Ordinary bread, at least a day old, that is free from butter, lard or milk in its making, is used for rubbing out charcoal or crayon, erasing mistakes, and taking out lights from a mass of dark. In order to correct a line or erase the charcoal by means of the bread, take a small piece between the fingers, roll it into a ball and shape it to a point, use it as you would a rubber eraser only more slowly.
A fine, soft, cotton rag is a necessary adjunct to work with charcoal or crayon. It is used sometimes to dust the charcoal from the paper, and if the charcoal has not been very heavily used, the rag is often sufficient to make an erasure without the use of bread or rubber. A rag is useful also when too much charcoal or crayon has been rubbed on a tone. If a shadow appears too black, a soft rag may be passed gently
over the surface, when the superfluous charcoal or crayon will come off, leaving behind a tone more soft and light in quality. This tone can be worked over in any manner desired. The rag, too, may be used in sketching landscapes to spread a soft, flat mass, such as a sky. In many cases, it is preferable to use the stump for this purpose. In lieu of the "sauce," charcoal may be powdered and used in the same manner as the "sauce."
To "Fix" Drawings. Unprotected, a charcoal drawing will become smeared and defaced. Hence it is necessary to "fix"
the drawing by the application of some varnish-like preparation. To use a brush for this purpose would be obviously wrong. A fixative may be made by using four ounces of alcohol, in which has been dissolved a few grains of white shellac. Fixative also comes ready prepared in bottles.
The fixative is applied to the surface of the drawing by spreading it by means of an atomizer. The atomizer used for medicinal and perfume spraying is not applicable to this purpose; the shellac in the fixative soon clogs the tubes. The cheapest, and as good as any, consists of two small tubes of tin. These are connected and fastened by a small hinge or pivot. One end is placed in the fixative and the other end taken m the mouth, and the breath blown through it. This causes the liquid to mount in the lower tube and dissolve in a cloud of spray so light as not to dislodge the delicate particles of charcoal, and yet attach them so firmly to the paper that ordinary rubbing will not efface the drawing.
In blowing through an atomizer, care should be taken to make the breath steady, avoiding short unequal puffs. The atomizer must be held sufficiently far from the paper to avoid causing the fixative to run down in streams, to the ruination of the drawing. If held too far from the drawing it will vaporize too much and fail to "fix" the charcoal.
Simple exercises in charcoal. Fig. 2 is a group of sketches in which semi-circular shapes purposely prevail. By practicing curved lines, gracefulness of handling is acquired.
Sections
- Action Drawing
- Advice To Teachers
- Beginners Instructions
- Blocking In
- Clay Modeling
- Copying By Triangulation
- Decorative Ornamental Art
- Drawing From Nature
- Early Exercises
- Elementary Lines
- Elementary Perspective
- Expression Emotion
- Foreshortening
- Geometrical Form
- How To Draw Animals
- How To Draw Cartoons
- How To Draw Charcoal Crayon
- How To Draw Flowers
- How To Draw Women Men Children
- Lettering
- Light And Shade
- Materials For Drawing
- Models Measurements Proportions
- Outlines For Beginners
- Paper Folding Cutting
- Pen And Ink Drawing
- Principles Of Composition
- Simple Story Pictures
- Solid Black Effects
- Stimulating Imagination
- Tracing Transferring
- Two Handed Exercises