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Drawing and Sketching in Pencil
PREFACE.
AN ARTISTIC conception is susceptible of
translation into graphic expression through a
variety of media, but by a certain universality
of custom, or perhaps more accurately of convenience,
the familiar lead pencil has achieved a significance
derived from its immediate association with all forms
of pictorial delineation. One may speak of it as
a kind of staff upon which the artist or the drafts-
man leans most heavily. But this popular accept-
ance or recognition has, curiously enough, failed
to carry with it an equivalent degree of appre-
ciative comment or of authoritative instruction
in the technique of its individual employment.
Therefore, an examination of the text and illustra-
tions contained in this volume must be of special
and compelling interest to any one of artistic pro-
fession or aspirations, for in his accomplished and
excellent interpretation of the potentiality existent
within the pencil, Mr. Guptill is practically a pio-
neer.
By far the greater acknowledgment must be given,
however, to the very definite stimulus contained in
this volume toward a really effective educational
development among architectural draftsmen. The
atelier system which offers an inexpensive means of
acquiring certain architectural training, based on
the general principles of instruction at the Ecole
des Beaux Arts in Paris, nevertheless, stops short of
completeness from the lack of stress placed on the
important element of free-hand drawing. Great
emphasis is properly laid on the solution of the
plan and its presentation but the adherence to the
mechanical method more or less predicated in the
drawing of the two-dimensioned plan, has been car-
ried with almost equal insistence into the study of
the three-dimensioned elevation. Out of this prac-
tice has grown a kind of formalized T-square and
triangle "indication," much in vogue, and with
scarcely more suggestive value than the working
drawing produced with the other mechanical para-
phernalia of ruling pens, compasses and dividers.
Most draftsmen avoid the blunted pencil point as
they would a plague. A large part of their time
is spent in sharpening the pencil to the length and
sharpness of a needle. With such an implement
their horizon is narrowed down to the production
of scale drawings and the conventionalized sectional
hatchings indicative of various materials. Form
expressed in the graceful, flowing suavity of line
becomes a remote possibility under such conditions.
If I am dwelling with some insistence upon the
value of free-hand drawing, it is not in disparage-
ment of instrumental drawing, nor with any view
to its neglect. It is rather in the desire to build
something more vital and engaging on this founda-
tion of mechanical skill which will result in the
draftsman becoming ever increasingly more of a
draftsman that I most earnestly recommend this
book. Mr. Guptill has with every evidence of suc-
cess endeavored to assist the draftsman out of this
automatic conventionalized indication into the realm
of appreciation of the greater artistic possibilities
lying within himself. To suggest to others a way
of increasingly beautiful accomplishment is ob-
viously no slight contribution.
AN ARTISTIC conception is susceptible of
translation into graphic expression through a
variety of media, but by a certain universality
of custom, or perhaps more accurately of convenience,
the familiar lead pencil has achieved a significance
derived from its immediate association with all forms
of pictorial delineation. One may speak of it as
a kind of staff upon which the artist or the drafts-
man leans most heavily. But this popular accept-
ance or recognition has, curiously enough, failed
to carry with it an equivalent degree of appre-
ciative comment or of authoritative instruction
in the technique of its individual employment.
Therefore, an examination of the text and illustra-
tions contained in this volume must be of special
and compelling interest to any one of artistic pro-
fession or aspirations, for in his accomplished and
excellent interpretation of the potentiality existent
within the pencil, Mr. Guptill is practically a pio-
neer.
By far the greater acknowledgment must be given,
however, to the very definite stimulus contained in
this volume toward a really effective educational
development among architectural draftsmen. The
atelier system which offers an inexpensive means of
acquiring certain architectural training, based on
the general principles of instruction at the Ecole
des Beaux Arts in Paris, nevertheless, stops short of
completeness from the lack of stress placed on the
important element of free-hand drawing. Great
emphasis is properly laid on the solution of the
plan and its presentation but the adherence to the
mechanical method more or less predicated in the
drawing of the two-dimensioned plan, has been car-
ried with almost equal insistence into the study of
the three-dimensioned elevation. Out of this prac-
tice has grown a kind of formalized T-square and
triangle "indication," much in vogue, and with
scarcely more suggestive value than the working
drawing produced with the other mechanical para-
phernalia of ruling pens, compasses and dividers.
Most draftsmen avoid the blunted pencil point as
they would a plague. A large part of their time
is spent in sharpening the pencil to the length and
sharpness of a needle. With such an implement
their horizon is narrowed down to the production
of scale drawings and the conventionalized sectional
hatchings indicative of various materials. Form
expressed in the graceful, flowing suavity of line
becomes a remote possibility under such conditions.
If I am dwelling with some insistence upon the
value of free-hand drawing, it is not in disparage-
ment of instrumental drawing, nor with any view
to its neglect. It is rather in the desire to build
something more vital and engaging on this founda-
tion of mechanical skill which will result in the
draftsman becoming ever increasingly more of a
draftsman that I most earnestly recommend this
book. Mr. Guptill has with every evidence of suc-
cess endeavored to assist the draftsman out of this
automatic conventionalized indication into the realm
of appreciation of the greater artistic possibilities
lying within himself. To suggest to others a way
of increasingly beautiful accomplishment is ob-
viously no slight contribution.
477 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 9, 2007
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90 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 12, 2022
”If one desires to learn to draw, let him draw and
draw and draw.”
Fantastic book on pencil drawing, especially the first chapters are a gold mine of knowledge. It gets a little repetitive in the second half and is very much geared towards a job that doesn’t exist anymore (who hires an illustrator to design a building these days). The book is also very text heavy and the formatting is not great either, but honestly you can’t expect a modern layout from a book that’s 100 years old.
Anyways, brb gushing over Guptill’s pencil renders.
draw and draw.”
Fantastic book on pencil drawing, especially the first chapters are a gold mine of knowledge. It gets a little repetitive in the second half and is very much geared towards a job that doesn’t exist anymore (who hires an illustrator to design a building these days). The book is also very text heavy and the formatting is not great either, but honestly you can’t expect a modern layout from a book that’s 100 years old.
Anyways, brb gushing over Guptill’s pencil renders.
January 14, 2014
This is a 2007 unabridged republication of Sketching and Rendering in Pencil, originally published by The Pencil Points Press, Inc. New York, 1922. Although modern drawing instruction books include many of the same points, this book definitely has the feel of an earlier time, including more detail than one usually finds today and expecting a longer period of drawing apprenticeship and more disciplined practice than is now common. This book also differs from some others I have seen in that while it covers a variety of drawing subject matter, it focuses on the pencil drawing skills needed for the student of architecture.
April 15, 2010
Too verbose for me. Page after page of dense prose.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews