65. Practice-Prints

Practice-Prints. The principal object of the preceding exercises was to limber the fingers and to train you in the control of the different pencil movements. In these exercises you were not limited to any particular space. For your next exercises we provide with this volume separate practice-prints showing the actual shape of the different blemishes. Each print represents a negative, yet it is not transparent. You will observe on these practice-prints, various blemishes such as pimples, freckles, character lines of the face, etc., which will require different strokes and varying degrees of pressure on the pencil to eliminate them. In this way you are enabled to put the previous exercises to a practical test, yet being confined to the blemishes of the actual negative on the paper. For your first work take one of the practice-prints, No. 1, which represents an enlarged portion of a face filled with freckles and large blotches. Figure 2 of this chart serves as an example of the strokes of the pencil required to eliminate these blemishes, building them up in tone to

match the surrounding surface, i. e., giving the face a smooth, even texture. As the blemishes are very conspicuous, this practice-print will enable you to easily see the effect of your work and, as a whole, prove of great value for the preliminary practice.

66. The natural blemishes and defects usually to be found in a negative of the normal size is given in practice-print No. 2. Here you will observe the character lines and blemishes; indentations in the flesh, etc., which appear in practically all negatives. Your previous practice with the pencil movements should have given you fairly good control of the pencil and you should now be able to apply the lead properly to the blemishes on the the print.

67. Removing The Blemishes On Practice-Print

Removing The Blemishes On Practice-Print. Place one of the practice-prints, No. 1, upon the table before a north window, or under any light which will evenly illuminate the card. Properly sharpen your pencil according to previous instruction and then proceed to eliminate the freckles and blemishes of the face, beginning on the cheek underneath the eye. Remove first one blemish, building it up to match the surface surrounding it. It is not the intention to fill in the blemishes solid, but to break up the imperfections in such a way that the whole resulting effect will give looseness and flesh texture. For this reason a very fine pointed pencil, having a medium hard lead is the most desirable one to use. Bear in mind that the least number of strokes you can apply to any spot and cause the blemish to disappear, the better will be the results. To apply too much lead the surface will become glazed, while with a few strokes the blemish will be broken up and disappear; at the same time the surface will be of uniform tone. When one blemish has been removed proceed to the next one and so on until all of the freckles and imperfections have been blended and removed.