THE HAIR.
This must be clone in soft, full strokes, with a large brush. Do not, on any ac count, attempt to indicate separate hairs, because this is impossible ; but endeavour to represent locks of hair, or a group of hairs gathered together in the same form. Where the hair does not fall in locks, only the broad mass should he represented, with its outline perhaps sharpened, and a few stray bits indicated very faintly. The locks are the easier to represent.
The great thing is to avoid the lines having apparently either a beginning or an ending. That is to say, one lock of hair should as. far as possible fall over another lock (see Fig. Mil); this gives a much more natural appearance. By examining the works of great painters and sculptors, the student will find that this is a trick invariably made use of. Notice, also, the way in which various kinds of hair are represented. The most difficult hair is the thin, straight hair of a man who wears it plastered clown on his head ; as, besides its natural ugliness., it is all but impossible to give to it any detail, without making it appear hard and wiry. Such hair is better left alone, beyond just a few sharp touches near its edges. When the hair is parted in the middle, and is thin and shiny, the lighting, unless very carefully managed, will have given a partially bald appearance. This should be toned down, by very fine lines drawn out from the centre of the hair on each side of the parting. When the hair is worn rather untidily, or for other reasons has a lot. of odd ends hanging around the head, these may be removed.
As they will be, for the most part, darker than the background, they must he scraped away. Of course, such things should pre ferably be clone on the negative, but it frequently happens that even when this has been clone there is still some evidence of them in the enlargement. If it is necessary
to remove the places by scraping, this should not be clone until the other work has been completed ; since if it should be necessary to rub in a tint on top of the part which has been scraped, this will take the lead or chalk too easily, and result in a black mark. The same remark applies when black spots are taken out in a similar manner. The touches used in working-up the hair should begin softly, broaden out. and then gradually fine off again into nothing. The appearance of one of these touches, if greatly magnified, would be something like Fig. The strokes should cross one another irregularly in most Cases, and gather together the shade, as shown in Fig. 461. It must be borne in mind that any object., when lit from either side, is never lightest or darkest at its extreme edges. The darkest shade comes some- , where between the high light and the edge. ' but the extreme edge is usually occupied by a reflected light, more or less strong according to the nature of the surround ings. It is the management of these re fleeted lights which indicates the artist, generally speaking. There should always be, even in the most trifling details, if re ceiving sufficient light, a high light, half tone, shadow, reflected light, and reflected half light ; and it is the presence of all these in each part, and in a. larger scale in the whole, which helps to make a perfectly lit picture, of pleasing gradation.