LINE WORK.
Quality of Line. Too much stress cannot be laid on the im portance of a good line, however insignificant it may seem. Care in each individual line is absolutely necessary for good work. A line that is stiff and bard, feeble, scratchy or broken, will not do. Such work will ruin a drawing that in other respects may be lent. The accompanying illustration by one of the students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is an example of excellent quality of line. Each line, even to the very smallest, has grace and beauty. By a very few, the ability to make such lines is speedily quired—but by a few only—others may attain it by careful practice. Every line of a drawing—the outline of the building and each line of the rendering, even to the very shortest must be done feelingly, gracefully, positively. Usually a slight curve is advisable.and if long lines are used, a quaver or tremble adds much to the result. Each line of a shadow should have a slight pressure of the pen at the lower 'end. This produces a dark edge in the group of lines that make the shadows, giving definiteness to the shadow and contrast to the white light below it.
Method. The combination of individual lines produces what we may term a method. The individual line may be good but
the combining may be unfortunate. In making a wash drawing no thought is necessary concerning the direction of the wash, but in using lines at once the query arises as to what direction they shall take. A method is something one must grow into from a small, simple beginning. The accompanying illustration, the work of another Massachusetts Institute of Technology student, is an example of rare skill in method quickly acquired. There is an utter absence of anything rigid or mechanical in the whole. Ob. serve how softly the edges of the drawing merge into the white of the paper. The vigor of the drawing is gathered in the dormer itself.
Vertical Lines. The simplest method is ob. tamed by the use of the vertical line. Some draw ings can be made entirely by this means. See Fig. 3, every line of which is vertical. This illustrates the value of a good indi vidual line. It will be observed that although ver tical, these lines are not severely straight and stiff, they tremble a little, or have a slight suggestion of a curve. In the shad.