ART: Chapter 6

Vocabulary flashcards covering key drawing concepts, processes, and contemporary practices drawn from the lecture notes on Chapter 6: Drawing.

Drawing

An immediate and accessible way to communicate through imagery; making marks with a marking tool across a surface to leave a line.

Receptive drawing

Drawing aimed at capturing the physical appearance of something visible before us.

Projective drawing

Drawing of things that exist only in the mind, based on imagination.

Sketchbook

A book used for developing ideas or taking notes through drawings.

Notation

A drawing used as a quick record of something seen, remembered, or imagined.

Sketch

A study or rough drawing used to plan or explore ideas for a larger work.

Preliminary study

A drawing made to study or solve problems before a final work.

End in itself

A drawing created as a completed work of art, not just a preparation for another piece.

Cartoon

A full-size drawing used as a guide for a larger work in another medium (e.g., fresco, mosaic, tapestry).

Michelangelo studies

Observational drawings such as Reclining Male Nude used for careful study; often with repeated parts for clarity.

Guernica studies

Pablo Picasso’s preparatory drawings for Guernica; gestural lines conveying the work’s essence.

Composition study

A drawing to plan the composition of a painting or sculpture.

Comics

Sequential artforms based on drawing, developed from ancient murals, tapestries, and early print series.

Graphic novel

A book-length narrative presented in the comics tradition; increasingly accepted as a form of art.

Here (Richard McGuire)

A graphic work whose narrative exists as hand-drawn panels; later adapted digitally for interactive formats.

Little Nemo in Slumberland

An early example of comic strips; demonstration of sequential storytelling.

Back to Gondwanaland

Julie Mehretu’s work combining cut paper with ink lines to suggest impersonal public spaces.

Reconnaissance

Christine Hiebert’s wall installation using blue tape lines to create drawn imagery on a large scale.

334 (Calame)

Ingrid Calame’s colored-pencil drawing made from rubbings of surfaces, traced on Mylar.

Selfie Drawing

Carla Gannis’s digitally created self-portraits with added text and layers.

Digital drawing

Drawing created with digital tools, often screen-based and editable.

Conté crayon

A crayon made from graphite mixed with clay; resists smudging; used for controlled line work.

Charcoal

A dry drawing medium used for rich, dark tones; smudges easily; often fixed with a varnish or fixative.

Pastels

Powdered pigment with little binding; produces vibrant color but limits fine detail.

Ink and wash

A liquid media technique using ink thinned with water to create tonal washes.

Gouache

Opaque watercolor; allows light passages and white highlights by using white pigment.

Hatching

A drawing technique using parallel lines to suggest shadows or volume.

Cross-hatching

Interwoven lines crossing at angles to build deeper tonal value.

Contour hatching

Hatching aligned with the contour lines of a subject to describe form.

Dry media

Drawing materials like pencil, charcoal, Conté crayon, and pastel; varied hardness affects darkness and line quality.

Liquid media

Drawing materials that are fluid, such as inks and washes, used with brushes or pens.

Henry Moore’s Shelter Drawings

Drawings made during WWII showing Londoners sheltering from bombing; Moore was named Official War Artist.