To ALBERT E. MOORE
WHO TAUGHT THE AUTHOR THE VALUE OF TRUTH
IN REPRESENTATION AND PERSEVERANCE
IN EFFORT. THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
Bibliographical Note
This Dover edition, first published in 2007, is an unabridged
republication of Sketching and Rendering in Pencil, published by
The Pencil Points Press, Inc., New York, 1922.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Guptill, Arthur Leighton, 1891-1956.
[Sketching and rendering in pencil]
Drawing and sketching in pencil / Arthur L. Guptill; with a preface
by Howard Greenley.
p. cm.
Originally published: Sketching and rendering in pencil. New York:
Pencil Points Press, 1922.
9780486136486
ISBN-10: 0-486-46048-7 (pbk.)
1. Pencil drawing—Technique. 2. Architectural rendering—
Technique. I. Title.
NC890.G8 2007
741.2’4—dc22
2007017033
Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation
46048702

www.doverpublications.com
PREFACE.
AN ARTISTIC conception is susceptible of translation into
graphic expression through a variety of media, but by a certain
universality of custom, or perhaps more accurately of convenience,
the familiar lead pencil has achieved a significance derived from its
immediate association with all forms of pictorial delineation. One
may speak of it as a kind of staff upon which the artist or the
draftsman leans most heavily. But this popular acceptance or
recognition has, curiously enough, failed to carry with it an
equivalent degree of appreciative comment or of authoritative
instruction in the technique of its individual employment.
Therefore, an examination of the text and illustrations contained in
this volume must be of special and compelling interest to any one
of artistic profession or aspirations, for in his accomplished and
excellent interpretation of the potentiality existent within the
pencil, Mr. Guptill is practically a pioneer.
By far the greater acknowledgment must be given, however, to
the very definite stimulus contained in this volume toward a really
effective educational development among architectural draftsmen.
The atelier system which offers an inexpensive means of acquiring
certain architectural training, based on the general principles of
instruction at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, nevertheless,
stops short of completeness from the lack of stress placed on the
important element of free-hand drawing. Great emphasis is
properly laid on the solution of the plan and its presentation but
the adherence to the mechanical method more or less predicated in
the drawing of the two-dimensioned plan, has been carried with
almost equal insistence into the study of the three-dimensioned
elevation. Out of this practice has grown a kind of formalized T-

square and triangle “indication,” much in vogue, and with scarcely
more suggestive value than the working drawing produced with the
other mechanical paraphernalia of ruling pens, compasses and
dividers.
Most draftsmen avoid the blunted pencil point as they would a
plague. A large part of their time is spent in sharpening the pencil
to the length and sharpness of a needle. With such an implement
their horizon is narrowed down to the production of scale drawings
and the conventionalized sectional hatchings indicative of various
materials. Form expressed in the graceful, flowing suavity of line
becomes a remote possibility under such conditions.
If I am dwelling with some insistence upon the value of free-
hand drawing, it is not in disparagement of instrumental drawing,
nor with any view to its neglect. It is rather in the desire to build
something more vital and engaging on this foundation of mechanical
skill which will result in the draftsman becoming ever increasingly
more of a draftsman that I most earnestly recommend this book.
Mr. Guptill has with every evidence of success endeavored to
assist the draftsman out of this automatic conventionalized
indication into the realm of appreciation of the greater artistic
possibilities lying within himself. To suggest to others a way of
increasingly beautiful accomplishment is obviously no slight
contribution. This volume is a plea for better instruction in free-
hand drawing and for the thorough perception of its value.
The illustrations accompanying the text, by their variety and
excellence of selection and their orderly arrangement, furnish in
themselves a basis of suggestion to students which should awaken
the most enthusiastic response.
The initial and almost certain discouragement which the making
of a drawing from life connotes, inevitably becomes an emotion of

compelling interest once a grasp of the elements of form and
contour has been accomplished. I know of no way in which artistic
capital, in the sense of facility and sureness of drawing, can be
obtained better than by drawing from life and the transition from
the plastic model to the rendering of the static architectural
ornament enables the student to embody in his drawing the spirit
of the design with a sureness and a refinement of detail not
possible to one who has not passed through the former experience.
There is some distance to be travelled along the road of artistic
endeavor before the student can express his personality in the
composed statement of the artist. Mr. Guptill has, I think, in
pointing out the road and contributing to its illumination, wisely
kept away from the indication of style. His insistence has been in
the line of encouragement of a greater fluency of speech in the
language of pencil technique and of the assistance that intelligent
conventionalization can render in the presentation of form and of
color and of materials.
New York City.
HOWARD GREENLEY.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Copyright Page
PREFACE.
Table of Figures
FOREWORD.
DRAWING AND SKETCHING IN PENCIL - PART I.
CHAPTER I. - FIRST CONSIDERATIONS
Chapter II. - THE ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT
Chapter III. - OBJECT DRAWING IN OUTLINE

Chapter IV. - OBJECT DRAWING IN LIGHT AND
SHADE.
Chapter V. - FREE-HAND PERSPECTIVE.
Chapter VI. - CAST DRAWING
Chapter VII. - LIFE DRAWING
Chapter VIII. - SKETCHING ANIMALS
PART II.
Chapter I. - ARCHITECTURAL CONSIDERATIONS
Chapter II. - STARTING THE WORK
Chapter III. - INDIVIDUAL STYLE
Chapter IV. - METHODS AND LIGHTING
Chapter V. - COMPOSITION AND DRAWING FROM
PHOTOGRAPHS
Chapter VI. - GRADED TONES
Chapter VII. - THE REPRESENTATION OF SM ALL
BUILDINGS
Chapter VIII. - THE REPRESENTATION OF DETAILS
Chapter IX. - INTERIORS AND FURNITURE
Chapter X. - OUTDOOR SKETCHING
Chapter XI. - ACCESSORIES
Chapter XII. - DECORATIVE TREATMENT
Chapter XIII. - LARGE BUILDINGS
Chapter XIV. - CONCLUSION
Art Instruction
Table of Figures
Figure 2
Figure I
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5

Figure 6
Figures 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure II
Figure 12
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15
Figure 16
Figure 17
Figure 18
Figure 19
Figure 20
Figure 21
Figure 22
Figure 23
Figure 24
Figure 25
Figure 26
Figure 27
Figure 28
Figure 29
Figure 30
Figure 31
Figure 32
Figure 33
Figure 34
Figure 35

Figure 36
Figure 37
Figure 38
Figure 39
Figure 40
Figure 41
Figure 42
Figure 43
Figure 44
Figure 45
Figure 46
Figure 47
Figure 48
Figure 49
Figure 50
Figure 51
Figure 52
Figure 53
It is a pleasure for the author to express here his grateful
appreciation of the co-operation of all those who have contributed
towards the making of this volume—especially to Walter Scott
Perry, under whom, as Director of the School of Fine and Applied
Arts, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York City, the lectures upon
which this work is based were prepared, and to the artists who
have kindly given permission for the reproduction of the drawings
shown in the supplementary illustrations.
FOREWORD.
IN VIEW of the popularity that the pencil has long enjoyed as a
medium of artistic expression, it seems rather strange that so little
has been written relating exclusively to it. For it is certainly true,

whatever the reasons may be for this apparent neglect on the part
of our writers,—reasons on which it is idle and irrelevant to
speculate here, —that though there is a wealth of material dealing
with kindred subjects, contributions bearing directly on the uses of
this universal medium are few and meagre indeed.
This dearth of material became clearly apparent to the author
when he was called upon, some ten years ago, to teach pencil
sketching and technique in the art and architectural classes at Pratt
Institute, for at that time a book was sought which might be
employed as a text and reference work for his students. As nothing
seemed available complete enough to satisfactorily meet all the
requirements, a series of lectures was prepared by the author,
based on his own training in art and architecture, which, after
having been revised and amplified from time to time to meet the
needs of the various classes under his instruction, forms the basis
of this present volume.
Some of these lectures were arranged for pupils seeking a general
art education; others were especially for architectural students,
while a few, taking up the representation of furniture, draperies
and the like, were used for the classes in interior decoration. As
records were kept in all of these classes from year to year of the
difficulties most frequently encountered and of points which
seemed to require the most thorough explanation; also of the
mistakes most commonly made by the pupils, it was possible to
so revise the lectures as to anticipate and cover in advance many of
the questions and problems which might otherwise have given
trouble. An effort was made to guide the student step-by-step
through the work, explaining each part with the greatest care.
When arrangements were made in 1920 to prepare a serial article
on the subject of “Sketching and Rendering in Pencil” for “Pencil

Points” it obviously became necessary to approach the whole
subject from the standpoint of the architect and the architectural
draftsman and student, so arranging the facts presented as to make
them of the greatest value and interest to persons connected with
the architectural profession. It seemed advisable, therefore, to
exclude considerable material of a general nature, but in its place
several additional sections were prepared, based on the
professional experience of the author as architect and architectural
illustrator and dealing especially with the uses of pencil in the free-
hand rendering of architectural subjects.
This article, based on the lectures mentioned above, appeared in
“Pencil Points” from August, 1920, to December, 1921, inclusive,
in seventeen instalments, and met a much warmer reception than
was expected by either the author or the publishers. Because of the
rapid growth of the magazine, the back numbers of each issue were
soon exhausted—it became impossible to meet the demand for the
early installments ; therefore the publishers, taking into
consideration the fact that the inquiries received were not only
from those connected with the architectural profession, but from
artists and teachers and art students as well, decided that it was
advisable to republish the entire series in some permanent form so
as to make it available to all. The present volume is the result of
this decision, and as it now stands contains in revised form the
material published in “Pencil Points,” to which has been added
much material which was omitted from the magazine mainly
because it approaches the subject entirely from the art rather than
the purely architectural standpoint. Then, besides many new
illustrations by the author drawn especially for this purpose, we
are able to include through the kind co-operation of many well
known artists, numerous examples of pencil work, showing a wide

range of subject and great variety of technique. All these various
reproductions are presented not merely as excellent examples of
pencil drawing, however, but each is selected to illustrate some
principle of composition or some suggestion for technique given in
the text. thus adding, we believe, to the usefulness of the whole.
In preparing this volume we have presupposed that our readers
would be, in the main, students of art or architecture or some allied
subject, on the one hand, and architects or draftsmen, artists and
art teachers on the other. We have endeavored to offer suggestions
of value to all these classes of individuals and to do so it is plainly
necessary to include much that is too elementary for the
experienced man and much that is a bit too advanced for the novice.
Therefore let the former omit or hurry over the rudimentary
portions and the latter seek advice from his teacher as to the parts
best suited to his state of progress. For the beginner needs a
teacher and no book or books can take the place of personal
instruction,—in fact, a book of this sort can do little but offer
general instructions and suggestions, a bit of knowledge and a little
inspiration; —if the reader gains a few thoughts that are new or has
ideas which were partly forgotten brought back to him or is made
to see familiar things from an enlarged viewpoint, this work will
have served a useful purpose.
A FIGURE STUDY BY TROY KINNEY FOR HIS ETCHING
“PROVOQUANTE”
DRAWING AND SKETCHING
IN PENCIL
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
FIRST CONSIDERATIONS
UNDOUBTEDLY the ready availability and low cost of the pencil

and materials needed for use in conjunction with it are partly
responsible for its popularity among artists, while the ease with
which it can be carried from place to place and prepared and kept
in condition for work are in its favor, also.
But aside from these intrinsic merits of the pencil itself, it has
other advantages of a different sort, —for instance its common
employment for writing and similar purposes has given us all a
certain familiarity with it, so that the beginner, having become
accustomed from earliest childhood to these every-day uses to
which it is put, finds it a natural and simple matter to learn to hold
and manipulate it properly when drawing, which is, of course,
highly important as it leaves him free to give his attention to other
difficulties less easily avoided.
Yet the advantages we have mentioned, great as they are, seem
insignificant when put into comparison with the one leading fact
which has given the pencil its place in the world of art,—the fact
that it is suitable for any kind of a drawing from the roughest
outline sketch or diagram to a complete rendering of an elaborate
subject. What other medium is there which responds so readily to