Drawing is the expression of form in graphic art. The term is more particularly applied to expression of form by line. In the preliminary study of drawing, a lead-pencil or other pointed instrument is employed, and the pupil is directed to copy geometrical or other well-defined forms bounded by distinct lines. But in nature no such boundary lines exist; her objects relieve themselves to the eye as spaces that are lighter or darker in tone, or of varying colour. All expression by line of natural things is consequently a conventional rendering, and the true skill of the artist lies in the imagination and insight with which he chooses such lines as are typical and vital, as most simply and forcibly reveal the character of the thing drawn. Such selection is, in particular, the chief excellence of an etched plate, etching being, of all artistic processes, that in which the line is most sensitive and susceptible to the slightest impulse of the artist, and a process in which the line tells by itself, and does not instinctively tend to become merged in a series of accurately graduated tints, as is the case in engraving with the burin. The slighter etchings of Rembrandt are unsurpassable examples of expressive selection of line; while the woodcuts of
Holbein's 'Dance of Death' show how accurately the character of even a minute face may be rendered by a very few blunt lines and touches, set each in its absolutely right place. The more academic method of drawing, of which the classical outlines after Flaxman are examples, has in it less of spirit and insight. It trusts greatly to an unbroken and formally correct outline, and finds its charm less on seizure of individualities of character than on dignity of abstract design, and the grace inherent in flowing curves. In painting, art has rid herself of the conventionalism of line, and, like nature, expresses form by spaces. In speaking of the drawing of a picture, we indicate not only, or chiefly, the contours of its figures, but also their interior modelling, the subtle delicacies of colouring, of tone, and of light and shade, so far as these express the form of objects and reveal their individuality. Architectural drawing has its own rules; and mechanical or engineering drawing differs widely from other kinds in being done wholly by aid of instruments. See ART EDUCATION, PERSPECTIVE.