Part 8 (1/2)

[Illustration: No XXVIII

_Illustration froood exaood example from the ”process man's” point of view

Here the artist has used his utmost endeavours to meet the process half-way; he has been careful to use broad, clear, firm washes, and has done them with certainty of hand, the result of experience If, in the endeavour to get strength, and the _best results out of a few tones_, the work lacks some artistic qualities, it is almost a necessity

Mr Manton has a peculiar , over his ork, which lends itself admirably for reproduction; but the practice can hardly be recommended to the attention of students It is as difficult to achieve artistic results by these , advocated by some experts

At the same time, Mr Manton's indication of surfaces and textures by process are both interesting and valuable]

[Illustration: ”A SUNNY LAND” (FROM THE PAINTING BY GEORGE WETHERBEE)

(_New Gallery, 1891_)]

[Illustration: DECORATIVE DESIGN BY RANDOLPH CALDECOTT]

(The above design, from the _Memoir of R Caldecott_, is lent by Messrs Sampson Low & Co)

One of the many uses which artists ested by the reproduction of one of Mr Caldecott's decorative designs, drawn freely with a brush full of white, on brown paper on a large scale (so), and reduced as above; the reduction refining and iiti books, architectural and others, which in artistic hands ht well be further developed

Of the illustrators who use this process in a more free-and-easy ill now take an exaes of _Sketch_ (_see_ overleaf, p 155)

Here truths of light and shade are disregarded, the figure stands out in unnatural darkness against white paper, and flatOnly sheer ability on the part of a few ainly sketches from universal condemnation But the splashes, and spots, and stains, which are taking the place of ue in 1894 The sketch is made in two or three hours, instead of a week; the process is also , and the public seems satisfied with a sketch where formerly a finished illustration was required, if the subject be treated dramatically and in a lively e, it at least answers the purpose of topical illustration, and apparently suits the times It is little short of a revolution in illustration, of which we do not yet see the end[16]

The bookstalls are laden with the daring achievements of Phil May, Raven Hill, Dudley Hardy, and others, but it is not the object of this book to exhibit the works of genius, either for ee student what he itimately attempt, and to show him the possibilities of the process block in different hands It ement of the numerous clever and experienced illustrators of the day, that they are only adapting themselves to the circumstances of the time There is a theory--the truth of which I do not question--that the reproductions of rapid sketches fro model by the half-tone process haveand artistic qualities than can be obtained by any otherillustrator should hesitate before adapting thesereproduced for publication which was ”drawn to ti cannot be repeated too often in this connection: that the hastily produced blotches called ”illustrations,” which disfigure the pages of so enerally the result of want of care on the part of the artist rather than of the maker of the blocks

[Illustration: No XXIX

This is part of a page illustration lent by the proprietors of _Sketch_ It does not do justice to the talent (or the taste, ill hope), of the illustrator, and is only inserted here to record the kind of hich is popular in 1894 (Perhaps in a second edition we enius to record)

It should be noted that this and the illustration on p 149 are both reproduced by the saether in the handling of the brush This sketch would have been intolerable in less artistic hands Artists will doubtless findand expression in the broad washes and splashes before us, than in theof Mr Manton

Students of wash drawing for process may take a middle course]

A word here on the influence of

PROCESS-BLOCK MAKERS

on the young illustrator The ”process man,” the teacher and inciter to achievements by this or that process, is not usually an ”artist” in the true sense of the word He knows better than anyone else what lines he can reproduce, and especially what kind of drawing is best adapted for his own process He will probably tell the young draughtsman what s will bear, and other things of a purely technical not to say businesslike character

Let ravers and others engaged on these processes; on the contrary, the amount of patience, industry, activity, and anxious care bestowed upon the reproduction of drawings and paintings is astonishi+ng, and deserves our gratitude[17] This work is a new industry of an iether The day has past when ”process work” is to be looked down upon as only fit for the cheapest, most inferior, and inartistic results

[Illustration: ”THE BROOK” (FROM A PAINTING BY ARNOLD HELCKe)]

PHOTOGRAPHIC ILlustRATIONS