an egg to the eye, this flat geometrical form of an outline must be shaded.
Every object has an outline, and most objects have, in addition, unevennesses of their surfaces—few things are absolutely flat. Some parts may project in such a manner that they will catch much light; others may not project as far and so only catch a portion of it; while still others may recede instead of project, some but a little, some much, and so be in varying depths of shadow instead of in light. These inequalities, if viewed from the side, would show an unequal outline, while if viewed from the front there may be no outline apparent at all, because the parts may flow in a smooth, even curve, as is the case in the side of the egg. In this case, they must be shown by shading, and the artist attempts to show them as naturally as possible by means of varying tones.
This would be the method employed to give shape to the egg, and turn the oval outline into something besides a flat geometrical form. As the egg projects toward us and catches the light, it shows brighter, while as it recedes from us and the light, it becomes darker, and these various tones, if properly graduated, give an approximation, on the flat white of the paper, of the lights and shadows on the rounded shell of the egg.
A drawing with no shading or perspective, like some of the figures in Plates r and 2, always looks flat, because there is nothing to give the observer the impression that he is looking at anything but an unbroken surface, unrelieved by either protuberances or depressions, nor is there anything to carry the eye to any greater apparent distance than the piece of paper upon which the outlines are drawn. It is the ability to transfer the outline correctly, and to show the lights and shadows of an object as they are in nature—in other words, to convey the illusion of surfaces of various shapes and distances on the flat plane of a sheet of paper—that makes the artist.
To convey an impression of thickness, shading is required; consequently shading is as much a means of expressing form as is outline, and must be just as carefully considered. It is the form of the object that gives shape to the shadows, and the shape of these shadows, when drawn upon the paper, will give form to the drawing and make it a proper representation of the object. Hence the necessity of close and careful attention to both outline and shadows.
The capacity of a little shadow to depict an object of any shape on a flat piece of paper is very wonderful. When we consider that on a page of this book it is possible to represent a twenty-story building, a spool of thread, a delicate flower, or a heavy machine; to look over a landscape three or four miles deep to the horizon; or to depict the restless tumbling of a transparent sea, we can form some idea of the care with which these different tones must be drawn, shadows defined, and various values differentiated, for upon them depend the shapes, distances, and comparative effect of each object by itself, and of the picture as a whole.
Most of the studies in this book will be devoted to the various practical methods of representing shadows and the different mediums used. There is not so much difficulty in drawing outlines, because they are really only one line, sometimes of varying thicknesses, but sometimes merely a mark at which to stop a shadow. Light and shade, however, is a much more complicated problem, varying as it does from a tone little darker than white paper to one but slightly lighter than solid black, with all the intermediate tones, sharp, blended, and of every possible shape and texture. Even in the same mediums, there are oftentimes different methods of showing the same tones, and these methods the artist should know. Take Plates 5 and 6 as samples; they are both pencil drawings, but one is done in lines and the other in masses; a similar difference in treatment is also found in pen and ink, or transparent wash, or body color. One point must never be overlooked, as it is of the utmost importance to the practical artist and to a proper reproduction of his work, and that is, that the choice among these methods depends upon the scope and capacity of whatever process may be used to engrave them. Carelessness in this respect is responsible for numerous failures. For no matter what method is used, it must be thoroughly understood that the proper drawing of light and shadow is of prime importance to a proper representation of form, and that the medium used, or the technique chosen, must be capable of giving us these shadows correctly on paper, if we are to have a true delineation of the object drawn.
The techniques of pencil, pen and ink, or the brush are all different, and show differently in the finished drawing, even when the same tone is represented, and the artist should accustom himself to judging tones regardless of the medium employed. Because of this difference in technique, it is sometimes difficult for an inexperienced artist to see the tones of a drawing in their true shade and to transpose accurately from one medium to the other, and he should endeavor to overcome this trouble as speedily as possible, judging effect (in this particular respect) solely by the tone and not by the technique employed. Technique and medium are simply the methods by which tones are obtained; they are the means, not the end; and upon the correctness of tone depends the impression of light and shade and our whole idea of the mass, shape, and surface of the object which a drawing represents.