process work. Mr. Railton has studied his
process, and brought to it a knowledge of architecture and sense of
the picturesque. This illustration is reduced considerably from the
original drawing.]

The artist who draws for reproduction by chemical and mechanical
means is thrown upon his own resources. He cannot say to the acid,
"Make these lines a little sharper," or to the sun's rays, "Give a
little more light"; and so--as we cannot often have good wood
engraving, as it is not always cheap enough or rapid enough for our
needs--we draw on paper what we want reproduced, and resort to one of
the photographic processes described in this book.

[Illustration: "BY UNFREQUENTED WAYS." (W. H. GORE.)]

I do not think the modern illustrator realises how much depends upon him
in taking the place, so to speak, of the wood engraver. The
interpretation of tone into line fitted for the type press, to which
the wood engraver gave a lifetime, will devolve more and more upon him.
We cannot keep this too continually in mind, for in spite of the
limitations in mechanically-produced blocks (as compared with wood
engraving) in obtaining delicate effects of tone in line, much can be
done in which the engraver has no part.

[Illustration: "THE LOWING HERD WINDS SLOWLY O'ER THE LEA." (W H.
GORE.)]

I purposely place these two pen-and-ink drawings by Mr. Gore side by
side, to show what delicacy of line and tone may be obtained on a relief
block by proper treatment. One could hardly point to better examples of
pure line. They were drawn on ordinary cardboard (the one above, 4-1/4 x
9-3/4 in.) and reproduced by the gelatine relief process.

All this, it will be observed, points to a more delicate and
intelligent use of the process block than is generally allowed, to
something, in short very different to the thin sketchy outlines and
scribbles which are considered the proper style for the "pen-and-ink
artist."

But "the values" are scarcely ever considered in this connection. Mr.
Hamerton makes a curious error in his _Graphic Arts_, where he advocates
the use of the "black blot in pen drawing," arguing that as we use
liberally white paper to express air and various degrees of light, so we
may use masses of solid black to represent many gradations of darkness.
A little reflection will convince anyone that this is no argument at
all.

Mr. Ruskin's advice in his _Elements of Drawing_, as to how to lay flat
tints