Simplified Notes

🎨 Drawing and Painting – Easy Notes

✏ DRAWING

What is Drawing?

• A basic tool for artists to:

  • Plan ideas

  • Study subjects

  • Create sketches for bigger works

Famous Artists Who Used Drawing:

• Leonardo da Vinci – made sketches to plan paintings

• Frank Gehry – quick drawings to plan buildings like the Guggenheim

Common Drawing Materials:

• Pencil – outlines, shading

• Charcoal – soft, dark lines; great for shadows

• Pen & Ink – clean, flowing lines

• Brush & Ink – quicker than pen; can be watery for soft effects

Drawing Techniques:

• Crosshatching – lines crossed over each other for shading

• Diluted Ink – mix ink with water for soft gray tones

Modern Drawing Examples:

• Amy Sillman – used small sketchbooks daily

• Jenny Saville – huge expressive drawings, same level as painting

🖌 PAINTING

Types of Paint:

🟡 Encaustic (Hot Wax)

• Pigments mixed with hot wax

• Very old technique (used in Ancient Egypt)

• Dries fast, hard to control

• Example: Jasper Johns’ Flag

🥚 Tempera (Egg-Based)

• Pigments mixed with egg yolk

• Used in early Christian + Renaissance art

• Good for fine detail

• Example: Botticelli, Primavera

🧱 Fresco (Wall Painting)

• Painted on wet plaster

• Dries into the wall

• Can only paint a little each day

• Examples:

  • Giotto, Arena Chapel

  • Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel

  • Diego Rivera, Detroit murals

💧 Watercolor

• Pigments + water + gum arabic (binder)

• Used on paper

• Light, see-through layers

• Good for sky, water

• Examples:

  • John Constable

  • William T. Wiley

🛢 Oil Paint

• Slow drying = more time to mix and blend

• Strong colors, smooth shading

• Became popular in Renaissance

• Examples:

  • Jan van Eyck

  • Vermeer

  • Titian (used color more than line)

🎨 Acrylic Paint

• Made in the 1940s–50s

• Mixes with water

• Dries fast, unlike oil

• Can be poured or painted

• Examples:

  • Helen Frankenthaler (poured paint)

  • Kerry James Marshall

✅ Quick Comparison Chart: