Drawing uses a kind of universal language. The word draw means to drag a pointed instrument such as a pen, pencil, or brush over a smooth surface, leaving behind the marks of its passage. The scribbles of children are drawings as truly as are the sketches of the masters. Children make marks on surfaces long before they learn to write. It is easy to understand, therefore, that drawing is the most fundamental of the arts and is closely related to all the others. Writing itself is simply the drawing of letters, which are symbols for sounds.

Line Drawings

Pure line is the simplest technical approach to drawing. In line drawings, form is usually expressed by line only. There is no attempt to distinguish between light and dark. Master draftsmen have discovered that understatement, or the skillful use of a few lines, has usually resulted in a better drawing. Relative distance forward and backward is frequently achieved by emphasizing the width or depth of certain lines, particularly those closest to the observer.

Line drawing was used in Asian, Egyptian, and early Greek art, and its influence can be traced through Byzantine and medieval work, particularly where the Asian influence was strong.

Form Drawings

Form and shadow may be shown in a drawing by means of a series of lines or crossing lines in many different directions. Such lines, known as hatch and crosshatch lines, together with sharply accented highlights, were used by such masters as Rembrandt.

Most artists have used combinations of line and form techniques. The drawings of Michelangelo, however, represent pure form drawings. His ‘Studies for the Libyan Sibyl', a superb drawing in red chalk, stresses the modeling of the figure, notably in the powerful handling of the muscles of the back and arms. The drawing makes the viewer feel the roundness of the figure.

Perspective and foreshortening have been used by some artists to give depth to their drawings. Objects in the distance usually are made smaller, and the receding edges of forms seem to converge at one or more vanishing points. Other artists abstract the essential features of a form without in any way representing the form in an imitative style. Still other artists use drawing to produce emotional effects. Short, jagged lines might indicate intense anger; broad curves might signify contentment.

Tools of Drawing

The character of a drawing is also conditioned by the tools that the artist uses in its development and by the material on which the artist draws. Most drawings are done on paper, which may vary in weight, surface texture, and color.

Smooth papers are most likely to be used for fine pen and pencil drawings. Rough surfaces are most preferred for dry brush drawings. Colored papers may be used when the artist wants to give tonal background to a chalk or charcoal sketch.

Pen and ink have been used by artists since ancient times. During the Middle Ages the quill pen was popular. Drawing pens of varying width are widely used by artists of contemporary times. Black india ink and other kinds and colors are used today. The Chinese liked to use brush and ink, and this combination is still common.

Pencils did not come into general use until after 1800. Now many different sizes and shapes, together with a wide range of hard and soft leads, are available. Chalk and charcoal were known to the artists of ancient times. Both can be rubbed into the surface of a paper in developing tonal effects, as can be seen in the drawings of Edgar Degas and Michelangelo. They are limited in use because they smear easily. Crayons have the advantage of color. Pastel colors are made of finely ground crayon pigment with a small quantity of gum or resin to hold the particles together. Pastel allows soft effects in a full range of colors.

Original drawings may usually be seen only in museums and art galleries. They are known to the public chiefly through prints, or reproductions of an original drawing. The original may be drawn on stone (a lithograph), on a metal plate (an engraving or etching), or on wood (a woodcut).

Prehistoric and Ancient Drawings

The oldest drawings of which there is any record are those on the walls of caves in which Stone Age people lived (see Human Origins). The first of these caves was discovered in 1879 at Altamira, in northern Spain. One of the most important discoveries was made in 1940 at Lascaux in southern France. ‘The Stag Frieze', from one of the Lascaux caves, shows early humans' ability to draw animal figures with a few lines and to have a complete grasp of the form.

Ancient Egyptian writing developed from drawings that represented objects and events (see Egypt, Ancient, “Three Ways of Writing”). Each picture symbol, which included birds, fruit, and flower forms, was drawn in outline, stylized and stiff, and in sharp contrast to the realistic drawings of the cave dwellers.

Greek art is known to us mainly through decorated pottery. Over the centuries the ancient Greeks worked in a wide range of styles; in some places highly stylized marine animals were popular; in others, abstract patterns. Some used drawings to tell stories. The classical Kerch style used slender forms, elaborate decorations, and several colors of paint, notably red, white, and gold.

Fifteenth-century Italy produced some of the world's greatest artists (see Renaissance). Among the greatest artists of the Renaissance were Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Raphael, and Michelangelo. Michelangelo was both painter and sculptor. Many of his drawings are studies of the human body. One of his notebooks contained sketches for the Libyan Sibyl, which Michelangelo later painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, in the Vatican in Rome. (See also Leonardo da Vinci; Michelangelo; Raphael.)

Artists of Northern Europe

The medieval and Renaissance artists of Germany did their best work in engraving, woodcutting, and drawing. Between the mid-15th and mid-16th centuries, they surpassed all other artists in these fields. It is known that the prints of Martin Schongauer served as inspiration for Raphael and that they were admired by Michelangelo. They were distinguished by exquisite precision of detail.

The greatest of the German artists was Albrecht Dürer (see Dürer, Albrecht). In the pen and ink drawing ‘The Lamentation' is an example of his intensive use of religious subject matter. Many of his engravings and woodcuts are characterized by great detail.

Hans Holbein the Younger was the last of the important German Renaissance artists (see Holbein Family). In Flanders, Peter Paul Rubens combined Italian influence with the native Flemish style (see Rubens, Peter Paul). Holland produced the great Rembrandt van Rijn (see Rembrandt). He depicts everyday activities with simplicity and sincerity. In his drawing of ‘Saskia with Her Child' the sway of the figure is emphasized in the sweeping folds of the dress and in the way in which the child is clasped in the young mother's arms. Rembrandt's drawings always reveal his concern with problems of light, shade, and space. As in most of his work, the shadows are luminous, and unessential details are omitted.

Artists of the 18th and 19th Centuries

The most famous artist of 18th-century France was Jean-Antoine Watteau (see Watteau, Antoine). His sketchbooks are filled with exquisite drawings of details of human figures, animals, and landscapes. England's greatest 18th-century artist was William Hogarth, who was known for drawings and engravings that were both satirical and moral (see Hogarth, William). In Spain, Francisco Goya became famous for his drawings of the horrors of war and the vices of the Spanish court.

Honoré Daumier, French artist of the 19th century, was deeply influenced by Goya, and like the Spaniard he satirized the evils of his day. Both men were indebted to Rembrandt for their sharp contrasts of light and shade, and to Michelangelo for their handling of form.

Paul Cézanne is regarded as the father of modern painting. He concentrated on the form of things and stressed the idea that natural forms are basically geometric. This analysis was carried further by the cubists, who attempted to show all sides of an object at the same time (see Cézanne, Paul).

20th-Century Drawings

The drawings of the 20th century seem to reflect the restlessness, the motion, and the scientific progress of the modern age. Some of them are characterized by free line. Others, like those of Léger, reduce life to geometrical forms (cubism).

X-ray techniques, in which one can see the inside and outside of forms at the same time, have produced drawings unlike those of any other period. Artists who are concerned with expressionism attempt to record the emotional feeling of a scene rather than its realistic appearance. The surrealists are interested in the subconscious mind and in the interpretation of psychoanalytic problems.

A comparison of three drawings of heads illustrates the continuous searching of the 20th-century artist for new ways to communicate ideas. In the ‘Head of a Girl with Braids', the French artist Henri Matisse demonstrates his mastery of line in the simple treatment of the hair, the sweep of the shoulder, and the contour of the face. The entire composition is rhythmic. Because only essential strokes have been used, the drawing is crisp and uncluttered.

Pablo Picasso, a Spanish artist who worked in France for many years, experimented with many different techniques and painted in a great variety of styles during his unusually long career. One technique involves superimposing transparent planes one on top of the other in order to show several sides of an object at the same time. This approach to drawing also makes the subject look like it is rotating slowly. In the ‘Head of a Woman', Picasso went a step further. He eliminated the superimposed planes and drew a double head in line alone. Because of the displacement of the features this head seems to move up, down, and around. The drawing implies psychological as well as physical changes, since the expression also continues to vary.

‘Old Man Calculating', an etching by Paul Klee, looks at first glance like a simple outline drawing overlaid with horizontal lines. It is at once whimsical and sophisticated. As the old man scratches his chin with curving fingers, his eyes peer out with a look of wonder from behind irregularly spaced horizontal lines. Klee's approach to drawing is both a unique and a personal one. Often it is concerned with mental processes.

The Drawings of China and Japan

Oriental drawings show a masterly use of line. This can be seen in the way Wu Chên, a 14th-century Chinese artist, rendered the main stalk and branches in ‘Bamboo in the Wind'. The lettering on the right side of this piece reminds us of the close relationship that exists in the Orient between the arts of writing, printing, and drawing.

Japanese prints have become well known to the Western world. Best known of the Japanese artists are Hokusai and Hiroshige, who worked in the 19th century. A Japanese-American, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, produced fine drawings in the United States. One of these is the ‘Dream', an ink sketch in which the blend of Oriental and modern feeling is at once apparent. Unlike other present-day artists, Kuniyoshi never used abstract symbols. The animal, the plant forms, and even the figure soaring upward in the ‘Dream' can all be easily identified.

Drawing and Commercial Art

Drawing is the backbone of commercial art, a field that continues to gain in importance wherever eye appeal is thought to be significant in selling products. In commercial work, drawing is used by the fashion artist, the illustrator, the layout person, and the designer. Commercial artists also illustrate reference works such as this encyclopedia (see, for example, Digestive System).

The comic strips and political drawings in newspapers are called cartoons. Animated cartoons are produced by filming hundreds of drawings one after another. (See also Cartoons; Motion Pictures.)

A caricature is a cartoon that exaggerates a situation or a person's characteristics, usually for purposes of ridicule or satire. It has proved a powerful weapon in politics. Among famous caricaturists of modern times were Sir John Tenniel of England and Thomas Nast of America (see Nast, Thomas). The latter helped to break up the powerful Tweed Ring in New York City by means of his drawings. (See also Arts, The; Mechanical Drawing; Painting.)