Raymond Sheppard technique

Round the year: Summer p.60

Enlarge the image above.Look closely at the black lines and then the white lines too

It comes from Round The Year: Summer which I've written about before.

EXACTLY how did Raymond Sheppard create this image? Was it scraperboard with a black surface? Was it white artboard with black ink? Did he use pen for all of it, or just some of it and brush for other bits?

 The reason I'm asking is because I own two pieces of original art by Sheppard and still do not know how they are done! You are looking at a published (and scanned) artwork from a book - so paper (and digits!) will affect the end result.  Similarly I wondered about some of the No-Name Deer illustrations.

Well, a passing comment from a friend, David Jackson, gave me as close an answer as I'll ever get.

John Hullah-Brown (1875-1973) was born on 8 October 1875 and emigrated to NZ in 1960 aged 84 years old! He died there on 17 February 1973 at 97 years of age. His wife Hilda died two years later aged 77 and both have memorials in Totara Memorial Park, Thames, Waikato, New Zealand. He's mainly remembered for writing violin concertos for schoolchildren. The Christian Science Monitor -18 January 1936 has a wonderful piece on his work and how effective it was in teaching children violin but he also wrote books on art technique.The one we are looking at is a 1951 Thomas Nelson publication called Sketching without a master : the technique and art of pen- and - ink drawing

In the revised edition in an appendix he highlights various artists' techniques including one Raymond Sheppard! For those who need to know who the artists and their works are the list appears at the end of this article. The emboldening below is mine.

That the suggestion of texture and colour is independent of economy or elaboration of linework is well exemplified in the two contrasted treatments in Figs. 1 and 2. [Joyce Denny and Kate Serady]
The student should, therefore, note the delightful composition and colourful charm of Fig. 1; the fateful severity of Fig. 2—this Russian drawing is entitled " Revolution" ; the nature-charm of Fig. 3 [G. E. Collins]; the fanciful, fairy-tale lighting of Fig. 4 [F. D. Bedford]; the combative desperation of Fig. 5 [E.L.Mann] ; the characteristic lighting of the interior of a dimly lit shop in Fig. 6 [C. Walter Hodges]; the mystic texture and lighting of Fig. 7 [C. Walter Hodges] ; the moonlight coldness of Fig. 8 [L. R. Brightwell]; and the remote, seclusive charm and subtlety of Fig. 9.

He goes on to tell us the picture above is eight inches square.

Strength of line should be examined in relation to tonal contrast, texture, colour, shadow, and outline. [...] With dexterous handling in the originals, and an appropriate reduction in size for the reproductions, the distinction between brush-work, pen-work, scraper board, and a genuine woodcut might need expert scrutiny to detect. [...] The white lines in Fig. 9 present an entirely different case, and in reply to my inquiry the artist has kindly informed me of the manner of their production—a matter in which I was unable to determine with certitude, realizing the several alternative means of their execution in conjunction with alternative means in the process of their reproduction. This drawing was made, eight inches square, upon a sheet of plain white scraper board. Using fixed Indian ink, the portions that are predominantly black on white were drawn with a fine sable brush—not with the pen. The larger areas, where black predominates, were first filled in in solid black with a brush, and the whites scraped away with a knife.

So there we are "with certitude". Raymond Sheppard used a 'faux' scraperboard technique of his own!. How wonderful this information was captured and I'm so grateful to David Jackson for highlighting it  My friend David Slinn, who had a discussion with me about "No-Name Deer" said about this comment by Hullah-Brown, 

"From a practical point of view, it would have been traditional book publishers’ logical means of avoiding the increasing costs of laborious wood-cuts, metal-engraving and lino-cuts – but retain the choice of using that style of illustration."

 Frank Bellamy, my other obsession, used CS10 art-board for this very purpose of scraping away any errors rather than rely on 'white-out' to cover a mistake as that material could break loose from the board.

APPENDIX

Fig. I. Joyce Dennys, from "What can we do now?" (Rodney Bennett).
Fig. 2. Kate Serady, from The Broken Song (Sonia Daugherty).
Fig. 3. G. E. Collins, from Wild Life in a Southern County (R. Jefferies).
Fig. 4. F. D. Bedford, from Stories for the Nine-year-old (Louey Chisholm).
Fig. 5. E. L. Mann, from Unknown Warriors.
Fig. 6. C. Walter Hodges, from Mr. Sheridan's Umbrella (L. A. G. Strong).
Fig. 7. C. Walter Hodges, from The Schoolboy King (Mark Dallow).
Fig. 8. L. R. Brightwell, from Runaway Rabbit (Olwen Bowen).
Fig. 9. Raymond Sheppard, from Round the Year Stories (Maribel Edwin).