I Own a One-Hundred-Year-Old How to Draw Book
By: Nadia Davidson
Tags: Controversy, Inktober, Drawing, Art Books, Pen And Ink

Comparing how to draw in ink books and my take on the #Inktober controversy

The dust jacket for my book is a little worn around the edges but still intact. Photo by Nadia Davidson

Sketching Without a Master by J. Hullah Brown, was first published in 1919. If I owned a first edition of this book that would make it 101 years old. Unfortunately, I do not.

A revised and enlarged edition of this pen and ink technique drawing book was later published in 1939 and reprinted several times in the 40’s. The edition I own was published in 1949, which still makes this the oldest book I own, at 70 years old. (I love to collect older books and have several from the 60’s and 70’s).

It is a very useful and inspiring book, which I have read from cover to cover, and dipped into many times. Since October is typically the month when all pen and ink enthusiasts sharpen up their skills by participating in #Inktober (drawing every day in ink for the month of October), I thought it was fitting to talk about how this ‘old master’ has encouraged my love of the medium.

The artist

J. (John) Hullah Brown is a master draughtsman, as testified by the many elaborate full-page ink drawings throughout the book. The heading of the first chapter is marked by a sear and sombre landscape of broken trees and a solitary soldier, perhaps recalling the artist’s own wartime experiences in the 1st World War.

Concerning the ‘guerilla warfare’ still taking place in the medium read on. photo by Nadia Davidson

Biographical information on the artist’s life is sparce. I only know he wrote another book on watercolour painting and several on playing the violin. I believe he lived in Richmond, Surrey, England, and was probably a teacher. He also invented a type of violin known as a violinda, specially designed for use by children. He also seems to have written a single children’s book The Perfect Circle in 1943.

Only image available of the author of the book. Screenshot taken from a short video where some children demonstrate playing the violinda https://www.britishpathe.com/video/kids-violins-aka-violinda

This book is unfortunately dated by reference drawings of items which would be ‘familiar to the reader’ such as Japanese dolls and a golliwog, to illustrate the point of texturing ink to indicate colour. Although it may seem to be aimed at children, the techniques in the book are difficult to master and an adult audience was probably considered.

But, overall, the illustration plates in the book (of which there are many) are of tranquil country scenes. Depictions of such a deep sense of peace which can only be experienced after a war. The tiny English churches surrounded by a dense foliage, the occasional, more elaborate cathedral, hay fields, woodland walks, and thatched cottages. All meticulously rendered in a sure, steady hand.

Pages from the book showing illustration plates. Photo by Nadia Davidson

The joy of this technique is that, unlike so much digital art today, you can see the hand of the artist in every piece. And, with such an unforgiving medium as ink, there will be mistakes. Part of the charm of the art is in their flaws (which are very few).

I am still in awe of this artist, though I have worked through the techniques in this book and copied many of the illustrations. Still, the variety and sheer density of line work is amazing. And very difficult to imitate exactly.

Inktober

Pen and ink is a favourite technique of mine, although I have graduated to fine liners now (they are less messy).

I am participating in #Inktober this year, but in a subdued manner, after learning of the recent accusations of plagiarism levelled against its founder, Jake Parker, when he tried to release his own ‘how to draw in pen and ink’ book, Inktober All Year Long: Your Indispensable Guide to Drawing with Ink.

When I first heard about this, I thought it was just a lot of people shouting about nothing. Situations like this do tend to get blown out of all proportion by online communities taking sides, and nobody doing any research. I did not participate in any of the discussions and chose to believe that it was all a misunderstanding (I like to believe the best of people until proven wrong).

However, in the first few days of October, I did look into it, and there does seem to be some cause for complain.

Yet, I consider Inktober to be an international movement which has outgrown its creator, and for this reason, I am participating this year. This is more for my own satisfaction, as I failed last year (the first year I attempted it) and know that with three monthly art challenges under my belt, I shall succeed now.

Actually, I have made it super easy on myself this time, not attempting anything fancy (like I did last year by drawing in multiple colours of ink), I am not even taking a new page for each drawing, but only using a single A3 sheet for the entire month’s-worth of drawings (an idea I borrowed from another Inktober participant, who mentioned it on a group I belong to).

The controversy

The point here is that its OK to borrow from other people, if you do it right. Artists do it all the time. Taking a small idea and working it up differently is fine.

But what seems to be the cause of all the hoo-ha over Jake Parker was that he, or perhaps a team he had got to help him put together his art book, had stolen almost word for word, chapter order, and even examples from Alphonso Dunn’s art book Pen and Ink Drawing, in which he uses his teaching experience to concisely explain the fundamentals of the art.

Small things which you might think ‘every how to draw in ink book includes this stuff,’ but if you actually go back over many different art books, and compare keywords, images and correspondences, there are surprisingly few. As this guy did in a (slightly obnoxious) video which breaks it down nicely.

I checked my own book, Sketching Without a Master by J. Hullah Brown, and the correspondences are noticeable by their absence. What I’m talking about are specific examples, the most damning ones in my eyes being the ‘furry balls’ the ‘cult of cubes’ (which to be honest, I was certain I had seen before), and using a brush to sweep up your eraser dust — seriously, you need to be slightly OCD to do that.

There just seem to be certain things, which (discounting that fact there are so many how to draw tutorials floating around, could have been absorbed by osmosis from the internet), line up too perfectly. I mean, there is a whole section on using unconventional tools for mark making, which I believe, is highly original to Dunn’s book. A book, more damnably still, which Jake Parker was familiar with, and admired.

The whole situation was not helped by the fact that Parker had previously spoken out against people who chose to participate in Inktober digitally. The whole point of the challenge was to hone traditional skill in working in ink, which is a difficult medium to master. He later retracted his statement against digital Inktober participants, claiming that the challenge was as relevant to the hone digital skills.

Although I believe that this was reluctantly. The generation which grew up with Ctrl+Z (the undo shortcut key in Photoshop) have no concept of making art where mistakes become a part of the final piece. As you can probably tell, I am a traditionalist.

And remember this is all just my own opinion. I am still doing Inktober. But, I do think there are a huge number of people who are familiar with this challenge, yet have no idea who Jake Parker is.

The whole think could be just a publicity stunt.

The now infamous Inktober book is still to be released, and all this ‘evidence’ was amassed from only a sneak peek flip-through online. It is a fantastic way to increase sales when it finally comes out.

Value of art books

Although many how to art books, especially those which are specific to certain media (like ink) will cover similar ground, it is the way in which they are presented which is original to each artist and captures the flavour of an artist’s style. Like J. Hullah Brown’s peaceful country churches.

Due to the age of Sketching without a Master, there is very little in this book which is common to almost any other book in this field. Every example used is unique to the artist, but also to the time. This is another of its charms. It is also the book which has most inspired my love of this medium. And this is the overall value in any art book.

And despite the slightly faddish nature of Inktober, it has also inspired a great many people, all over the world, with a love of the medium. This is why, despite everything that’s happened, the movement continues.