ART 101

Art that depicts natural objects in a simplified, distorted, or exaggerated way, but the subject should still be recognizable.

Abstract Art

The branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art, beauty, and taste, especially in relation to understanding the reasons behind artistic merit rather than personal preference.

Aesthetics

Any three colors that are side-by-side on a 12-part color wheel (e.g., yellow-green, yellow, and yellow-orange).

Analogous Colors

Art created primarily for the artist's self-expression of personal, internal emotions, feelings, experiences, or ideas.

Art for Artistic Expression

The understanding and ability to use the language and concepts related to visual art.

Art Literacy

A type of balance in a composition that utilizes differing visual elements to achieve equilibrium, without perfect mirroring.

Asymmetrical Balance

A technique that creates the illusion of depth by depicting distant objects as paler, bluer, and less detailed than closer objects, due to the effect of the atmosphere.

Atmospheric Perspective

The distribution of visual weight in a composition, creating a sense of stability or equilibrium.

Balance

Art made to celebrate or commemorate something important in the culture, in ritual or worship, or personal life.

Ceremonial Art

The use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition.

Chiaroscuro

An element of art derived from three primary colors (red, yellow, blue), possessing properties of hue, value, and intensity.

Color

Any two colors that are directly opposite each other on a color wheel (e.g., red and green, blue and orange).

Complementary Colors

The arrangement and organization of visual elements within a work of art, guiding the viewer's eye and creating a sense of harmony and balance.

Composition

The subject matter, meaning, or message conveyed by a work of art.

Content

A principle of design that uses techniques to attract the viewer's attention to a specific area or object, typically the focal point of the artwork.

Emphasis

The basic building blocks (e.g., line, shape, color, texture) used by artists to create a work of art.

Elements of Art

The three-dimensional quality of an artwork, encompassing its shape, volume, and structure (depth, length, and width).

Form (Element of Art)

The physical attributes and visual organization of an artwork, which can influence its meaning (content).

Form (Conceptual)

The specific area or object in an artwork that attracts the viewer's primary attention (related to Emphasis).

Focal Point

Artistic objects used in everyday life that serve an actual purpose and are also designed or decorated in artistically pleasing ways.

Functional Art

A principle of design referring to the wholeness or completeness of a picture, creating a sense of visual cohesion.

Harmony/Unity

The pure spectrum color.

Hue

The brightness or dullness of a color.

Intensity

An element of art defined as the path of a point moving through space, used to create shape, movement, and meaning.

Line

A system for representing a three-dimensional space or object on a flat surface, often using orthogonal lines that converge at a vanishing point.

Linear Perspective

The material or tool used to create artwork (e.g., oil paint, clay, paper).

Medium/Media

A color scheme that uses only one hue and all the values (tints and shades) of that hue.

Monochromatic Colors

A principle of design that suggests motion or action, often created through the repeated use of various elements.

Movement/Rhythm

Artwork that tells stories, describes or illustrates experiences, documents important or historical events, or communicates ideas or information.

Narrative Art

The background or empty space around and between the subjects of an image, which can be a crucial artistic tool.

Negative Space

Art that has no recognizable forms or specific reference to anything identifiable; often more about the media or visual elements.

Non-Representational (Non-Objective) Art

Diagonal lines in linear perspective that appear to recede into the distance, converging at a vanishing point.

Orthogonals

A principle of design referring to the repetition or recurrence of a design element, exact or varied, which establishes a visual beat and creates interest, movement, or unity.

Pattern/Repetition

The act of observing and interpreting the world, which can be influenced by internal and external factors and may not always align with reality.

Perception

Artworks that promote ideas, philosophies, or products (e.g., advertising, propaganda).

Persuasive Art

The illusion of three-dimensional space created on a two-dimensional surface within an artwork.

Pictorial Space

(Related to Space) How objects are positioned in a composition to create an illusion of depth.

Placement

The three pigment colors (red, yellow, and blue) that cannot be mixed or formed by any combination of other colors; all other colors are derived from them.

Primary Colors

The ways that artists use the elements of art in a work (e.g., balance, emphasis, movement, unity).

Principles of Design

The relative size of parts of a whole, and to one another, within a composition.

Proportion

Cool colors tend to visually recede into the background, while warm colors tend to advance towards the viewer.

Recede/Advance (Colors)

Art that represents something recognizable; you can see what it is.

Representational Art

The relative size of one object to another object or figure within the same artwork, or in relation to a constant (like a human body).

Scale

Colors formed by mixing two primary colors (green, orange, and purple).

Secondary Colors

The process of focusing on particular objects or events in the environment while filtering out others.

Selective Attention

A hue produced by adding black to a color.

Shade

An element of art created when a line encloses a space, typically perceived as two-dimensional. Can be geometric or organic.

Shape

The area in which art is organized, which can be depicted as two-dimensional or three-dimensional.

Space

A type of balance in a composition where visual elements are arranged on both sides of a center line in equal weight, creating stability, order, and harmony.

Symmetrical Balance

Personal preference in art; what an individual likes or dislikes.

Taste

Colors formed by mixing a primary and a secondary color (e.g., yellow-orange, red-violet).

Tertiary Colors

The perceived surface quality of a work of art, which can be either real (tactile) or implied (visual).

Texture

How the passage of time is represented in art, often through symbols of youth and age or decay.

Time

A hue produced by adding white to a color.

Tint

Refers to the lightness or darkness of a color, or the overall lightness or darkness of a picture.

Tone

(French for "fools the eye") A style of representational art that creates an illusion of three-dimensional reality on a two-dimensional surface.

Trompe L'oeil

The wholeness or completeness of a picture, achieved through proper use of elements and principles.

Unity

How light or dark something is on a scale from white to black; essential for creating realism and three-dimensional forms.

Value

The use of different elements to create visual interest and avoid monotony in a composition.

Variety

See Recede/Advance (Colors).

Warm/Cool Colors

Quick-drying paints that use acrylic polymer as a binder, known for their versatility, water-resistance once dry, and ability to be applied in multiple layers.

Acrylic Paint

Recording moving images on physical film reels, often requiring manual editing and traditional development processes.

Analog Filmmaking

The process of capturing images by recording light onto light-sensitive film, which is then chemically developed and printed on special paper.

Analog Photography

A type of reddish clay, often mixed with rabbit skin glue, used as a ground layer under gold leaf in panel paintings to give the gold a warmer tone and aid adhesion.

Bole

An optical device that projects an image of its surroundings onto a screen, popular as an aid for drawing and painting before the invention of modern photography.

Camera Obscura

An ancient drawing technique using compressed burnt wood for expressive and dark marks, with techniques like hatching, rubbing, and blending.

Charcoal Drawing

A drawing technique using chalk sticks, which became a significant art medium during the Renaissance and was later enhanced with additional colors like sanguine chalk ("aux trois crayons").

Chalk Drawing

An Eastern art form based on neatness, precision, and attention to detail, often using ink-wash watercolor techniques and minuscule brush strokes with the primary goal of capturing the "soul" of subjects.

Chinese Painting

A broad category of art created or modified using computer technology, encompassing digital imaging, sound manipulation, video games, and more.

Computer Art

An early photographic process developed by Louis Daguerre, which produced a single, direct positive image on a polished silver-plated copper sheet.

Daguerreotype

Recording and editing videos using digital technology and software.

Digital Filmmaking

Capturing images using digital cameras, where light is recorded directly onto silicon chips, eliminating the need for film.

Digital Photography

The art of creating pictures using various tools like pencils, crayons, pens, or markers on surfaces like paper or canvas.

Drawing

A painting method characterized by using hot beeswax as a cohesive material or binding agent for pigments, often applied to wooden panels and reheated for a glossy finish.

Encaustic Painting

A printmaking technique that uses acid to incise lines into a metal plate, which then holds ink for printing. It is a type of intaglio process.

Etching (Printmaking)

A painting method where colors, mixed only with water and no additional binders, are applied to wet plaster. As the plaster dries, the pigment becomes an integral part of the wall.

Fresco Painting

A white absorbent ground layer, typically a mixture of rabbit skin glue and gypsum (calcium sulfate), applied to a surface (like wood panels) to prepare it for painting with mediums like tempera.

Gesso

Actual gold that has been hammered extremely thin and then applied and burnished onto surfaces, particularly in religious paintings, to create a luxurious and timeless effect.

Gold Leaf

An opaque watercolor paint, created by adding white pigment to watercolors, resulting in a heavier, less transparent finish.

Gouache

The art and practice of planning and projecting ideas and experiences with visual and textual content, primarily using software and digital tools for visual communication.

Graphic Design

The first permanent photographic image, created by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, using a light-sensitive bitumen coating that hardened when exposed to light.

Heliograph (Sun Print)

A painting technique, particularly common in oil painting, where paint is applied thickly to a surface, creating visible brushstrokes and texture that stand out from the canvas.

Impasto

A watercolor technique, especially prevalent in Chinese and Japanese art, involving varying dilutions of ink to create different tones and effects, often with precise brush strokes.

Ink-Wash Watercolor

A family of printmaking techniques where the image is incised or etched into a surface (like a metal plate), and the incised lines hold the ink. Etching is an example.

Intaglio

An Eastern art tradition known for fostering unconventional art principles, with significant features including achieving depth in a painting and expressing a straightforward artistic message.

Japanese Painting

A printmaking method based on the principle that grease and water repel each other. An image is drawn on a stone or metal surface with greasy ink or crayon, and then inked and printed.

Lithography

The materials or tools used by artists to create their artwork (e.g., paint, clay, pencil, film).

Media (plural of Medium)

A painting medium that uses linseed, poppy seed, or walnut oil as a drying and binding agent for pigments, known for its richness of colors, glossy finishes, and versatility in techniques like sfumato and impasto.

Oil Painting

One of the oldest and most significant forms of visual art, involving the application of colors and various brush techniques to surfaces like canvas or walls to express ideas.

Painting

A painting executed on a wooden panel, common in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, often prepared with layers of rabbit skin glue and gesso before painting.

Panel Painting

An art technique using pastel crayons (pigment sticks) to create artworks, known for vibrant and soft coloring, popular in the 18th century and revived in the 19th.

Pastel Drawing and Painting

A drawing technique using various types of pens to outline shapes and fill them with ink, requiring excellent skill due to the unforgiving nature of the medium.

Pen and Ink

A drawing technique originating in 17th-century France, using graphite pencils for sketching and shading.

Pencil Sketching

he art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film, or electronically by means of an image sensor.

Photography

An art form where an image is created on one surface (a "plate" or "matrix"), inked, and then pressed onto another surface, usually paper, to transfer the image, allowing for multiple reproductions.

Printmaking

A glue made from the skin of rabbits, used as a sealant (or "size") for wooden panels in painting to limit their ability to absorb moisture before gesso is applied.

Rabbit Skin Glue (Size)

A printmaking technique where the non-image areas of the matrix are carved away, leaving the image area raised. The raised areas are then inked and pressed onto paper.

Relief Print

An oil painting technique that involves subtle graduations of light and shadow, without harsh outlines, creating a soft, misty, or "smoky" effect, as seen in works by Leonardo da Vinci.

Sfumato

Three-dimensional artworks crafted by shaping materials like stone, steel, plastic, ceramics, and wood, often associated with "plastic arts" due to the malleability of its materials.

Sculpture

A painting medium that traditionally uses a mixture of water and egg yolk as a binding agent for pigments, known for producing durable, vibrant colors that remain fresh over time.

Tempera Painting