Drawing Guide

PREFACE.

IN presenting to the public the first four numbers of THE INDUSTRIAL DRAWING SERIES, a few words of explanation are needed. More than thirty years ago the undersigned prepared a work on Perspective, Architectural, and Landscape Drawing, for the use of an Institution with which he was then connected; but, as the work was designed for a local purpose only, it has long been out of print. It is not, therefore, to the writer, a new subject which he has now taken in hand, but the elaboration of an art which, from boyhood, he has indulged in as a pastime, with constantly enlarging views of its importance in the business of both a practically useful and disciplinary education.

A few years ago our attention was specially called to the subject of Isometrical drawing, which had been brought forward in England, and there highly recommended for the use of mechanics, architects, etc., and for all purposes in which working drawings are desirable. But the strict mathematical accuracy required in the guiding slope lines, which must be drawn to a particular angle, and for the drawing of which no means were suggested beyond ordinary pencil ruling, placed this valuable method of representing objects beyond the reach of all except the most accurate draughtsmen, and thus rendered it almost wholly useless for all practical purposes, and especially for school uses.

This difficulty in the ruling, however, we were enabled to overcome by the preparation of “Isometrical Drawing-Paper," printed from stone in fine tinted lines accurately drawn

to the required angle. We then proceeded to prepare a somewhat elaborate work on Isometrical Drawing, in which, we have the assurance to believe, we were able to extend and simplify the principles of the art; but when the drawings were all made, and the book was ready for the press, it occurred to us that a still more easy system of industrial drawing, more nearly approaching linear perspective in appearance, and equally practical with isometrical drawing, might be invented; and the result has been the system of Cabinet Perspective, which is now offered to the public in the Second, Third, and Fourth Numbers of the "Industrial Drawing Series." If we are not greatly mistaken, this system of Cabinet Perspective, which is so very simple in plan, and so easy of execution as to render its more valuable portions capable of being understood and practiced by the children in our primary schools, will give to the subject of industrial drawing, in its application to the representation of solids of every variety of form, a value hitherto unknown.

While we regard it, however, as better for most industrial drawings, especially for school purposes, than Isometrical Perspective, yet the latter has some very valuable adaptations; and, as it can be easily applied by those who understand Cabinet Perspective, we have given an exposition of its principles in the Appendix to the present volume.

A peculiarity in the plan of the system now offered to the public consists in placing the drawings which are to be imitated, or which are to serve as models for suggesting original designs, on paper printed with fine lines one eighth of an inch apart, and in furnishing the pupil with similarly printed red or pink-lined paper on which to make his drawings. These lines cross each other at right angles, vertically and horizontally. Any draughtsman will see at a glance with what facility and accuracy a figure may be copied from the Drawing-Book on paper thus prepared; how readily it may be enlarged to any extent, or diminished, in true pro

portion; and how easy it is, with the aid of such paper, to design new patterns and models, and draw them in perfect symmetry in all their parts. Draughtsmen are often obliged to rule paper in a similar manner, for their own use, in making intricate patterns; and it is perfectly evident that the vast variety of decorative designs which we find among the remains of Egyptian, Grecian, Roman, Byzantine, and Arabian art, was formed upon paper, or papyrus, ruled by pencil in this identical manner, although not on the scale which we have used. Indeed, these ancient patterns could not possibly have been executed with the accuracy which they exhibit without such aid. They show the accurate direction of the diagonal and other oblique lines, which are so easily formed upon such ruling. For all purposes of illustrating industrial art, the two kinds of ruled drawing-paper-both Cabinet and Isometrical-will be found invaluable. Their varied applications will be seen throughout the Industrial Drawing Series.

In Drawing-Book No. I. we have taken up, in an elementary manner, the subject of Decorative Design-both on account of its being well adapted to elementary practice in drawing, and because of its importance in nearly all departments of industrial art.

In our drawing-lessons under this head, we have aimed, in the first place, to furnish a variety of such copies as are most suitable for elementary exercises in training the hand and the eye, while at the same time they shall be adapted to cultivate a correct taste for that which combines harmony of design with grace and beauty of form. Hence, instead of thinking it desirable that we should originate all of our figures for the drawing exercises, we have selected them, in great part, from the best examples of the decorative art of all ages, being parts, or wholes, of patterns which have stood the test of time, the only true standard of taste. By this course we are not only able to give a very great variety of

excellent patterns for imitation, and for suggestion in designing, but we are also enabled to impart to the pupil some general knowledge of those principles of form and proportion which govern all true art decoration; and in the introductory articles we have given brief sketches of the growth and development of these principles in different nations and in different periods of civilization. Should the Series be carried so far as we now anticipate, we hope, in higher numbers, to greatly enlarge upon the designs here given; to show the application of industrial drawing to various specific forms of industry; and also to illustrate the Harmonies of Color, as applied to decorative art.

But we would, furthermore, call special attention to the new method of representing objects, called CABINET PERSPECTIVE, as illustrated in Drawing-Books Numbers II., III., and IV., and embracing both plane and curvilinear solids in almost every variety of form and position. This kind of perspective, when carried out by the use of the ruled drawingpaper, enables us to construct all kinds of working drawings for artisans-drawings which, instead of giving a geometrical representation of but one side of a rectilinear object, present in one view three sides, at the same time avoiding the appearance of distortion, and giving, with perfect accuracy, the same as Isometrical Perspective, the dimensions of the objects represented, according to whatever scale the draughtsman may adopt. Moreover, the principles of the system are so simple that a child can understand them; while any one who can draw straight lines by the aid of a ruler, and curved lines by the aid of a pair of compasses, can apply them.

As indicating something of the scope of the system, as applied to solids, we have represented, under this head, within the narrow limits which we have assigned to ourselves, such objects as cabinet frame-works of various forms; tables; cubical, hexagonal, octagonal, and other blocks, either entire, or variously cut and divided; crosses; star figures; boxes;

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Drawing Guide: Manual of Instruction in Industrial Drawing, Designed to ...