CHAPTER XVIII

QUEER THINGS ON PAPER AND BLACKBOARD AND HOW TO PUT THEM THERE

Look at a piece of blank paper or, better still, stand before an unmarked blackboard and try to imagine pictured on its surface whatever you would like to see there. It might be a comical little turtle, a rose, or perhaps a graceful swan. If you knew exactly the true shape and proportion of the objects you could draw them, but as soon as you attempt the sketch you realize that you cannot remember just how these creatures are formed, and consequently you are unable to depict them. Do not be discouraged, for there is a way in which you may do the work easily and that is by reducing the realistic drawing to a few leading lines, and the girls who are able to sketch even a small number of simple objects in this way have resources within themselves both for diversion and development, worth much more than they are apt to understand.

If you would like to put on paper or board

=A Funny Little Pig=

as it stands with its ears bent forward and nose in air, draw a horizontal line (Fig. 425). On the right-hand end of this extend down a short vertical line (Fig. 426); on the left draw another vertical line parallel to but longer than the first (Fig. 427). Draw a bottom horizontal line not quite as long as the top one (Fig. 428); then connect the two loose ends by a slanting line (Fig. 429). Make the