Synopsis
The Elements of Drawing
in
Three Letters to Beginners
John Ruskin
With Illustrations Drawn by the Author
Whether this book is to be of use to you or not, depends wholly on your reason for wishing to learn to draw. If you desire only to possess a graceful accomplishment, to be able to converse in a fluent manner about drawing, or to amuse yourself listlessly in listless hours, I cannot help you: but if you wish to learn drawing that you may be able to set down clearly, and usefully, records of such things as cannot be described in words, either to assist your own memory of them, or to convey distinct ideas of them to other people; if you wish to obtain quicker perceptions of the beauty of the natural world, and to preserve something like a true image of beautiful things that pass away, or which you must yourself leave; if, also, you wish to understand the minds of great painters, and to be able to appreciate their work sincerely, seeing it for yourself, and loving it, not merely taking up the thoughts of other people about it; then I can help you, or, which is better, show you how to help yourself.
Table of Contents
Preface.
On First Practice.
- Exercise I.
- Exercise II.
- Exercise III.
- Exercise IV.
- Exercise V.
- Exercise VI.
- Exercise VII.
- Exercise VIII.
- Exercise IX.
- Exercise X.
Sketching from Nature.
On Colour and Composition.
- The Law of Principality.
- The Law of Repetition.
- The Law of Continuity.
- The Law of Curvature.
- The Law of Radiation.
- The Law of Contrast.
- The Law of Interchange.
- The Law of Consistency.
- The Law of Harmony.
From the Back Cover
Can drawing—sound, honest representation of the world as the eye sees it, not tricks with the pencil or a few "effects"—be learned from a book? One of the most gifted draftsmen, who is also one of the greatest art critics and theorists of all time, answers that question with a decided "Yes." He is John Ruskin, the author of this book, a classic in art education as well as a highly effective text for the student and amateur today.
The work is in three parts, cast in the form of letters to a student, successively covering "First Practice," "Sketching from Nature," and "Colour and Composition." Starting with the bare fundamentals (what kind of drawing pen to buy; shading a square evenly), and using the extremely practical method of exercises which the student performs from the very first, Ruskin instructs, advises, guides, counsels, and anticipates problems with sensitivity. The exercises become more difficult, developing greater and greater skills until Ruskin feels his reader is ready for watercolors and finally composition, which he treats in detail as to the laws of principality, repetition, continuity, curvature, radiation, contrast, interchange, consistency, and harmony. All along the way, Ruskin explains, in plain, clear language, the artistic and craftsmanlike reasons behind his practical advice—underlying which, of course, is Ruskin's brilliant philosophy of honest, naturally observed art which has so much affected our aesthetic.
Three full-page plates and 48 woodcuts and diagrams (the latter from drawings by the author) show the student what the text describes. An appendix devotes many pages to the art works which may be studied with profit.
Unabridged republication of the text from the Library edition of The Works of John Ruskin, 1904.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
