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

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THE ELEMENTS OF DRAWING. [letter i.

however, do not affect your drawing for the present.
You must try to make your outlines as equal as
possible; and employ pure outline only for the two
following purposes: either (1.) to steady your hand,
as in Exercise II., for if you cannot draw the line itself,
you will never be able to terminate your shadow in
the precise shape required, when the line is absent;
or (2.) to give you shorthand memoranda of forms,
when you are pressed for time. Thus the forms of
distant trees in groups are defined, for the most part,
by the light edge of the rounded mass of the nearer
one being shown against the darker part of the
rounded mass of a more distant one; and to draw
this properly, nearly as much work is required to
round each tree as to round the stone in Fig. 5.
Of course you cannot often get time to do this;
but if you mark the terminal line of each tree as
is done by Durer in Fig. 13., you will get a most
useful memorandum of their arrangement, and a
very interesting drawing. Only observe in doidg
this, you must not, because the procedure is a quick