DETAILS (ANIMATE)
In this chapter it is proposed to say something about details and, in particular, those which I group for convenience under the heading " Animate," because either they form part of the body (like eyes, hands, hair, mouth, etc.) or else they take their shape from some part of the body (like gloves, shoes, etc.)
It seems unnecessary in a work of this kind to go into the construction of the human body, or to explain the nature and function of such things as the eyeball or the wrist bone. Study from nature direct, and an anatomy book, will tell you all you need to know. It is rather my concern to show what different interpretations may be given by different artists, in different moods, for different purposes, of the same features.
In juggling ever so slightly with the features that compose a face a double care must be taken. In the body and limbs distortion and emphasis are used to create a definite type of person, whether it be elegant, plump, dainty, cosy or sturdy. This is equally true of the face ; but what, in addition, you have to be aware of is the fact that from such rearrangement of the features, the face may take on the expression of some emotion or mental state that is uncalled for or even quite ludicrous.
Certainly, in doing an advertisement for an emollient soothing cream, it is essential to make the face of the user express smiling contentment, while, in other contexts, sleep, laughter, excitement or a mild hauteur may be called for. This is about all, however, in the way of human emotions that a fashion artist will be called upon to express in his women. Children are allowed more latitude, may cry, look peevish, and even astonished and are occasionally represented as screaming, with mouths wide open. Men, if they appear in fashion drawings, may look amused, or grim. The older woman sometimes looks very tired, but her weariness is a condition rather than an emotion and must never degenerate into annoyance at being so tired.
Perhaps the most common fault of beginners in this connection, and one that makes a chapter on this subject so necessary, is the inability to reduce all the features, hands and feet, to the same degree of simplification, or to raise them all to the same degree of elaboration. As a result of this we have simplified eyes, a natural mouth and distorted hands all occurring in the same figure ; which is as bad as doing different parts of the same drawing in wash, in pen and ink, and in conte pencil. Every part of the body must be visualised in the same way and carried out in the same style.
Care must be taken, then, not to express too much emotion in a fashion face ; that it must be appropriate to the age, station and pastime of the figure concerned ; and that it must be co-ordinated in style as well as size with the other features in the same figure.
Taking the ordinary ungarnished human eye for granted, let us study some of its variations in pi. 8. No. i is a good all-round version, midway between the realism of No. 2 and the complete distortion of No. 5. It is well adapted to half-tone reproduction and is done entirely with the brush. Even in a page devoted to one head the eye rarely appears as large as half an inch long, and a certain amount of simplification must take place, whether you want it to or not. Thus, however you are treating the eye, it is best not to separate the lashes and put in each one, to put too many high-lights or reflected lights in the pupil, or to put in the conjunctiva at all. The droop in the eyebrow, here, as it approaches the nose, denotes concentration. In three of these examples I have suggested a vaselined eyelid, since this has had a long innings and may yet continue for some time.
No. 2 is the eye, idealised but not distorted, as it appears in the millinery sketches of certain old-fashioned firms, and in nearly all hairdressers' sketches. This kind of work involves patience and skill, rather than thought. If a photograph did as much justice to the hair as a drawing can, it would certainly supersede this method of doing faces ; but while there is really no satisfactory alternative to a very painstaking stippled representation of a coiffeur, it would be inconsistent to use any other method for the face under it. The wide-open eye suggests disingenuous candour the iris has its normal proportions, and is not enlarged. Elaborate stippling over a light pencil sketch produced this effect.
No. 3 is more formalised than No. 1, but has not reached the distortion of No. 5. This (and the three below it) is a left eye and its nose would lie in the direction of No. 2. From this it can be seen that, ever so slightly, it slopes up towards the nose. This angle always gives an effect of serenity. (Also No. 4.) The enormous size of the iris, the want of any light reflected in it, and above all, the fact that the iris extends below the lower lid, all give an impression of langour, contentment and lack of vitality. This kind of thing is less admirable with sports clothes than with an evening gown and luxurious accessories.
No. 4 is a good simplification for pen and ink. The brow is unperplexed, and the angle of the whole eye is simple and candid, like No. 2. The treatment of the lower lid is a compromise between the sophisticated made-up effect of Nos. 3, 8 and 9, and the childlike absence of it in No. 6. This treatment can be made more genial and therefore better adapted to advertisements, by making the brow a little thicker towards the nose, and by putting the pupil in black.
No. 5 has had every drop of realism distilled out of it. The nose is in the direction of No. 6 and so you see that the eye slants up very slightly. A half-
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