062r - - - - - Perspectives
Perspectives in oil take a long time because of several lines that need to be done with a ruler, and for this reason one usually does them in distemper. One takes the points at one’s discretion. The main thing in having the knowledge of the point. One usually makes two or three of them, sometimes five.
Ochre
It is put for faces, hair, skulls and rocks.
Distant people and animals
One first does them roughly in gray or in purple, which is made of cendre d’azur & lake. Once dry, one highlights & finishes with flesh tones & other colors & white. And it looks better & is sooner done than in white & black. Armies are painted thus.
Drawing
After you have primed your panel & scraped with a knife to render it quite even, you will start drawing with the longest piece of charcoal you can find, for with a short one you would not see your line so well & would do it more roughly. Let the tip of the charcoal be thin, & in order not to render it dull & blunt soon, drag the tip flat, thus you will constantly sharpen it. Also, hold your charcoal as far at the end as you can, & do it & accustom yourself af make a light line. For if you accustom yourself to drawing delicately with charcoal, you will do likewise with colors. And he who is rough with charcoal is never excellent with colors. And by a line of charcoal, masters pass judgement on their apprentices. First make the outline of your drawing, that is the contour, lightly & without any too scrupulous work, but boldly. In so doing, you will teach yourself to be an artist, and if you need to to undo anything, you will not waste as much time as if you had elaborated it. Next re—work all the distinctive lines, & do not keep too close to your panel, but occasionally step away from it to better judge the proportions. Once the first drawing seems good to you, retrace all the lines with the pinceau in rose color or another color in gum or distemper. Thus you will work more confidently with colors, and with less effort.