The text provides a method for creating counter-proofs from drawings using a specific moistening and pressing technique, ensuring the drawing's integrity and quality on different types of paper. It discusses the strengths of red chalk in producing clear counter-proof prints and the challenges with using stone black and pencil. The importance of practicing on toned paper, especially for academic purposes, is highlighted for mastering drawing skills.
METHOD FOR LEARNING
Thus, you moisten the back of the drawing as soon as it is finished, with a sponge moistened with clear water, being careful not to let any slip onto the front of the drawing, which would ruin everything: once the drawing is sufficiently moistened, a white paper of the same size is laid on top, also moistened and well pressed with a gray paper; they are then passed together under the engravers' press for intaglio printing, to produce a counter-proof, as can be read at length in the aforementioned treaties on Etching and Engraving.
In this way, the red chalk is fixed against the paper; any excess crayon that might have detached is removed, and the grain of the paper is pressed, so the drawing is no longer liable to smudge. Furthermore, a counter-proof is produced on the white paper, which, although softer than the original drawing, still has enough strength and is even more pleasant to the eye, as the delicate hatching of half-tones is much less harsh than in the drawing. The counter-proofs retrieved from the stone black drawings are much less beautiful, this stone being much harder and less greasy than red chalk: pencil drawings counter-proof even less, and so they are rarely made except on vellum or parchment, and rarely on paper.
Drawing on colored paper.
It is good to get accustomed early to drawing on toned paper, especially for academia, because this is the paper on which one learns to m