high-pressure times. It is difficult to imagine any artist
of the past consenting to such a system of education.

Sketching from life is, of course, necessary to the student (especially
when making illustrations by wash drawings, of which I shall speak
presently), but for line work it should be done first in pencil, or
whatever medium is easiest at the moment. The lines for reproduction
require thinking about, thinking what to leave out, how to interpret the
grey of a pencil, or the tints of a brush sketch in the fewest lines.
Thus, and thus only, the student learns "the art of leaving out," "the
value of a line."

The tendency of modern illustrators is to imitate somebody; and in line
drawing for the processes, where the artist, and not the engraver, has
to make the lines, imitation of some man's method is almost inevitable.

[Illustration: No. XII.

"_Sir John Tenniel_," by EDWIN WARD.

Example of another style of line drawing. Mr. Ward is a master of
line, as well as a skilful portrait painter. He has lost nothing of
the force and character of the original here, by treating it in line.

Mr. Ward has painted a series of small portraits of public men, of
which there is an example on p. 90.

Size of pen-and-ink drawing 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 in., reproduced by common
process.]

Let me quote an instance. The style of the late Charles Keene is
imitated in more than one journal at the present time, the artists
catching his method of line more easily than the higher qualities of his
art, his _chiaroscuro_, his sense of values and atmospheric effect. I
say nothing of his pictorial sense and humour, for they are beyond
imitation. It is the husk only we have presented to us.

As a matter of education and outlook for the younger generation of
illustrators, this imitation of other men's lines deserves our special
consideration. Nothing is easier in line work than to copy from the
daily press. Nothing is more prejudicial to good art, or more fatal to
progress.

And yet it is the habit of some instructors to hold up the methods (and
the tricks) of one draughtsman to the admiration of students. I read in
an art periodical the other day, a suggestion for the better
understanding of the way to draw topical illustrations in pen and ink,
viz.: that examples of the work of Daniel Vierge, Rico, Abbey, Raven
Hill, and other noted pen draughtsmen, should be "set as an exercise to
students;" of course with explanation