In order to learn to draw you must first learn to discern the outline of objects, which you may do by seeing them in silhouette.
To draw the hair in outline, as in Vallotton’s third Nietzsche, you must first see the hair as in the first Nietzsche; that is, see it in mass or in silhouette in nature. Before Vallotton took a brush in hand to put on the solid black of the hair in number one you may be sure he drew a pencil outline like the outline in number three; but before he drew that outline he saw the mass as in number one.
The Vallotton drawings may be further studied from two very different view-points. The third Friedrich Nietzsche is pure outline, like the examples of Engström■
{ 134} [Illustration: FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE. FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE. FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE.
{ 135} FELIX VALLOTTON. MALTHUS. PAUL ROBIN.
Vallotton has made it a practice to engrave a great many of his own designs. We do not know whether these heads were engraved by him, or merely drawn by him and photo-engraved, but the manner in which they are designed—that is, with great economy of line, and a few simple, telling spots—is one which is the outgrowth of his practice in wood engraving; he would work exactly like this if drawing on wood. (We shall treat of wood engraving for printers in a future chapter.)]
■{ 136} given in our early chapters, and is very simple and easy to understand, though not by any means easy to draw. The drawing of Malthus, on the other hand, is not easy to understand, for in addition to the outlines it is modeled—that is, it contains masses of shadow which bring out the different planes of the face. And it is necessary to study light and shade, as indicated in Chapter VII, before we can fully understand a drawing of this kind.
In order to model, you must learn _to see the light and shade upon objects_. When your eye is trained to see light and shade, you can draw the hair as in the second Nietzsche, and you can see planes in the face, as in the Malthus.
Although the David d’Angers diagrams were drawn to show the general masses of the head as they are brought out in successive stages by a sculptor, yet they become very interesting to the printer who has not had the benefit of an art school education, for they show him at a glance how much of the character of the human head is dependent upon the different planes of the face, and it explains better than words what is meant by planes. Chapter VIII should be read in connection with it, and the Vallotton portraits, especially that of Malthus, may be examined critically with this in mind, for you will then see that Vallotton has introduced masses of black with the idea of suggesting planes in the face.