ILLUSTRATION II: ROUND SCULPTURE
SCULPTURE IN THE ROUND DRAWING SCULPTURE IN THE ROUND RELIEF AND HALF ROUND ILLUSTRATION I: RELIEF SCULPTURE ILLUSTRATION III: PAINTED SURFACES
Sculpture in the round presents the illustrator with challenges distinctly different from those of relief illustration. While the goal remains to record as much as possible of what the original artist intended to convey, the flowing surfaces of sculpture in the round are not amenable to linear reproduction, nor are night photography and ink rubbings necessarily the definitive methods for recording sculpture in the round in situ. Here, only focused photographs con supply the illustrator with the tone changes, interrelationships and volume of the forms as they would appear to on observer standing before the monument itself.
As with relief sculpture, photographs alone present a visually confusing impression of sculpture in the round. The advantages of black and white drawings over photographs ore many; drawings are easier to reproduce, drawings give sharper definition of the features of a monument, drawings can lighten or eliminate obscuring shadows and drawings show the true nature of crocks or chips, which might otherwise be read as elements of the composition.
Another challenging feature of sculpture in the round is the necessity for multipleviewpoints of the some monument. Usually these views are four: one front, two back, three right, four left, Occasionally a monument will require top, bottom, or oblique views as well. Usually however, the four primary views of a monument will show each of the carved surfaces with a minimum of distortion (see figures 6-17, 6-18).
Working from pre-scaled photographs will save much time and expense that would otherwise go into enlarging or reducing the various finished drawings. Also, working from scaled photographs will ensure uniformity of line width and tone depth in all the completed drawings of a single monument (as in figures 6-27, 6-28).
Here the task of the illustrator is to create a faithful reproduction of the on-site photograph through the use of stippling. This is done by making print of the monument at a convenient size, such as 8 « x I 1, which is secured to the drawing board and covered with a sheet of clear acetate. The outline of the stone is then traced onto the acetate using a #1 pen and the outlines of the major features of the design are then picked out using the some pen (as in figures 6-19,6-20).
The shadows defining the surface of the monument are represented by a regular field of dots. These should be applied more densely where the surface is closer to the observer and less densely where the surface slopes away from the observer. This procedure is applied to all meaningful variations in the surface of the monument and care must be taken to identify and accurately define these variations (see figures 6-21, 6-22).
This initial stippling is done very sparsely so that errors can be corrected easily. Thus, if an area is too light it can be darkened by placing a second application of dots between the existing ones, and if an area is too dark it can be 'lightened' by darkening the rest of the surface in the some manner.
Once the major features of the design and the significant tone variations on the surface of the monument have been indicated with stippling, the areas of deep incision and high relief must be defined. This is done by pressing on a half tone sheet of 'sand' or 'grovel' texture where dark shadows define these features (as in figures 6-23, 6-24).
Where these areas of dark shadow fade gradually into neighboring areas of lighter tone, this transition must be created by carefully inked dots of decreasing density. Here the pen size used must blend well with the stippled dots on the commercial half-tone sheet (as in figures 6-25, 6-26).
Once this has been done, a half tone sheet is placed over the entire surface of themonument drawing and the portions extending beyond the outline of the stone are cut away. Finally cracks, chips, and other damage to the surface of the monument ore indicated by an application of white to those areas where the original sculpted surface no longer exists (I as in figure 6-27, 6-28).
Just as in relief illustration, there is a series of conventions that permit little variation, for each is a graphic representation of a specific statement of evidence. These conventions are noted below.
Solid Lines ore used to represent the abrupt intersection of distinct planes of sculpture, as well as grooves and incising.
Stippling is used to represent the final sculpted surface.
White is used to represent areas where the final sculpted surface no longer exists.
Due to its position half way between relief sculpture and full round sculpture, half-round and high-relief sculpture must be drown with techniques token from both the sculptural extremes. The frontispiece to this article shows on example of the treatment of c high-relief sculpture which borders on the half-round. The lines of the figure were first traced as described in the section on drawing relief monuments, then the flowing surfaces were built up with stippling and commercial half tones as described in the section on drawing sculpture in the round.
Every new monument will present its own challenges, but a judicious use of the techniques described in this article will help in meeting them.
