with such pains now appear like the effect of enchantment, and as if some mighty genius had struck them off at a blow." The moral of this is that even a genius has to take pains. An ordinary pen-and-ink artist can hardly do less. The invention of an artist is the way he conceives and selects his subject. There are tolerably few artists who have good inventive power; but many who, without having any to speak of, can set things forth in a very captivating way. The pen artist, when he does not take his inspiration from drawings or paintings he has seen, must trust to his power of perception as to what is capable of being represented. Having got his idea, his next advance is the arrangement of the subject he may decide upon; that is to say, the manner in which he places together the parts of it, or, in other words, how he will work it out. He will have to consider and a glance at the works of other pen-and-ink artists who have trod the same paths will enable him to make up his mindthe disposition of the light and shade, of balanced blocks of colours, of groups, of single figures; where he will place this and where he will contrast that, where he will mass his "blacks" and where he will dispose his "whites." He has a principal idea in his mind, and his aim now is how he will arrange the accessories about it in order to produce the best artistic results. And thus he is half way in the process of composition; that is to say, in the general structural arrangement of his proposed drawing. In this connection he will think out those parts which he knows are more important than others, and represent them accordingly. Every person, of course, sees a subject or object in his or her way; it is here where one's taste and judgment comes in to advise and initiate. That is the personal quality. When he knows what he wants to represent, the artist begins to put his ideas into execution. The execution is often called the handling of the work, or the style of it, and it indicates the manner in which the artist brings out his ideas. He may produce a soft and finished, a careful, a stiff, a bold and dashing effect. If he carries his peculiar handling too far, if he has an extravagantly studied finish, or eccentricity, or dash in his work, it is a mannerism-something to be avoided. Should his subject be one in which there are several figures or objects, he must consider the grouping of them-how they can be placed in contact with each other for the purpose of forming a single mass. Naturally, the figures and objects. which are most important will be made most prominent, but the scattering of objects may sometimes replace grouping. The study, however, of good work and drawing from groups in Nature will clear away most of the difficulties which this important matter presents. The artist's taste and judgment will enable him to produce harmony in his drawing; it is important, in the matter of light and shade, that one part should agree with another. Thus, a perfect drawing of an object, say a wheelbarrow, is not a bit artistic or interesting; but surround it with light, and shade, and colour, and the effect is vastly different. Even the photographer "touches up" his photographs. It is for the artist, should his subject not be presented to him in an interesting way, to supply interesting items in order to make. up a delightful whole. His study, and practice, and taste, will enable him to select a good point of view, the essentials that he must accentuate, the unnecessary and redundant facts that he should omit. The best of painters would not make any scruple in removing some jarring feature from a subject they were painting. Were it a landscape, and a tree would either improve the appearance if put in, or, if there already, when removed, they would, without hesitation, in the one case put the tree in, and in the other leave it out. Thus it will be seen that every artist does and must introduce in the progress of his work some degree of trickery, of imagination, of thinking out, of cautiousness. Too much effort in the direction of commonplace, or a mere imitation of Nature, stifles imagination and originality. Everybody -most people, any way-can think; it is the faculty of thinking pictorially that makes the artist, either in words or in drawing. It may be regarded as a general rule that the two sides. of a drawing should nearly balance each other either in interest or in mass, that is to say, appearance, or in both combined. Much, however, depends on the subject. Anachronisms in costume, etc., should be avoided, of course. Unless in a comic sketch, it would be silly to represent, say, Julius Cæsar in a tall hat, or Cleopatra in a Bond-street costume. The aim of all composition is to have one chief point of interest, and for the better balance of the drawing at least one minor point of interest. The artist will find that some of the easiest things to group are ships and boats on the sea. The sails and hulls, the light on the water, the form of the waves when rough, and the reflections when smooth, lend themselves easily to the arrangement of lights and shades. On the other hand, night scenes, darkened distances, fogs, and the like require considerable study. Landscape and Architectural Drawing. It is usually said that landscape drawing requires little skill in technique. The reason of this is that the artist has to deal with rocks, hills, trees, and the like, and no one would expect that these objects could be drawn with mathematical accuracy. General fidelity to the landscape is considered. sufficient; it is not possible to do any more. This would be found out if the mountains, and clouds, and rocks, and trees were capable of measurement; in such a case the drawing or painting of the landscape would be out in perhaps every one of its proportions. The artist of landscape and still life must almost altogether trust to his eye; a minute Ex. 22. knowledge of the laws of perspective would probably be a burden to him. What he draws is permanent and |