A drawing loses its freshness if it is fixed each time after work on it in order to avoid smudging. A drawing should never be fixed until it is finished.
Eraser and bread crumb should be left well alone, particularly when using chalks. With charcoal some final erasing and touching up can be done. Because it is so soft, charcoal has a very loose contact with the paper anyway, and it produces rather imprecise lines, which match the uncertain traces of the
eraser.
A line and wash drawing on white paper is built up in the same way as a watercolor: working from light to dark. Starting with the wash and flnishing with the accent strokes is more in keeping with an impressionistic vision.
If the constructive approach is preferred, the reverse order is appropriate. It is possible, of course, to do both simultaneously, just as both modes of vision can be used together.
Black or white chalk drawing on colored paper is comparable to opaque color or oil painting. The artist works from the background color into the darks and puts in the lights at the end. This way of drawing is best done with lines alone; washing or stumping does not give good results.
White strokes are best done with white pastel, not white pencil, which is too transparent on most papers. The greatest precision is obtained with a flne brush line of opaque white.
We have already shown why readymade, bright
colored paper is unsuitable for any drawing other than an explanatory sketch or a poster. It has more important artistic arguments against it, for the exact tone of color used is exceedingly important to the whole effect.
Color laid on by hand can produce an exact tone and besides has
an attractive surface quality. The background color has to combine well with the material used for the drawing, either by affinity or contrast. Some "black" inks have a brown tinge when diluted, others are colder, bluish or violet.
It is rare to find a black that dilutes to a neutral
gray, and when it does it is affected by the color of the paper and gives all kinds of nuances from the effects of color relationship. Even when undiluted, pure black inks do the same. This must be kept in mind to avoid unexpected results. The Chinese, who are the greatest authorities on ink, used its hidden color qualities deliberately. More will be said on color relationships in the section on
Color. Without a close study, it is impossible to control effects with colored paper.
Despite the numerous varieties of colored paper produced since their manufacture began, the best artists have always tinted their papers themselves, aiming at an optical, colored gray by the
exploitation of color relationships. Durer laid a mat green over red ochre to make a sensitive brown or greenish gray. Sometimes he made a tone verging on violet and blue grays. But gray was always aimed at, not strong colors which are too noticeable, distracting from the drawing and the theme. Those who incline too much to strong colors should remember
this.
Tinting of paper is best done with transparent watercolor. Opaque colors, besides looking dead, often make the ink stroke run because of their opacity, although they are tolerable for pencil or chalk. Even then the "heightening," as white shading for high lights is called, is
unattractive on them. It is thus advisable to keep to a thin glaze of watercolor; the whiteness of the paper behind it imparts a brilliance even to dark tints.
Corrections cannot be made on ink drawings on colored paper without spoiling the tint. Opaque white, too, cannot be corrected or
washed off without smudging the ground. If pencil is used, then only opaque white can be used for heightening because white chalk does not combine satisfactorily except with black chalk or charcoal.
A drawing heightened with white pencil or opaque white cannot, thus, be attempted
without some experience and competence. There is an easier technique on colored or gray tinted paper. It is, in the author's opinion, much safer, as it rests on uniformity of material. An eraser is all that is necessary; the rubbed out ground gives the high lights, as follows: The light paper is colored all over with ground chalk, but not fixed. The drawing is then done in black or red chalk as
required, as though onto white paper. A soft, pointed eraser is then used to take out all the high lights from the ground. It is possible then, if necessary, to deepen the darks with the chalk, or put in more detail.
Next: Reverse techniques
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