Ruskin, John: The elements of drawing: in three letters to beginners (London, 1857)

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the elements of drawing. [letter i.

used in the pen etching, only a little broader, to add
shade delicately beyond each edge, so as to lead the
darker tints into the paler ones imperceptibly. By
touching the paper very lightly, and putting a mul-
titude of little touches, crossing and recrossing in
every direction, you will gradually be able to work
up to the darker tints, outside of each, so as quite to
efface their edges, and unite them tenderly with the
next tint. The whole square, when done, should
look evenly shaded from dark to pale, with no bars,
only a crossing texture of touches, something like
chopped straw, over the whole.1

Next, take your rounded pebble; arrange it in
any light and shade you like; outline it very loosely
with the pencil. Put on a wash of colour, prepared
very pale, quite flat over all of it, except the highest
light, leaving the edge of your colour quite sharp.
Then another wash, extending only over the darker
parts, leaving the edge of that sharp also, as in

1 The use of acquiring this habit of execution is that you
may be able, when you begin to colour, to let one hue be seen
in minute portions, gleaming between the touches of another.