(Illustrated) The Art of Illustration contains ninety-five illustrations, which have been selected to show the possibilities of “process” work in educated, capable hands, rather than any tours de force in drawing, or exploits of genius. They are all of modern work, and are printed on the same sheets as the letterpress.
The object of this book is to explain the modern systems of Book and Newspaper Illustration, and especially the methods of drawing. The most important branch of illustration treated of is line drawing, as it is practically out of reach of competition by the photographer, and is, moreover, the kind of drawing most easily reproduced and printed at the type press; but wash drawing, drawing upon grained papers, and the modern appliances for reproduction, are all treated.
The best instructors in drawing for process are, after all, the painters of pictures who know so well how to express themselves in black and white, and to whom I owe many obligations. There is a wide distinction between their treatment of “illustration” and the so-called “pen-and-ink” artist. The “genius” who strikes out a wonderful path of his own, whose scratches and splashes appear in so many books and newspapers, is of the “butterfly” order of being—a creation, so to speak, of the processes, and is not to be emulated or imitated.
In painting we learn everything from the past—everything that it is best to know. In engraving also, we learn from the past the best way to interpret colour into line, but in drawing for the processes there is practically no “past” to refer to; at the same time the advance of the photographer into the domain of illustration renders it of vital importance to artists to put forth their best work in black and white, and it throws great responsibility upon art teachers to give a good groundwork of education to the illustrator of the future. In all this, education—general education—will take a wider part.
The object of this book is to explain the modern systems of Book and Newspaper Illustration, and especially the methods of drawing. The most important branch of illustration treated of is line drawing, as it is practically out of reach of competition by the photographer, and is, moreover, the kind of drawing most easily reproduced and printed at the type press; but wash drawing, drawing upon grained papers, and the modern appliances for reproduction, are all treated.
The best instructors in drawing for process are, after all, the painters of pictures who know so well how to express themselves in black and white, and to whom I owe many obligations. There is a wide distinction between their treatment of “illustration” and the so-called “pen-and-ink” artist. The “genius” who strikes out a wonderful path of his own, whose scratches and splashes appear in so many books and newspapers, is of the “butterfly” order of being—a creation, so to speak, of the processes, and is not to be emulated or imitated.
In painting we learn everything from the past—everything that it is best to know. In engraving also, we learn from the past the best way to interpret colour into line, but in drawing for the processes there is practically no “past” to refer to; at the same time the advance of the photographer into the domain of illustration renders it of vital importance to artists to put forth their best work in black and white, and it throws great responsibility upon art teachers to give a good groundwork of education to the illustrator of the future. In all this, education—general education—will take a wider part.
