The Essentials of Illustration Part 5

The preparation of the blocks may now be briefly dealt with.

A negative of the picture, using a screen suitable for the purpose, is taken on a special dry gelatine plate ("process" plates) or on some other form of negative, _e.g._, wet collodion which is most commonly employed. This negative requires very careful development in order to get the dots right.

From the negative a positive is made upon a copper or zinc plate, suitably coated with a sensitive film. The usual practice is to coat the polished metal plate with a mixture of water, alb.u.men, fish glue, ammonium b.i.+.c.hromate, chromic acid and ammonia; the plate is then dried and, when cooled, exposed under the negative. The action of the light on such a film, the essentials of which are the alb.u.men, the glue or gelatine and a chromate, has already been described. The mixture becomes more or less insoluble in water, according to the intensity of the light falling upon it.

The positive is now rinsed in water, and is sometimes stained with an aniline dye in order to render the film more visible. Next it is developed in a stream of water until the surface of the metal is visible between the dots, the last traces of the soluble gelatine being removed with warm water. After drying, the plate is evenly heated over a Bunsen burner until the dots of gelatine mixture turn chocolate colour, when the plate is allowed to cool gradually. This is known as burning in. The plate, if necessary, is now touched up and the back, sides and margins varnished in order to protect them from the acid: when the varnish is dry, the plate is etched in a weak solution (about 2-1/2 per cent.) of nitric acid if the metal be zinc; if the plate be copper, it is usually etched with a solution of iron perchloride.

On taking a proof, there is almost certain to be a lack of contrast, the plate is then fine etched, by which means a considerable improvement can be made; and, by covering certain parts with an acid-resisting substance ("stopping out"), it is possible to fine etch locally.

Incidentally it may be mentioned that machine etching, by which a fine spray of the etching fluid is distributed over the plate, has recently come into vogue, for it is claimed that the results print better and are in other ways an improvement upon the older method.

The plate may now pa.s.s through the hands of an engraver, who removes any blemishes, as far as is possible, improves the high lights, and so on; in fact, a skilful engraver can improve the plate considerably.

After the plate is trimmed, and the superfluous metal cut out by means of a routing machine, it is firmly tacked to a wooden mount, usually of oak, but sometimes of mahogany, especially if the plate is large.

In order to obtain the best results, the printing, in a typographical machine, should be done on highly calendered paper--so-called "art"

paper; in fact, this is absolutely essential if a fine screen has been used; it is only the blocks made with the coa.r.s.er screens that will give fair prints on ordinary paper. For this reason reproductions made by the half-tone process are very generally treated as plates unless the glazed paper is used throughout the book. The process is used princ.i.p.ally for the reproduction of photographs, and for pencil or wash drawings.

With regard to photographs, it has already been mentioned that authors should send the negative or two or three prints differently toned, in order that the operator can choose the one most likely to give the best result.

It is sometimes difficult in a photograph of a landscape to obtain a negative in which the particular feature it is desired to represent--_e.g._, in photographs of vegetation--stands out with the requisite contrast. This is due to the position of the sun at the time of exposure, or to the use of ordinary plates. The remedy for the first is to take the photograph when the proper light obtains; with regard to the second, the use of colour correct plates, together with a colour screen in front of the lens, will obviate the defect. Since for scientific purposes the correct interpretation of the various tones of the vegetation, for example, may not be essential, variously coloured screens may be used in order to emphasise a particular feature. For instance, it will be noticed how well the bushes in Plate 7 stand out. This effect was obtained by the use of a panchromatic plate in conjunction with a red colour screen.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 7.--Half Tone reproduction of a photograph taken by Dr. Mees through a red screen.]

With regard to drawings in wash, charcoal or pencil, in which there are half-tones; these are better drawn on an enlarged scale, especially if the author is not a skilled draughtsman, for improper gradations in shading and other imperfections will not appear so noticeable in the reduced reproduction. Originals should all be made in one colour; in the case of wash drawings, diluted Indian ink (really Chinese ink) will give excellent results.

In making pencil drawings, a fairly stout hand-made paper with not too much grain should be used. If the drawing is to be of some size, the paper may be damped and pasted by its edges on to the drawing board, it will then be stretched quite flat and will not c.o.c.kle when dry.

The outline of the object may first be sketched in lightly with a soft pencil and then the shading may be proceeded with. To do this, broad-pointed soft pencils, 2 B, 3 B, or 4 B, should be used, and it is better generally to work from the high lights to the shadows. To avoid rubbing finished parts, the work should proceed from the top of the board downwards, especially in the case of large drawings.

In order to obtain a nice gradation and a more smooth appearance--more especially when a very coa.r.s.e paper has been used--the work may be gone over with paper stumps of appropriate size and softness, and, of course, India rubber may be employed where it is desired to reduce the density of the shading.

When finished, the edges of the various parts may appear woolly owing to the rubbing of the lead; this may be cured by cleaning up the edges with a trimmed piece of India rubber, but in so doing there is always a risk of rubbing out part of the shading, especially if the outline be at all intricate. If preferred, all the shaded parts may be fixed by painting them over with a suitable solution, gelatine for instance, paying particular attention in following the correct outline. When dry, the application of soft india-rubber will soon clean up the blurred edges.

If charcoal be used the same procedure may be followed. Charcoal and pencil drawings should be fixed, in order to prevent rubbing, before sending to the block makers. A suitable fixative may be purchased or one may be made by dissolving white resin in alcohol and applying it to the paper by means of a scent spray or an atomizer. A very good fixative may be made by dissolving a little gelatine in hot water and applying it whilst hot by means of a broad, flat camel hair brush, or ordinary milk may be used in a similar way. After the fixative has been put on, the drawing should be pinned up by one corner--unless, of course, it was pinned up before the fixative was employed, which is the best way when the fixative is an alcoholic solution--and allowed to dry; it may then be placed under pressure in order to flatten it, for fixed drawings generally shew a tendency to curl, especially when the preparation used for fixing has only been applied to one surface of the paper.

In making drawings for reproduction by means of the half-tone process, there are a few general points to which attention should be paid.

It should be remembered that there is not infrequently a tendency towards flatness in the reproduction; it is therefore important that the originals should be "plucky," and, on the whole, it is better to exaggerate with regard to high light and shade, especially if there is much modelling or perspective.

Finally, with regard to lighting, it is better for the majority in drawing their objects--solid objects in relief are referred to--to use a more or less lateral illumination and to represent only the high lights, shades and shadows referable to this main direction of illumination. A high relief will thus be obtained, and the effect will prove more satisfactory than if minor sources of illumination are unsuccessfully dealt with. This is especially important in drawing complicated structures such as models of vascular tissues, embryos, etc.

In cases where many such figures are to occur on one page, it is highly desirable that the lighting of each should be from the same direction.

The use of the half-tone block is now almost universal, so that it is hardly necessary to mention examples, more especially as they are hard to judge without seeing the original picture. Those in the present book are all of a high quality. Excellent examples will also be found in Tansley's _Types of British Vegetation_ (Cambridge, 1911) and in the _Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society_.

Proofs should be carefully compared with the originals, particular attention being paid to the rendering of the tones; as already remarked, fine etching will clear up a block and will often prove a remedy to flatness.

An author will naturally consider whether a photograph is to be reproduced by means of photogravure, collotype or half-tone. It is impossible to lay down any laws on the subject, but the following points should be considered.

If it is essential to have the reproduction in the text, a half-tone block must be used; it must, however, be remembered that the paper used for the letterpress may be very unsuited for the printing of half-tones. On the other hand, if it be immaterial where the picture is placed, then the relative merits of photogravure, collotype and kindred processes and half-tone must be weighed.

Provided that expense need not be considered, photogravure will, in the majority of cases, give the best results; on the other hand, if this process is too costly, then the choice lies between collotype and half-tone. The latter method will often give a result with more contrast as compared with collotype, whilst collotype will give a truer interpretation of the tones.

As has already been remarked, the best results with half-tone blocks only are to be obtained by the employment of a paper which seemingly has no lasting qualities; it therefore follows that if the reproduction forms an important record, the use of collotype is indicated, since many varieties of good paper are available. As a general rule photo-micrographs are best reproduced by collotype.

In order that the respective qualities of these three processes--photogravure, collotype and half-tone--may be compared, Plates 8, 9, and 10 have been made from the same photograph, a view taken by Dr. F. F. Blackman of the Bouche d'Erquy, a salt marsh in Brittany, which was selected chiefly on account of the large number of tones it contains.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 8. Photogravure]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 9. Collotype]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 10. Half Tone]

These three plates are not entirely comparable, since the heavy shadows in the right hand bottom portion of the photogravure have been touched up by the engraver. This was not intended by the author, but the plate was retained as it shews that directions regarding this point should not be omitted when sending the drawing or photograph to be reproduced. It also indicates that for critical work, when an exact a facsimile as possible is required, collotype should be used, for the plate cannot be touched up.

With regard to the reproduction of drawings shaded by means of wash or pencil, the same remarks apply, with the addition that if it be possible to express what is desired by other means, suitable for reproduction by line block, these latter should be employed. To ill.u.s.trate this point, Figures 5, 6, and Plate 11 have been inserted; all ill.u.s.trate the vascular skeleton of a fern (_Marattia fraxinea_), the first one is in outline and the second is shaded by lines of varying thickness; both of these are reproduced by means of the line block, whilst the third is a reproduction by half-tone of a pencil-shaded drawing. In order to obtain a fair comparison, the half-tone is reproduced as a plate, owing to the fact that it would not print satisfactorily on the paper used for the letterpress.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 5]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 6]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 11]

THE HALF-TONE THREE COLOUR PROCESS.--This process is much used for colour reproductions of various subjects; and, in view of the fact that the best results can only be obtained by the best photography, the object should, if possible, be sent to specialists for reproduction. In many cases, however, this is impossible, _e.g._, landscapes and animal and plant portraits amidst their natural surroundings, so that the scientist, if unable to make a water colour drawing, which will give by far the best result, must make his own negatives.

The first thing to do is to purchase a set of colour-filters, adapted to the colour-correct plates to be used, from firms who specialize in these matters, Messrs. Paget or Messrs. Wratten for instance, and from them the inexperienced should obtain full information regarding exposure, etc., for it is essential that the exposure of the negatives should be correlated in order that all may have the same tone-value.

The colour-screens, blue, green and orange, are made by dyeing gelatine with suitable stains; the films are stuck on to perfectly plane gla.s.s and are mounted in frames. In practice these screens are usually placed behind the lens, in which case a special camera is necessary, or they may be adapted to fit on to the front of the lens.

In either case the procedure is the same; three negatives are taken one after the other through each colour filter, the exposure being modified in order that the tones in each case may be of equal value.

There are thus obtained three negatives which, of course, yield positives which look very different one from the other. These prints may be sent to the block makers, but it is better, on the whole, to send the negatives with clear indications as to the colour of each.

From each negative there is made by contact a transparency, and from these positives there are prepared a set of half-tone negatives from which are made the half-tone blocks.

The reproductions are made by superposed printing of the three blocks, yellow being printed first, then red, and finally blue (Plate 12).

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 12.--Three Colour Half Tone.]

As indicated above, it is hardly worth while to make negatives for this process unless the operator is a really skilful or at least an efficient photographer, and even then the final product may prove unsatisfactory.

Better results are generally to be obtained by sending to the block maker a Lumiere colour photograph with full instructions regarding any corrections in the colours which may be necessary.

Examples:--

Bateson: _Mendel's Principles of Heredity_, Cambridge, 1909. Church: _Types of Floral Mechanism_, Oxford, 1908. Seward: _Darwin and Modern Science_, Cambridge, 1909.