Part 3 (1/2)

The latter method results in a coa.r.s.er stipple effect, but it requires a much longer time and is more difficult than the former.

BACKGROUNDS--GENERAL PRINCIPLES.

Always commence the portrait by putting in the background. Among the four different methods which I have given, the student can make his own selection. For myself, I prefer the last two mentioned.

There can be no definite rule given for the lights and shadows in the backgrounds, as every portrait will need a characteristic background adapted to the subject. There should always be a nice disposition of light and shade, the light coming against the dark side of the face and the dark against the light side, and generally a cast shadow. What this is may be learned by setting a cast (or any other object) near the wall, letting the light strike it at an angle of 90 degrees, and noticing the size and position of the shadow thrown on the wall. The cast shadow in your background must not be too near the head, as simplicity should be one of the principles of the background, and this can only be attained by breadth of light and shade. The background is of secondary importance, and should not intrude itself on the portrait in its effect of lines or light and shade. Backgrounds for half or full length figures need especial study in their effect of lines, and one who intends to succeed in making them properly should study linear composition in Burnet's essay on Composition,[A] especially the following pa.s.sages. ”Composition is the art of arranging figures or objects so as to adapt them to any particular subject. In composition four requisites are necessary--that the story be well told, that it possess a good general form, that it be so arranged as to be capable of receiving a proper effect of light and shade, and that it be susceptible of an agreeable disposition of color. The form of a composition is best suggested by the subject or design, as the fitness of the adaptation ought to appear to emanate from the circ.u.mstances themselves; hence the variety of compositions.

”To secure a good general form in composition, it is necessary that it should be as simple as possible. Whether this is to be produced by a breadth of light and shade, which is often the case with Rembrandt, even on a most complicated outline, or by the simple arrangement of color, as we often find in t.i.tian, or by the construction of the group, evident in many of Raphael's works, must depend upon the taste of the artist. It is sufficient to direct the younger students to this particular, their minds being generally carried away by notions of variety and contrasts.

”In giving a few examples of composition, I have confined myself to the four simple and princ.i.p.al forms, not only from their being most palpable, but also from their possessing a decided character, which is at all times desirable. To those who imagine that such rules tend to fetter genius, I shall merely quote Sir Joshua Reynolds, whose works, if properly understood, render all other writings on the subject of painting superfluous: 'It must of necessity be that even works of genius, like every other effect, as they must have their causes, must likewise have their rules. It cannot be by chance that excellencies are produced with any constancy or any certainty, for this is not the nature of chance; but the rules by which men of extraordinary points, and such as are called men of genius, work, are either such as they discover by their own peculiar observations, or are of such nice texture as not easily to admit being expressed in words; especially as artists are not very frequently skillful in that mode of communicating ideas. Unsubstantial, however, as these rules may seem, and difficult as it may be to convey them in writing, they are still seen and felt in the mind of the artist, and he works from them with as much certainty as if they were embodied, as I may say, upon paper. It is true these refined principles cannot be always palpable, like the more gross rules of art, yet it does not follow but that the mind may be put in such a train that it shall perceive, by a kind of scientific sense, that propriety which words, particularly words of unpractised writers such as we are, can but very feebly suggest.' (Sixth Discourse).”

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote A: Essays on Art, by John Burnet, New York, E. L. Wilson.]

FIRST METHOD OF MAKING THE BACKGROUND--STUMP EFFECT.

To produce the stump effect, rub the chamois block in the box of crayon sauce, and then with the large grey paper stump commence by putting in the darkest parts and the cast shadow. Use the broad end of the stump, moving it over the surface of the paper with an even and uniform pressure, so that you will not make any dark spots. Make broad lines and have them cross each other so as to form diamond shaped s.p.a.ces, using considerable care and a very light touch in the lighter places.

Finish with the large rubber eraser, cutting it so that it will make white lines about the same width as the black lines made with the stump. Have these light lines run into the dark ones in some places, and use the rubber so as to produce a das.h.i.+ng effect.

SECOND METHOD OF MAKING THE BACKGROUND.

Take a handful of cotton batting, rub it in the box of crayon sauce, and then on a piece of paper before applying it to the crayon paper to make the background, being careful to avoid rubbing harder in some places than others, as dark spots are likely to be caused in that way.

Commence by rubbing in close to the face and work out towards the edge of the paper. Let the darkest part be closest to the face, shading out in the form of a circle about six or eight inches from the face, according to the subject, the upper line of the arc coming a little above the head. Then make the cast shadow and finish with the large rubber eraser, putting the lights, or cloud effect, as it is called, in the background. When doing this, place the strainer high enough on the easel to bring the centre of the picture on a level with your eyes, then standing in front of it and about six feet off, decide upon your plan of light and shade. After you have put in the first of the lights, step back to the former position, and see if it gives the proper effect. Continue this method of working until the background is entirely completed.

THIRD METHOD OF MAKING THE BACKGROUND--LINE EFFECT.

With the cotton and crayon sauce as in the preceding method, put in the dark places and cast shadow, but not as dark as you want them when finished; then with the crayon point No. 2 put in three sets of lines thus:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: BACKGROUND. LINE EFFECT.

_From the Annual Encyclopedia. Copyrighted, 1891, by D. Appleton & Co._]

Do not carry out the lines as far as the background will extend when finished. The lines should be one-quarter of an inch apart in life-size portraits, and a little closer in smaller sizes. As a rule the lines are a little further apart in the background than in the face. These lines need not be horizontal, crossed by oblique ones at obtuse angles, but they can be curved lines, if desired, provided they cross each other so as to leave diamond shaped s.p.a.ces. After the lines are in rub a piece of clean cotton over them all, using pressure enough to subdue them to the degree of indistinctness desired; then finish with the large eraser and crayon point No. 2, putting in the cloud effect. Such lines as show too prominently you subdue with the nigrivorine eraser.

If there are any light places, make them dark with the crayon.