The New York herald., 1921-05-23
Illustration for
the art student
john y. Whiting. HdFpVT BFOs.
Reviewed by TROY KINNEY.
PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATION.
Joho n Whiting Harper a Bros

4 John u. NnItlng. Harper az Bros.
Reviewed by TROY KINNEY.
| Art schools do not undertake to inn
part all the knowledge that is useful
TO the large army of young men and
women embarl<ing on careers as il
Illustrators or designers of advertising
Tt is proper that they should not. If
they ground their pupils in drawing
give them a good start in composition
and make them pass a reasonable ex-
animation in perspective, they do
! pretty well. If in addition they send
out into the world a few real idealists
they do exceedingly well. All that can
be asked. For answers to lot of prac-
! teal questions. mostly related to the
ones brush, the academy has and
usually exercises a right to tell its
pupils to look elsewhere.
So it happens that great many
intending illustrators and designers
! founder considerably and lose a good
deal of time before they really get un-
! der way. During that starting period
their school training seems futile; they
| can't seem to get their teeth into
things, and usually they don't know
what the trouble is In practical
| Illustration" John ID. Whiting makes
\ it his business to tell them the ethical
relations between publisher and artist;
some explanation of reproductive proc
esses, with hints as to aids against
! bad reproduction and undue expense
Ito the publisher) in the matter of
plans and printing; the desirability of
special knowledge of some particular
field of subjects; prices; how to recog-
| nize thief of ideas before 10 gets too
1 far (pity the author can't give any
way to tell them in advance); when
If is necessary to show preliminary
sketches to the publisher when it is
desirable, when it is useless-that's
the sort of thing Mr.. Whiting tells
about. The book is a catalogue of the
! heterogeneous accumulation of infor-
nation, experiences and instincts that
the seasoned illustrator has stored in
the attic of his mind. Illustrators are
always being asked to do things in an
impossibly short time. Inexperience,
through failure to anticipate complica-
tons often falls down" But the
crafty veteran first looks for a situa-
tion that combines with sufficient in
terest a high degree of simplicity;
avoiding the burden OF more subject
matter than he has time to draw and
render up to his usual standards.
Too literal an acceptance of the pho
tograph has led many an artist into abb
surdities; but this author points out
that a blind disregard of it is an in
justice to the artist himself. and some
times a source of needless annoyance
20 others. For instance, if you are
doing a love scene where your models,
on a wide veranda, are clasped in q
close embrace, 1t would be embarrass-
ing. not to say dangerous to draw a
crowd of idlers to the spot And this
is just what will happen if you keep
the unfortunate couple there long
enough to attract general attention.
With camera, on the other hand, the
loving pair need not embrace for more
than a few minutes--or just long
enough TO allow you to arrange the
pose carefully and get one or two ex-
posures."
Along with its positive hints as to
how to do things are some warnings
against things that ought not to be
done. For example:
ITO express Trembling with fear
she stood mute and agonize5,' by a
stylish young woman, who sands in
an easy pose and shows a good deal of
pleased self-consciousness dees not
add to the vividness of the story. The
face may be pretty the flgrre well
drawn, the background effective, but
il the story is not strengthened by the
pnctures 1t is weakened by them"
And lest one get the false notion
from a book on technique that tech
nique is the principle thing here Is a
piece of sound doctrine:
Whatever an illustrator lacks, II
should not be Imagination Bt tier far
to do rough. crude drawings with
strong character than to feed The pub
lie with facile little pictures without
literary value. Cruikshank's original
drawings for 'Pickwick Papers are so
rich i'm character that the world has
forgotten how crude they are In tech
nique."
Mr.. Writings purpose of supplying
technical and business information
naturally restrains him from elaborat-
ing largely upon the importance OF
pure beauty. That is thing that the
world wants and pays for-but after
all the secrets of its creation ctnnot be
taught in words. The autnor does
however. designate certain atrocious
classes Of display advertising, and ad-
Tses his readers TO decline ocmmis-
sions TO design them. A go n seed tc
: plant: the influence Of the art student
OF to-day should. ten years from now
; help to relieve city streets and subur.
i a n L..