Crayon Portraiture Part 6

BROWN.

This color is used in all the shadows. In landscapes, in some instances, it serves for use in the middle distance and foreground; the light places should be retouched with yellow or gold. It is also used for tree trunks, fences, and the like. In portraits it serves to color the hair and eyes, and appears in the dark shadows of the drapery and furniture. If the background is dark, a nice effect is produced by tinting it a little with this color.

BLACK.

In transparent color this has more the effect of a dark gray than a brilliant black, such as is produced with body colors. When you want a very dark black, it is better to use a little India ink with it. It is used in the skies of landscapes when you wish a gray effect, or to subdue a too strong blue color or red, and in foregrounds for rocks. In connection with yellow it will make a sombre green for trees, mountains, etc. In portraits it is used for the hair and eyes, in the shadows around the mouth, and in drapery in connection with the other colors.

GOLD.

This is a combination of yellow and red, and in general can be used wherever either of these colors would answer. In landscapes a little can be used in the skies, the middle distances, and lights on the ground in the foreground. In portraits it is used to color the drapery and jewelry.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING LIQUID WATER COLORS.

Fill the two tumblers with water, and have all the other materials ready and convenient to work with. If you have selected a burnished and mounted photograph wet its surface with saliva; unburnished photographs, photogravures and engravings do not require this treatment, but in coloring them it will be necessary to mix a weak solution of gum arabic with the colors to prevent their penetrating the paper. If printed on too thin a paper the photogravure or engraving should be mounted. If it is found that the colors "crawl" or spread on the photograph, mix a little acetic acid with the colors you are using, and should this fail to remove the difficulty, rub a pinch of pumice stone over the photograph with the fingers.

If the photograph is a portrait commence with the background, was.h.i.+ng it all over with a brushful of diluted color, being careful not to get any on the face. If the background is light, use a weak solution of blue, if dark, a brown solution. The majority of backgrounds only need a very little tinting--just sufficient to change the color. For the face use flesh color, diluting it to the proper shade, was.h.i.+ng it entirely over the face, and with a stronger solution of the same color tint the cheeks and lips, giving them a little brighter effect than the flesh color. Touch up the shadows in the face with the brown, and if there are any reflected lights use a very weak solution of the yellow color for them; then with some very weak black make the shadows around the mouth a little darker; next with a solution of blue, also very weak, strengthen the shadows in the forehead and around the temples; then color the eyes, using a small brush. If they are blue, use a weak solution of blue, if gray, use a little black, and if brown, then that color. Next color the hair; if brown, use brown mixed with a little black to take away the reddish color; if auburn, use brown and yellow, with a little gray between the lights and shadows. In working on the hair, move your brush in the direction of the lines of the hair; if wavy, then cause your brush to follow its lines. After you have thus gone over it, darken the shadows with a stronger solution of the same color. After the hair, paint the eyebrows and beard, if there is any, with the same color.

DRAPERY.

You must remember in using these liquid colors that they are transparent, and, therefore, whenever the print is light you cannot make it dark, unless you strengthen the shadows by applying opaque colors. For dresses, if they are light, use the delicate colors to suit your fancy, either the rose, blue, yellow, or gold; when they are dark, use the magenta or violet, being careful to spread the colors evenly.

After you have once colored the dresses, then with a stronger solution of the same color darken the shadows; if you then touch up the half-shadows with blue the effect will be still finer. For neckties or ribbons use the complementary color to that of the dress. For laces use a weak solution of yellow, and after it is dry touch up the strong lights with Chinese white. If there is a curtain in the picture use the complementary color to the dress. For chairs use brown. If sky, trees and gra.s.s are to be painted, color them according to the directions given for landscapes under the different colors; only be sure to modify them, and keep them low in tone and color.

In laying on flat washes of color, the brush must be held nearly upright and should be pa.s.sed boldly over the surface; the color should then gradually be brought down and spread equally over the whole surface as rapidly as possible, in order to avoid letting any part dry before the whole has been covered; then whatever surplus there may be should be carefully sponged off. When you apply the wash of color to the picture the latter should not be held flat, but at a slight angle, so that the color will settle down towards the bottom of the picture.

These colors are more suitable for figures and landscapes combined than they are for landscapes alone, yet very pretty effects in landscapes can be produced with them. If any white spots should be found in the photograph, as very often happens, after the picture is quite complete, touch them out with India ink, using a small brush.

LANDSCAPE.

If the sky is to be blue, wash it all over with a weak solution of blue; if there are white clouds, you can touch up the highest lights with Chinese white; if there is a sunset or rosy effect, use a weak solution of rose or a little magenta. But it is best not to try to make too much of the sky, as the gray that is generally in it will give a very pretty effect and leave more contrast between the figures and the sky. For the middle distance mix blue, rose, and a little yellow or gold if you want it greenish, or you can use a very little brown. The nearer the trees come in the foreground the stronger in color they should be; that is, they should tend more to the green and brown and less to the bluish color. If they are to be bright green use blue and yellow, and retouch the light places with yellow. You can make the green duller by mixing a little black with the yellow, or you can make a richer green by using blue, gold and brown, and then touching up the lights with gold, and the shadows with brown. For the gra.s.s use blue and yellow, and retouch the lights with yellow; for the ground use brown, and retouch the lights with gold; for tree trunks, fences, and the like, use brown; for rocks, use black and a little brown.

THE PRINCIPLE.

The study of painting as an art is based on three considerations, form, light and shade, and color. I will now treat of color--the form, and light and shade being furnished for us in the photograph. Photography as a means of art education in its influence on the public is salutary.

In spite of all its falsity it is the best teacher of the first elements of criticism and knowledge of the facts of form and light and shade. Photography does not produce color, so that we will add the one link to the chain that is wanting. As we are dealing with pictures finished in light and shade, it is well that we should have rules to aid in choosing good ones to work on.

In selecting a photograph to color we want as perfect a print as it is possible to procure. A light one is preferable. Notice in particular if it is well defined, that the shadows and middle shades are clear, the lights pure, and that it is free from defects and spots. Many think that they can take a poor photograph, and, by coloring it, cover up the defects, but they are wrong in this, for the transparent colors will not conceal defects. The best rule is that the better the photograph the better will be the picture when finished. The Soule Photograph Company, No. 338 Was.h.i.+ngton Street, Boston, Ma.s.s., furnish photographic reproductions, mounted and unmounted, of all the best paintings in the world, in both public and private art galleries, and their photographs are the best to color. Therefore, to begin with, have a perfect picture to color. Scholars in commencing to use the brush will not be able to produce bold effects of color, and will only acquire that power by use and practice. By bold effects I do not mean that one part is to be more prominently rendered than any other portion of the work, but merely the brilliancy of coloring which distinguishes professional from amateur work. In any kind of painting it must be borne in mind, that there are no decided lines forming the edges of any object. The point insisted on is that the boundaries of objects must be of that color that will harmonize and subdue the picture, producing a soft, delicate effect.

I would advise all who begin to paint to commence with water colors, as they are the easiest to manipulate, the liquid water colors being easier than the body colors, and their use the simplest of all kinds of painting. The photograph being a fac-simile of a subject as it appears to the eye in form and light and shade, furnishes a picture perfect except in color, while the liquids supply the color in the form best adapted to teaching the first steps in its use. It is hoped, though, that after the student has thoroughly mastered this course of study, he will attempt something higher and more difficult in the study of art.

French Crystals.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

FRENCH CRYSTALS.

These are photographs colored with liquid water colors and mounted on gla.s.s. For several years a process has been taught by which a photograph is rendered transparent by the use of paraffine oil, etc., then mounted on gla.s.s, and colored from the back with oil paints. While by this method a picture pleasing at the time could be produced, yet unless the process was perfectly executed the oils would decompose and the picture become yellow and spotted. The use of water colors entirely overcomes these objections, as it is so simple that any one can employ them perfectly, and as there are no oils used in their production they cannot change or turn yellow.

MATERIALS.

Convex gla.s.ses on which to mount photographs, Bottle of Florentine, Egyptian, Grecian or other compound for mounting on gla.s.s, Best French picture gla.s.s, Some gummed paper, A dish in which to soak photographs, Some dark, thin, fancy paper, Sheet of blotting paper.

THE METHOD.

Having secured a good photograph, rub a little pumice stone over it with the finger, and then, if it is mounted, remove it from the card by placing it in warm water and allowing it to soak for an hour or two, or over night if necessary. After it is thus freed from the card lay it face down on a piece of gla.s.s, and sponge off all the starch from the back. Cut a piece of blotting paper the size of the picture and lay it on a gla.s.s, wetting it with water applied with a sponge; then lay the photograph, still wet, on the blotting paper, and, with a sponge, remove all the surplus water from its surface. Now proceed to color it according to the directions given in the preceding pages for coloring photographs with transparent liquid water colors. In case you should put on too much color, let the photograph soak a few moments in warm water, when the surplus color will gradually come out, and you may then recolor it. After it has been finished to your satisfaction, proceed to mount it according to the directions next given.