Rendering in Pen and Ink by Arthur L. Guptill

Author:Arthur L. Guptill [Guptill, Arthur L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-83188-0
Publisher: Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony
Published: 2014-06-30T16:00:00+00:00

Looking Beyond Technique

Though technique is the first thing the beginner is likely to study in the work of other artists, that is not all that can be learned from it. Nor is technique the most important thing. You may become an expert technician and never be more than that. On the other hand, some artists whose technique in itself is far from being commendable have become famous for their work because of other fine qualities. In fact, it is often true that the artist who is strong in one direction is weak in another. The expert technician, for instance, may fail to select interesting or worthwhile subjects, or to compose them well when they have been selected. His work may also lack that rather intangible quality called “style.” Only rarely is good technique enough to overcome such handicaps as these.

Therefore, learn to look beneath the technique for something deeper, striving to see the purpose the artist had in mind when making the drawing. Don’t condemn a drawing too severely nor praise it too highly without considering how successfully the artist has carried out this purpose or intention. To experienced artists it is often amusing and sometimes distressing to hear students—and particularly beginners—ignorantly or thoughtlessly condemning drawings (or paintings) when they have little or no conception of the purposes back of them. To those in charge of art galleries, where pictures are on sale, this inclination of many art students to scoff at works of art—many of which are recognized by connoisseurs as fine—is most disturbing. The head of a prominent firm of auctioneers once observed, “Much as I hate to admit it, I have reached the point where I would be only too glad to exclude most of the students who come here from the art schools, if such an exclusion were feasible. Many of them swagger about making such ridiculous and disparaging remarks before prospective purchasers that sales are actually lost to us. To make matters all the more annoying, the young fools think they are right.” This may seem a digression. It is included simply to emphasize what we have already said: that you should not condemn another artist’s work unless you know for what the artist was striving.

If the purpose of the work seems evident, you must decide to your satisfaction if that purpose has been fulfilled. If you have selected for analysis a pen picture of an old house, for example, analyze it something like this: “Given this subject, has the artist made the most of it? Has he drawn it from the best point of view? Has he failed to include enough, or has he shown too much? What might have been omitted without detriment to the sketch? What might have been advantageously added or given more emphasis? Has he composed the whole well? Is the interest nicely centered on the house, or are there irrelevant or over-emphasized details to prove disturbing? Is the light coming from the angle which best expresses the subject? Does

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