book and magazine work, however,
where the plates are touched up by the engraver, and the values in a
measure restored, the third rule is not so arbitrary. Nevertheless,
the beginner who has ambitions in this direction will do well not
to put difficulties in his own way by submitting work not directly
printable.
[Side note: _Some Fanciful Expedients_]
There are a number of more or less fanciful expedients employed in
modern pen work which may be noted here, and which are illustrated
in Fig. 10. The student is advised, however, to resort to them as
little as possible, not only because he is liable to make injudicious
use of them, but because it is wiser for him to cultivate the less
meretricious possibilities of the instrument.
"Spatter work" is a means of obtaining a delicate printable tone,
consisting of innumerable little dots of ink spattered on the paper.
The process is as follows: Carefully cover with a sheet of paper
all the drawing except the portion which is to be spattered, then
take a tooth-brush, moisten the ends of the bristles consistently
with ink, hold the brush, back downwards, in the left hand, and
with a wooden match or tooth-pick rub the bristles _toward you_
so that the ink will spray over the paper. Particular, care must
be taken that the brush is not so loaded with ink that it will
spatter in blots. It is well, therefore, to try it first on a rough
sheet of paper, to remove any superfluous ink. If the spattering is
well done, it gives a very delicate tone of interesting texture,
but if not cleverly employed, and especially if there be a large
area of it, it is very likely to look out of character with the
line portions of the drawing.
A method sometimes employed to give a soft black effect is to moisten
the lobe of the thumb lightly with ink and press it upon the paper. The
series of lines of the skin make an impression that can be reproduced
by the ordinary line processes. As in the case of spatter work,
superfluous ink must be looked after before making the impression
so as to avoid leaving hard edges. Thumb markings lend themselves to
the rendering of dark smoke, and the like, where the edges require
to be soft and vague, and the free direction of the lines impart
a feeling of movement.
Interesting effects of texture are sometimes introduced into pen
drawings by obtaining the impression of a canvas grain. To produce
this, it is necessary that the drawing be made on fairly thin paper.
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