glossary of art terms - s3. · pdf fileanatomist: an expert in, or student of anatomy. ......

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AAbstract: A style of art that may not depict a person, place, or thing. In some cases, the subject exists in reality but may be unrecognizable in the artwork. The subjects of abstract drawings are created with line, color, value, form, pattern, and/or shape.

Abstraction: A movement away from realistic depictions of objects, nature, or living beings. Partial abstraction depicts a subject that exists in reality, but may be unrecognizable (for example, using geometric shapes to render a human face). Complete abstraction employs line, color, form, pattern, and/or shape to suggest emotion or a non-figurative subject.

Achromatic: Only black, white, and/or shades of gray (no color).

Acid-free: An archival quality, long-lasting paper product that has had the acid removed from the pulp in the paper making process.

Acrylic painting: (noun) An artwork painted with acrylic paints. Acrylic paintings look very similar to oil paintings; however, acrylic paints are considerably more stable than oils, which tend to yellow or become brittle as they age. (verb) The process of creating an acrylic painting.

Acrylic paints: Water-based, fast-drying artists’ paints that are thicker and stronger than tempera or watercolor paints. Even though water is used to dilute acrylics, they become water-resistant when dry. Acrylics work in much the same way as watercolor paints. However, unlike watercolors, acrylics cannot be rehydrated (brought back to a liquid) once dry.

Age progression: The art of rendering individuals older than they are. Often used in police work, age progression may help update an image of a child who has been missing for a considerable time. Although people’s faces change throughout their lives in natural and predictable stages, it’s impossible to determine precisely how an individual will look at a specific age. For this reason, age progression and age regression techniques are generally considered an art rather than a science.

Age regression: The art of rendering individuals younger than they are.

Glossary of Art Terms

Definitions of art-related terms used in Drawspace Curriculum

Level: Beginner to AdvancedFlesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 10.5Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease: 51.2Drawspace Curriculum 1.1.R1 - 22 Pages

Ambidextrous: Demonstrating the ability to use both the left and right hand equally well to perform such tasks as writing, drawing, or playing sports.

Anatomist: An expert in, or student of anatomy.

Anatomy: The branch of science that studies the physical structures of living beings.

Anchor: A component of composition in which a section of a drawing subject appears to extend outside the edges of a drawing or painting.

Angle line: A line created when two straight lines meet or intersect to form an angle(s). Angle lines are used to draw shapes such as squares, rectangles, and triangles.

Angle: The size of the space between two straight lines that intersect or meet, usually measured in degrees.

Archaeologist: A person who studies ancient peoples by finding and documenting the things they left behind. Many archeologists have excellent drawing skills.

Architect: A person who uses artistic skills to plan and design buildings.

Art: (also called artwork) An artistic creation in any art discipline (such as dance, music, theater, writing, or visual arts) by an artist who begins with an idea and ends with an original work of art.

Artist: A person who practices one or more art disciplines (such as dance, music, theater, writing, or visual arts).

ArtSpeak: A fun term used to describe the vocabulary of art. An understanding of art-related words and terms enhances the comprehension of an art curriculum and helps make creative experiences more pleasurable and less frustrating.

Asymmetry: An imbalance or lack of equivalence (symmetry) between parts of a whole.

Atmospheric perspective: (also called aerial perspective) A visual depth of field created by various particles in the atmosphere. As an object recedes farther into distant space, it becomes lighter in value and its edges become more blurred.

Avant-garde: The creation and application of new, original, and/or experimental ideas and techniques.

BBackground: (also called distant space) The sections of a drawing or painting that are farthest from the viewer.

Balance: A stable arrangement of subjects and values within a drawing composition.

Ball of a nose: The large, central, rounded form of the lower half of the nose.

Base of a nose: (also called the septum) The part of the nose between the nostrils that connects the nose to the lower face above the upper lip.

2 Drawspace Curriculum 1.1.R1: Glossary of Art Terms



Basic colors: The six most well-known colors: yellow, red, and blue (the primary colors) and orange, purple, and green (the secondary colors). A box of eight children’s crayons includes the basic colors as well as black and brown.

Bilateral: Neural responses on both left and right brain hemispheres.

Binder: (also called a three-ring binder) A sturdy folder for organizing reference materials, lesson files, printed electronic books, and small drawings. Small drawings can be sprayed with a fixative and inserted into three-ring, transparent vinyl sheet protectors before they are added to a binder.

Binding agent: (also called a binder) An ingredient in paint that solidifies as it dries, thereby binding the pigment particles together so that the paint adheres to a surface. Binding agents are also added to powdered drawing mediums such as charcoal so that the particles can be compressed into a solid stick for sketching and drawing.

Black: The complete absence of light. In painting, replicating black requires a mixture of paints that create the darkest possible value. In drawing, soft charcoal can make a powerful black.

Blending stump: (also called a tortillon, stump, or blender) A long, thin, cylindrical artist’s tool that is pointed at both ends and made of tightly wound paper or felt. Blending stumps are used to blend charcoal, graphite, and pastel drawings. When the tips become too dirty or dull to work properly, they can be sharpened. Blending stumps are sold in art supply stores and are available in small-to-large sizes. Big blending stumps are great for large areas of shading, and the tiny ones work well for smaller, more detailed sections.

Blending tool: Anything used by an artist to blend a medium.

Blending: The process of gently rubbing a section of shading with a blending tool (such as paper towel) to evenly distribute the medium over the paper’s surface.

Blind contour drawing: A slightly unconventional method of contour drawing in which artists look only at the subject and not at their drawing paper as they work. By visually following the edges of the subject while drawing, visual intelligence is enhanced.

Blue: A primary color that represents tranquility, harmony, and peace. Think of a blue sky, a calm ocean, or an iceberg.

Brain stem: The posterior part of the brain that connects to the spinal cord and regulates the central nervous system.

Bridge of a nose: (sometimes called the nasal bone) The section of a nose where the upper bony section joins the cartilage. While barely visible on young children, the bridge of an adult nose often protrudes as a noticeable bulge or bump. The contoured outline of the bridge is most obvious when the nose is viewed in profile.

Bull’s eye: The center section of a drawing space. A composition is weakened when the primary subject is drawn within the bull’s eye.

Burnishing: The process of applying one or more layers of a dry medium (such as colored pencils or graphite) over another to lighten, darken, remove imperfections, or blend the colors or values.

CCarbon pencil: A drawing medium that makes soft, velvety marks that are perfect for sketching.

3Drawspace Curriculum 1.1.R1: Glossary of Art Terms



Caricature: A type of cartoon, usually based on an actual person, with the individual’s various characteristics and facial features exaggerated for comic and/or satirical effect.

Cartoon: A humorous, lighthearted, and/or satirical drawing or sketch.

Cast shadow: A dark section on an object or a surface adjacent to a subject that receives little or no direct light. The values of a cast shadow are darkest next to the object and become gradually lighter as they move farther away.

Cerebellum: (Latin for small brain) The part of the brain that controls movement, balance and posture.

Cerebral cortex: The wrinkled outer layer of the cerebrum that controls functions related to perception, learning, reasoning, and memory.

Cerebral hemisphere: Either of the two halves of the cerebrum.

Cerebrum: The largest part of the human brain, which is divided into two hemispheres.

Chalk pastels: A drawing medium available in pencils and sticks. New colors can be mixed with layering and blended for soft, realistic still-life subjects and portraits. The sharp corners and edges of chalk pastel sticks can be used to draw thin lines and the sides can make broad strokes.

Chalk: A drawing medium composed mostly of calcium carbonate with small amounts of clay and silt. Chalk is available in a broad range of natural browns and sepias that are ideal for rendering studies of the great masters’ chalk drawings.

Charcoal pencil: A thin, cylindrical stick of compressed charcoal powder inside a wooden casing.

Charcoal powder: A powdered form of charcoal that works well for shading large areas of a drawing or preparing a base for drawing with erasers.

Charcoal sticks: A drawing medium made by compressing powdered charcoal and a binding agent into cylindrical or rectangular sticks.

Charcoal: A drawing medium made from a burnt organic material such as wood. Charcoal comes in various grades and is available in pencils, powder, and sticks.

Chiaroscuro: A drawing and painting technique that was introduced during the Renaissance in which light and dark values are strongly contrasted to create the illusion of a three-dimensional reality.

Circle: A geometric shape in which all points on the circumference are equal distance from the center point.

Circular shape: A shape created when the ends of a curved line meet (such as in the letter O). Circular shapes are often used to outline the forms of various objects and living beings.

Classical drawing: The drawing techniques invented by ancient Greeks and Romans for creating realistic drawings. Classical drawing was later enhanced by the great masters of the Renaissance.

Clay: A naturally occurring material that hardens when dried. Clay is mixed with graphite to make graphite mediums.

Clip: A tool usually made of metal that securely clamps sheets of paper to a drawing board. When artists draw outdoors, clips can prevent their drawings from falling on the ground or blowing away.

Clockwise: A circular direction or motion that follows the movement of the hands of a clock.




Cognition: The process by which the brain recognizes and understands information.

Collage: An artwork created by affixing a selection of objects (such as photographs, ribbons, and/or colored papers) to paper, board, or canvas.

Color wheel: A circular arrangement of colors used to reference primary, secondary, intermediary, and complementary colors.

Color: The visual qualities of objects based on individual perceptions of their hues and values. Basic colors include yellow, orange, red, purple, blue, and green.

Colored pencils: A dry medium created by combining various synthetic or organic pigments with binding agents and wax. Colored pencils come in a wide variety of qualities, from recreational to professional. The permanency rating of the pigment helps determine the quality of the pencils. Colored pencils are relatively inexpensive, not messy, and portable. They work equally well for subjects that are soft and delicate or bold and bright.

Commercial arts: A diverse range of artistic careers in which professional artists create artworks and/or typography for the production, manufacture, processing, promotion, or merchandising of products or services.

Commission: An order placed with an artist for an original work of art.

Complementary colors: A set of two colors that are directly opposite one another on a color wheel (such as red and green, yellow and purple, and orange and blue). When placed beside one another, these colors seem brighter and more vibrant.

Composite art: The best-known discipline of forensic art in which the artist (often called a sketch artist) translates other people’s memories into drawings.

Composition: The arrangement of various parts of a drawing subject within the borders of a drawing space.

Compound curved line: A curved line that changes direction to travel in both clockwise and counterclockwise directions (such as the letter S).

Conservation framing: (also called preservation framing) The process of framing an artwork to protect it from long-term deterioration or damage from environmental pollutants, acid, and light. Special materials such as museum-quality archival glass are used in the process of conservation framing.

Conté crayon: A drawing medium in which pigments are mixed with non-adhesive binders and wax. Conté performs like a cross between a chalk pastel and a child’s wax crayon.

Continuous line: A line that is rendered without lifting the medium from the drawing surface.

Contour crosshatching: A classical shading technique that employs crisscrossed curved lines to create the illusion of three-dimensional forms.

Contour drawing: (noun) A drawing comprised of outlines that follow the contours of the edges of various components of a drawing subject. (verb) The process of creating a contour drawing.

Contour hatching: A classical shading technique in which sets of curved hatching lines follow the outlines, contours, and/or forms of the drawing subject and accentuate the illusion of a three-dimensional reality.




Contour lines: Real or imaginary lines formed when the shared edges of spaces or forms meet. You can draw everything you can see or imagine with contour lines.

Contour: The outline or a section of the outline of a shape or form.

Contrast: The juxtaposition of different values when compared side by side. Contrast is an invaluable tool for accentuating various components of composition.

Cool colors: Blue, green, purple, and mixtures of any of these three colors with one another or white or black. Cool colors are usually soothing and calming (such as colors that reflect on snow and ice.)

Copyright: A form of protection that grants artists the exclusive right to sell, reproduce, or exhibit their own original artworks. In a country that has signed the Berne Union for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Property (also known as the Berne Convention) artists automatically own the copyrights to their original creations from the moment each is completed.

Counterclockwise: (also called anticlockwise) A direction or motion that is opposite to the movement of the hands of a clock.

Cranial mass: (also called the cranium) The large section of the skull at the upper back of the head.

Cranium: The bones of the skull that cover and protect the brain.

Creativity: The ability to create unique, original, and functional ideas beyond the familiar or established.

Crosshatching: A shading technique in which sets of straight or curved lines overlap or crisscross.

Curved contour lines: Lines that follow the contours of a drawing subject and illustrate its three-dimensional forms.

Curved line: A line that curves or bends (as in the letters C and U). Curved lines can be drawn in any direction and be any length.

Curved-sided shapes: Shapes that are created with curved lines and have sections where two or more of the curved lines meet at a point or points (such as heart or teardrop shapes).

DDiagonal line: A line that is neither vertical nor horizontal but rather slants at an angle.

Diamond shape: A parallelogram in which a straight line drawn from two opposite angles would be perpendicular to a line connecting the second set of opposite angles.

Diptych: A set of two related paintings or drawings that come together as a single artwork.

Distant space: (also called the background) The sections of a drawing or painting that are farthest away from the viewer.

Divergent thinking: A thought process that explores various possible scenarios to generate creative concepts.

Drafting desk: (also called drafting table) An adjustable worktable with a slanted top.

Drawing accessories: Any tools or products that enhance an artist’s drawing experiences.




Drawing board: An unbendable, portable, smooth surface used to support an artist’s sketchbook or drawing paper.

Drawing paper: Acid-free paper that’s designed specifically for artists and is available in various weights, colors, textures, and sizes.

Drawing powder: Tiny loose particles of a dry drawing medium which have been broken down from a solid into a powder.

Drawing space: The specific perimeter in which a drawing is rendered. A drawing space can be the shape of a sheet of paper itself or a shape outlined on paper, such as a square, rectangle, or circle.

Drawing stick: A drawing tool made by compressing and shaping a medium (such as conté crayon, chalk, or chalk pastels) into a cylindrical or rectangular chunk.

Drawing: (noun) The image that results from the application of a medium to a surface. A drawing defines an artist’s choice of subjects from his or her own unique perspective. (verb) The process of applying a medium to a surface to create an image.

Dry media: Non-liquid drawing mediums (such as colored pencils, graphite, or charcoal).

Dry mixing: The process of using a dry medium such as colored pencils to mix two or more different colors together to make a new color.

Dry mount: The process of adhering paper artwork or photographs to a board by using dry adhesive substances, high heat, and/or a dry mount press.

Duct tape: (also called duck tape) A strong, flexible, fabric-backed sticky tape used for a vast range of artistic, professional, and creative applications.

EEar canal: The opening to the inner ear.

Ears: The two organs used for hearing in humans and many animals.

Easel: An artist’s accessory often made from wood or metal. Easels are designed to vertically or diagonally support a canvas stretched over a wooden frame (while painting), or a drawing board with a sheet of drawing paper attached (while drawing). An easel can be any size, from a simple tabletop collapsible tripod to a large, floor-to-ceiling studio type.

Egg tempera: A water-based paint made with an egg yolk binder.

Electroencephalography (EEG): an electrical brain recording that measures voltage fluctuations within the neurons of the brain. EEG recordings are sometimes used to study creative processing in the brain.

Elements of art: The fundamental visual symbols found in visual art; including, but not limited to: line, shape, form, texture, and color.

Eyes: The two organs used for sight and light sensitivity.

Eyeball: (also called the white of the eye) The entire spherical section of an eye that is safely protected within an opening in the skull called the orbital socket.




Eyebrow: An arched group of hairs above the eye.

Eyelashes: Fine hairs that grow from the outer edges of the upper and lower eyelids.

FFacial expressions: Voluntary and involuntary movements of facial muscles in response to various emotions. As the facial muscles do their jobs, different sections of the face move and often create folds and wrinkles in the skin.

Facial features: The eyes, nose, and mouth.

Facial guidelines: Proportional guides that identify the approximate locations of human features and ears on an average head within specific spaces.

Facial mass: (also called the face or facial area) The lower frontal section of a human head.

Facial muscles: The muscles of a face.

Facial slope: The slant of a person’s face (excluding the nose) when viewed in profile. The angle of the facial slope is measured from the base of the upper teeth upward to the forehead.

Feathered line: A series of short lines that appear to be a single line.

Figurative: The visual depiction of a human body in a drawing or painting.

Figure: The body of a human being.

Fixative spray: An aerosol liquid that is lightly sprayed on artworks to lessen the likelihood of smudging.

Focal point: (also called center of interest or center of focus) The dominant and/or most striking element(s) in an artwork. When there is more than one focal point in an artwork, they are considered the primary and the secondary focal point(s).

Folk art: A genre of art that depicts the traditional or indigenous lifestyle, customs, culture, and values of a specific society.

Foreground: The sections of an artwork closest to the viewer. Subjects in the foreground are usually rendered with more detail and a greater contrast of values than those in the middle ground or background.

Forensic art: Artistic techniques used by police departments and investigative agencies in the identification, apprehension, or conviction of wanted or missing persons.

Foreshortening: A component of perspective that describes the visual distortion of objects and living beings when viewed from extreme angles. The term “foreshortening” applies to a single object or figure, whereas the term “perspective” refers to an entire scene.

Form: An element of art that is created in drawings and paintings by using shading and/or colors to transform shapes into three-dimensional structures.

Fresco: (also called a mural) An artwork painted on a thin layer of plaster that covers a wall or ceiling. Frescoes that were discovered in Greece date back more than 3,500 years. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome is a fresco that was painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512.




Friable: The extent to which a dry drawing medium crumbles or breaks. Drawings created with friable mediums are usually sprayed with a fixative to prevent the medium from eventually falling off the paper.

Frontal lobe: One of the brain’s four main lobes, located in front of the central sulcus. It is associated with such functions as motor cortex (parts of movement and speech), reasoning, emotions, planning, and problem-solving.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): a scan that measures blood flow and neural activity in the brain. fMRI scans are the second most common tool used to study creativity in the brain, next to EEG recordings.

GGeometric perspective: (also called linear perspective) A precise drawing technique to render a visual depth of field with a horizon line, vanishing point(s), and perspective lines. As an object appears to recede into distant space, it becomes progressively smaller until it seems to vanish into a vanishing point.

Gesture sketch: A quickly rendered sketch that uses simple sketching techniques to capture the energy of the past, present, or potential movements of living beings.

Golden Mean: (also called the Golden Ratio or Divine Ratio) A mathematical formula devised by the ancient Greeks and used to create a balanced composition through the strategic placement of focal points.

Grade: The softness or hardness of the mixture used in the manufacture of drawing mediums.

Graduation: (also called gradation, gradient, graduated shading, or graduated values) A continuous, seamless progression of values from dark to light or light to dark.

Graphite: A soft black form of opaque carbon found in nature that is usually mixed with clay in the manufacture of various types of drawing tools.

Green: A secondary color made with yellow and blue that is soothing, nurturing, and calming.

Grid: An arrangement of squares of exact sizes proportionately drawn on both a photo and a drawing surface.

Gum arabic: A binding agent that is added to various media to improve the bonding properties of their ingredients.

HHandmade paper: Any type of paper that is made without modern technology or machinery.

Hardcover: A durable type of book cover that is made from a thick and unbendable material.

Hardness: The numerical rating of H-grade media (such as graphite and charcoal) according to their ingredients. Harder mixtures have higher numbers.

Hatching: A series of straight or curved lines (called a set) drawn closely together to give the illusion of values. Depending on the shading effects desired, the individual lines in hatching sets can be far apart or close together.




Heightening: The technique of applying a light pigment such as white chalk to a drawing in order to enhance the illusion of mass, form, and light.

Hematite: The ingredient in natural red chalk that determines its specific hue.

Heptagon: A straight-sided shape with seven sides and seven angles.

Hexagon: A straight-sided shape with six sides and six angles.

High contrast: An artwork in which the darkest values/colors are adjacent to the highlights and lightest values.

High key: (think of high levels of light) An artwork in which the values/colors are mostly light. Even the darkest shadows are often shaded with medium values rather than extreme darks.

High Renaissance: (also see Renaissance) The styles and techniques of the early sixteenth-century paintings of Florence and Rome characterized by technical mastery and humanistic content.

Highlight: A small section of a drawing subject that is rendered with white or a very light value to identify the brightest area where light bounces off its surface. Highlights are more pronounced on shiny or glistening surfaces than dull or matte surfaces.

History: A record of past activities of human beings and their environments.

Horizon line: (also called eye level) An imaginary horizontal line that exists at the viewer’s eye level and divides the line of vision. The artist controls whether the viewer looks at the artwork at eye level, downward, or upward. The viewer’s eye level is based on where the horizon line is drawn.

Horizontal line: A geometric object that is at a right angle to a vertical line and parallel to a level surface.

Horizontal: A flat surface or line that is at a right angle to vertical lines and is parallel to a level surface.

Hot pressed: A type of paper that is pressed through hot cylinders during the manufacturing process. Many smooth watercolor papers are hot pressed.

Hue: Another word for a color (such as red, purple, or teal).

IIcon: A visual image or graphic symbol used to identify information. Icons can identify sidebars in books or specific functions on computer display screens.

Indenting: (also called impressing and incising) The process of creating indents, impressions, patterns, and/or textures by using a pointed, blunt object to apply pressure to a soft surface.

Illustration: An image used to enhance a book or publication and/or to help explain textual concepts. Illustrations are used throughout many books to further the reader’s comprehension.

Illustrative realism: A style of art often used by commercial artists such as illustrators, designers, and graphic artists in which subjects are rendered with techniques (such as unrealistic outlines) to help the image stand out strongly in digital and printed documents.




Image modification: An artistic technique used by forensic artists to modify an image. The process can be as simple as adding or removing a beard or mustache from a photograph of a suspect, or as complicated as drawing an entire face hidden behind a ski mask using nothing more than a video image as a reference.

Impressionism: A style of painting and drawing that originated in France in the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries and sought to capture a visual impression of a subject rather than its objective reality.

In-home studio: A personal drawing place within or adjacent to an artist’s home. An ideal in-home studio has adequate space for the artist and his or her art supplies. It can range from a small section of a table to a large, fully-equipped professional art studio.

Ink: A pigmented, thin liquid that is applied to a surface with a brush or pen to write, paint, or draw. Inks have been used by artists for hundreds of years. Most Renaissance pen-and-ink drawings were rendered with black and/or various shades of brown, red, and orange. The most popular types of inks for traditional and classical drawing are India, Chinese, and Bistro.

Inner corner of an eye: A small, reddish, triangular or oval-shaped form in the inside corner of the eye close to the nose.

Intensity: The brightness or dullness of a color.

Interhemispheric: Pertaining to both hemispheres of the brain (right and left.)

Intermediary colors: Colors that are created by combining secondary colors.

Iris: The colored circular section of an eyeball surrounding the pupil.

JJuxtaposition: An aspect of composition that refers to the close placement of elements in order to compare or contrast their relationships and/or enhance the message or meaning of the artwork. For example, an artist might juxtapose two or more objects which have opposite associations or interpretations (such as putting something new and shiny beside an object that is old and weathered).

KKey: The overall amount of light and dark values in a drawing.

Kneaded eraser: A soft, pliable type of eraser used to erase parts of a drawing or to gently pat a drawing medium to make a lighter value or line.

LLandscape format: (also called horizontal format) A rectangular drawing space that is rotated so the two longer sides are at the top and bottom.

Landscape: A drawing or painting depicting an expanse of natural scenery that includes some components of land such as trees, mountains, or beaches.

Lateral: A strong neural response on either the left or right brain hemisphere.




Leadpoint: An ancient drawing tool made of lead or a lead alloy that left marks on unprepared paper. Leadpoint produced a beautiful faint line that could be erased.

Level: The comparison of horizontal surfaces or lines.

Life drawing: (noun) An artwork created by using living beings as references rather than objects. (verb) The process of drawing from a living being rather than a photo or sketch.

Light source: The direction from which a dominant light originates. A light source identifies the light and shadow areas of a drawing subject, allowing artists to know where to add light or dark lines and values in their artworks.

Line drawing: An artwork created by using only lines. A line drawing aims to accurately outline the contours of the various shapes and/or forms of a drawing subject.

Line of symmetry: A real or imaginary line dividing an object or drawing space into two equal sections. In a drawing, the outline on one side of the line of symmetry needs to be a mirror image of the other side.

Line: A visually identifiable path of a point moving in space. Straight, angle, and curved lines can vary in width, direction, and length, and are used in drawings to visually separate and/or define the forms of a drawing subject.

Lineweight: (also called the weight of a line) The value and/or width of a line.

Localized: Associated with a specific area of the brain.

Low contrast: Shading with a limited range of values.

Low key: (think of low levels of light) An artwork in which the values/colors have a range of mostly dark values and tend to be ominous or moody.

Lower eyelid: The fold of skin that protects the lower section of the eyeball. The lower eyelid cannot move without help from facial muscles around the eye.

MManga: A Japanese word for “comic book” that refers to a popular style of cartooning that originated in Japan. Manga also refers to reprints of Japanese comics that are translated from Japanese into other languages, including English.

Manikin: (also spelled mannequin) An accurately proportioned human male or female model or animal model that can be bent and contorted into various poses. Many manikins are designed specifically for artists as references for practicing figurative drawings and/or establishing accurate human proportions for a specific pose in an artwork.

Markers: Drawing and writing tools with a soft tip (often made of felt) that are filled with liquid or ink. Markers are available with tips ranging from fine to thick.

Master: A term of respect and honor earned by accomplished artists with exemplary skills in their specific discipline.

Matte: A surface texture that is dull and lusterless. Many fabrics, rocks, and unfinished wood have a matte texture.




Mechanical pencil: A drawing tool with an internal mechanism that pushes a thin graphite lead placed in a tiny tube upward through the tip.

Medium: An art material, such as clay, paint, or graphite that is used to make art. Almost anything can be an art medium, from the burnt end of a stick to computer software.

Mediums: (also called media) More than one medium.

Metalpoint: A drawing tool popular during the Renaissance that was made from a relatively soft metal, such as lead, silver, gold, or copper.

Middle ground: The sections of an artwork located in between the foreground and the background.

Mixed lineweight: A single contour line made up of a combination of different lineweights (such as thick, thin, light, and/or dark).

Mixed media: An artwork created with two or more different mediums.

Modernism: A style of art that makes a distinctive break away from all previous genres.

Monochromatic: A drawing or painting that is rendered with a range of values (or tints) of a single color.

Mummy portrait: A painting of a man, woman, or child that was attached to the face of a burial mummy. Many date back to the Roman occupation of Egypt.

Mural: A drawing or painting on a wall, ceiling, or other large surface.

NNegative space: The area, space, or background that visually surrounds or appears behind an object, person, or another space.

Neural: Relative to, or located in a nerve or the nervous system.

Neuroscience: The scientific study of the nervous system.

Newsprint: An inexpensive paper that is not acid-free and is generally used for printing newspapers. Newsprint is not recommended for drawing because it is very thin, tears easily, and quickly yellows due to its acidic content.

Nose: The organ of smell and the entrance to the respiratory tract.

Nostrils: The two openings on the lower section of a nose.

OOccipital lobe: One of the brain’s four main lobes, located at the back of the brain behind the temporal and parietal lobes. It processes various aspects of vision.

Octagon: An eight-sided shape with eight angles.




Oil paint: (also called oil or oils) A painting medium that is made by mixing a finely-ground adhesive pigment with an oil binder. Oil paint was the primary painting medium of the High Renaissance and has continued to dominate painting for the past 500 years. Oil-based paints take much longer to dry than acrylics but offer a greater ease of manipulation, and their colors change very little when dry.

Oil painting: A work of art created by applying oil paints to a surface (such as canvas, heavy linen, or board).

Oil pastels: A dry drawing and painting medium in which pigments are mixed with a very dense oil binder. Oil pastels are available in cylindrical and rectangular sticks covered with a thin paper. Oil solvents such as turpentine can be brushed on an oil pastel drawing to blend the colors for a more painterly appearance.

One-point perspective: The technique of using a single vanishing point to create the illusion of a straight-on view into distant space. One-point perspective occurs when a face of an object such as a cube is closer to the viewer than its sides.

Opaque: A medium or material through which light cannot be detected.

Optical illusion: (also called a visual illusion) An image that differs from objective reality, but, when processed by the subconscious brain, is interpreted as reality.

Orange: A secondary color created with yellow and red. Orange is energetic, vibrant, and flamboyant.

Orbital socket: (also called the orbital cavity) The bone cavity of the face that keeps the eyeball protected.

Original: An artwork that was created by an artist who was the first to bring the work from its intellectual conception to its creative conclusion. There can never be more than one original; however, reproductions can be made by the artist or with the written permission of the artist.

Oval: (also called an ellipse) An elongated circle.

Overlapping: A component of perspective and composition used to create or enhance the illusion of a three-dimensional reality on a flat surface by rendering the subject(s) in front of or behind others.

PPaint: An art medium (such as watercolor, oil, or acrylic) that is made by mixing pigment with a thick or thin liquid. Paint is applied to a surface (such as paper, fabric, or board) with a tool (such as a brush, a palette knife, or fingers) to create a painting.

Painter: A person who paints.

Painting: An artistic composition created by applying a liquid medium such as paint or ink to a surface.

Parallel: Two or more straight lines that slant in the exact same direction and can extend to infinity without ever intersecting.

Parallelogram: A four-sided shape with two sets of parallel sides that are equal in length and in which the opposite angles are identical.




Parchment: (also called vellum) An ancient drawing or writing surface made from calf, sheep, or goat skin that was widely used before paper was easily available. Contemporary artists generally prefer a synthetic parchment paper, which is much less expensive and more readily available.

Parietal lobe: One of the brain’s four main lobes, located behind the central sulcus. It processes such stimuli as pain, pressure, touch, and temperature.

Pastels: Dry drawing mediums available in either sticks or pencils that are manufactured by mixing dry, powdered pigments with binding agents. Artworks created with pastels can be called sketches, drawings, or paintings.

Pattern: The visual arrangement of the different values of a drawing subject as represented by lines and/or shading.

Pencil: A broad category of writing and drawing tools that have a medium inside a holder. It wasn’t until the end of the nineteenth century that “pencil” defined a stick of graphite encased in a cylindrical piece of wood.

Pens: Disposable, refillable, or rechargeable drawing tools used for commercial art, sketching, and drawing.

Pentagon: A straight-sided shape with five sides and five angles.

Perception: The manner in which you understand and process sensory information.

Perpendicular: A real or imaginary straight line that meets or intersects another straight line to form at least one ninety-degree angle.

Perspective lines: Imaginary straight lines that extend from the edges of drawing subjects back to a vanishing point (or points) on the horizon line.

Perspective: (includes atmospheric and geometric perspective) A precise series of rules that make subjects in drawings appear to recede into distant space.

Photorealism: A genre of drawing and painting based on photographs that are used by the artist as references to create a highly realistic artwork with photographic qualities.

Pigment: The material that is mixed with dry or liquid mediums to create the colors in a colored artwork.

Plotting and dotting: The process of working within the perimeters of grid squares or drawing spaces to accurately outline a subject.

Pointillism: A method of drawing or painting with several layers of small colored dots, strokes, or individual brushstrokes. When viewed from a distance, the dots in pointillist paintings and drawings appear to blend together to create the illusion of depth, mass, and form. Nineteenth-century French impressionistic artists including George Seurat and Paul Signac helped this genre to become a highly respected style of painting, and more recently, drawing.

Polychromatic: The effect of using several different colors in an artwork.

Portable studio: Drawing or painting materials packed into an easily transportable container for creating art at locations beyond one’s home.

Portfolio of work: A body of work (such as drawings, paintings, and designs) created by an artist for self-promotion and/or to supplement applications for career advancement opportunities, such as educational applications or gallery exhibitions.




Portfolio: A hard-sided case in which artists transport and store paintings, drawings, sheets of drawing paper, and/or a collection of their artworks.

Portrait format: (also called vertical format) A rectangular drawing space with the two shorter sides located at the top and bottom.

Portrait: An artwork depicting a likeness to the face and sometimes the entire body of a person or animal.

Positive space: The space occupied by an object or living being and/or its various parts.

Post-mortem reconstruction: Artistic techniques used by forensic artists to sculpt a three-dimensional head and face from a skull.

Pouncing: A technique that was most popular during the Renaissance for transferring the outlines of an image to another surface (such as transferring a drawing on paper to a canvas or wall). First, the outline of the image is perforated with a series of tiny holes and placed on or taped to the final surface. A fine powder (such as charcoal powder) is sprinkled or gently rubbed over the image outlines causing some of the powder to fall through the holes onto the new surface. The original image is removed to reveal guidelines on the new surface for creating another drawing or painting of the image.

Powdered: A drawing medium such as graphite that has been ground into a fine powder.

Prehistoric: The time period that pre-dates recorded history. Prehistoric humans drew pictures on many surfaces, including the walls of caves.

Prepared paper: A paper that has been coated with a substance that seals, colors, and/or alters its absorbency and/or tooth. The surface of many drawing papers used during the fifteenth century was coated with several layers of white lead and ground bone that was tinted with a pigment and then hardened with glue sizing.

Primary colors: Yellow, red, and blue. All other colors originate from primary colors and no combinations of other colors can make primary colors. Primary colors are high-intensity and go well together to create artwork that looks incredibly bright. By mixing the primary colors with other colors in various combinations, millions of different colors can be created.

Primary focal point: The single most important center of interest or focus in a drawing. For example, in a drawing of an animal, the primary focal point might be the eyes. The face itself and/or an interesting section of the body might then become the secondary focal point(s).

Proportion: The relationship in size between two or more components of an artwork.

Pupil of an eye: The dark circular shape within the iris that expands or constricts under different lighting conditions.

Purple: A secondary color that is spiritual, mysterious, and exotic, and represents royalty, nobility, and enlightenment. Some purples made with more red than blue fall into the category of warm colors.

QQuill: A pen made from a feather. The hard, hollow straw of the feather is dipped in ink and then scratched across a surface. A popular drawing tool during the Renaissance, quills were usually made from goose, swan, or turkey feathers.

RRealism: A style of art in which living beings and objects are represented in an artwork as they appear in real life, without stylization or distortion.

16 Drawspace Curriculum 1.1.R1: Glossary of Art Terms16 Drawspace Curriculum 1.1.R1: Glossary of Art Terms



Realist: An artist who creates artworks in the style of realism. A well-known realist is Canadian painter, Robert Bateman (b. 1930).

Realistic sculpture: A three-dimensional art form that portrays recognizable shapes, objects, or people.

Ream: A unit of 500 sheets of paper used to calculate a paper’s weight.

Rectangle: A parallelogram with four straight sides, four right angles, and unequal adjacent sides.

Red chalk: (also called sanguine) A drawing medium made from a combination of clay and hematite or iron. Leonardo da Vinci is thought to be the first artist to use red chalk extensively for drawing toward the end of the fifteenth century.

Red: A primary color considered to be the warmest and most energetic color. It is associated with love, energy, and danger (as in a red traffic light).

Reflected light: A faint light reflected or bounced back on an object from nearby surfaces.

Renaissance: (from the French word for rebirth) A period in European history from the fourteenth century to the seventeenth century. The era is defined by great advances in education and intellectual pursuits and great social and political upheaval. During these centuries, visual art developed more than at any other time since the beginning of history. Between 1480 and 1527, during the period known as the High Renaissance, many of history’s most renowned artists created some of the greatest masterpieces in the history of art.

Render: The process of making or creating something. For example, an artist can render a sketch by drawing lines on a sheet of paper.

Resource files: (also called resources) A collection of information (such as books, articles, photos, and digital images) used by artists as references for writing about and/or creating art.

Right angle: A geometric object that is formed when two straight perpendicular lines meet at a ninety-degree angle.

Romanticism: A genre of art during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries that celebrated nature rather than civilization.

Rough sketch: A quickly rendered visual notation of an image or idea that illustrates the important elements of a subject using very few details. Rough sketches can capture a pose or gesture, establish values, suggest proportions, and/or arrange the major components of a composition.

Rough: The surface features of abrasive, lumpy, irregular, or jagged objects.

Rule of thirds: A compositional formula that identifies four ideal locations within a rectangular drawing space for a focal point. The rule of thirds is a variation of an old traditional compositional formula known as the Golden Mean.

SSandpaper block: A block with tear-off sheets of fine sandpaper used to sharpen the points of pencils.

Score: To cut slightly but not sever. Cardboard or matboard should be scored less than halfway into its total thickness.

17Drawspace Curriculum 1.1.R1: Glossary of Art Terms 17Drawspace Curriculum 1.1.R1: Glossary of Art Terms



Sculptor: An artist who creates sculptures. A well-known sculptor of the Renaissance was Michelangelo (1475–1564) who created the statue of David.

Sculpture: A three-dimensional artwork that is made of a material such as wood, bronze, rock, or marble.

Secondary colors: The colors orange, green, and purple that are created by mixing two primary colors together.

Secondary focal point: One or more centers of interest in a drawing composition that are significant but not quite as important as the primary focal point.

Sepia ink: A thin, brown liquid medium used for painting, writing, and/or creating drawings with refillable and/or rechargeable pens.

Sepia: The popular brown colors used in various media. The word “sepia” (derived from Latin and Greek words for cuttlefish) was used in the Renaissance to describe an artist’s brownish-gray pigment made from the dried ink sacs of cuttlefish and squid.

Set of lines: A grouping of several lines used to create shading.

Set of straight lines: A grouping of two or more vertical, horizontal, or diagonal straight lines often drawn parallel to one another.

Shading map: (also called a value map) A plan or blueprint for adding shading to a drawing. The shapes of various values are identified and lightly outlined on the drawing paper before the shading is added.

Shading: The process of adding values to a drawing so as to create the illusion of texture, form, and/or three-dimensional space.

Shadow: A dark area on an object or living being that receives little to no light.

Shape: A two-dimensional geometric object that can serve as the outline of a three-dimensional object. For example, a circle is the shape of a sphere.

Sharpener: A tool for sharpening pencils. An ideal sharpener for artists is handheld, made of metal, and has two openings for regular and oversized pencils.

Shiny: A texture that has highlights reflecting off its surface. Shiny objects can be glossy or highly polished, such as the surface of a new coin or polished brass.

Sidebar: A section of text in a document that provides additional information about a topic. Many instructional art books have sidebars that provide readers with definitions of art-related words and terms.

Single curved line: (also called a simple curved line) A curved line that curves in only one direction, either clockwise or counterclockwise.

Sketch: (noun) A simple representation, outline, or drawing that captures the integral aspects of a subject quickly and efficiently. (verb) The process of rendering a sketch.

Sketchbook: Several sheets of drawing paper that are bound together and contained within a soft or hard cover.




Skull: The skeletal part of the head made up of the bones of the face and cranium.

Smooth: A texture with very few surface features. A hand run over a smooth surface feels little or no unevenness or roughness.

Softcover: A flexible book cover that is usually made of paper.

Softness: The numerical rating of B-grade media according to their ingredients. Softer mixtures have higher numbers.

Sphere: A perfectly round geometric object (such as a three-dimensional circle) in which all points on the surface are the same distance from the center point. Balls and globes are examples of spheres.

Spinal cord: A cord of nervous tissue that extends from the bottom of the brain through the spinal column, transporting coordination and reflex impulses.

Spiral line: A curved line that can never meet itself to form a shape. It can continue in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction and simply becomes larger (or smaller) and less (or more) curved the longer it gets.

Spray fixative: A transparent aerosol coating that is sprayed onto an artwork to help prevent smudging.

Square: A parallelogram with four straight sides of the same length and four right angles.

Squirkles: Randomly drawn, overlapping curved lines and shapes used to create a shading technique called squirkling.

Squirkling: A shading technique in which randomly drawn, overlapping curved lines and shapes (squirkles) create values.

Sticks: A type of drawing tool in which a medium is compressed into a block or cylindrical sticks. The various sizes of sticks make them highly adaptable for diverse marking styles and techniques. Large sticks are great for large sketches, and smaller sticks work well for smaller works.

Still life: An artwork that depicts representational, inanimate objects such as fruit, flowers, or bottles.

Stippling: (also called stipple or stippled) A shading technique in which a series of dots are arranged in groups to create the illusion of values.

Storage portfolio: A hard-sided foldable case in which artists store drawings and sheets of drawing paper to protect them from damage.

Straight line: A geometric object that provides the shortest connection between any two points. Straight lines can be rendered thick or thin, long or short, and drawn in any direction. They are categorized into three basic types: vertical (straight up and down and at a right angle to a horizontal line), horizontal (level and at a right angle to a vertical line), and diagonal (slanting or sloping at an angle).

Straight-sided shape: A geometric object such as a square, rectangle, or triangle that is created when three or more straight lines connect to form a shape.

Stump: A pointed, solid stick of soft paper or leather that is used for blending and shading drawings.




Style: An artist’s individual approach to his or her own art. An artist’s style is defined by an accumulation of her/his inherent preferences, life experiences, artistic philosophy, personal goals, and academic background. When an artist’s personal style is critiqued and/or examined by others, the resulting label may focus more on a particular historical period or artistic movement than the artist’s true style.

Stylus: (also called leadpoint or metalpoint) A thin metal stick used for drawing that was popular before the invention of pencils. It was most often cast with a fine point at one end and a blunter point at the opposite end to provide artists with the creative freedom to vary the width of their lines as they worked. A stylus leaves a thin deposit of metal on the surface of paper, producing a very fine line. Silver was very popular with Renaissance artists because it eventually tarnished and took on a beautiful, luminous, brown tonality.

Subject: Any object or living being that an artist chooses to represent in an artwork.

Surrealism: An artistic style and movement that began in Europe during the early twentieth century in which the subjects of artworks are stylized, distorted, or reinvented.

Surrealist: An artist who creates artworks in the style of surrealism. One of the most famous surrealists was Salvador Dali (1904–1989).

Symmetry: An arrangement of lines, shapes, and/or values on opposite sides of an often imaginary center line that appear to be duplications or mirror images of one another. Both sides are said to be symmetrical.

TTalent: A process of self-discovery throughout which artists acknowledge their interest and motivation to become exceptional in a specific area.

Technical pens: Drawing tools available in both refillable and pre-filled (disposable) holders that work beautifully for creating the sharp, even lines used for detailed drawings, drafting, graphic design, and commercial art.

Technique: A well-known method of accomplishing a particular activity or task (such as a specific way to render shading).

Temporal lobe: One of the brain’s four main lobes, located below the lateral fissure. It processes memory and hearing.

Texture: The surface details of an object that can be identified by sight, touch, and/or a general knowledge of the subject.

Thumbnail: A preliminary sketch that’s typically smaller than the planned size of the final drawing. Thumbnails are rendered before an artist begins a drawing and designed to work through potential problems with composition, values, perspective, and/or proportions.

Tone: (also called value) The degree of lightness or darkness of an area in an artwork. Tone varies from the bright white of a light source through shades of gray to the deepest black shadows.

Tooth: The surface texture of paper. Paper with a smooth tooth is flat with a silky texture; a medium tooth is uneven with a slightly rough texture; and a coarse tooth is bumpy with a very rough texture.

Torso: The primary structure of a human body to which the head, arms, and legs are attached.




Traditional realist: An artist who prefers to draw subjects as they exist in reality.

Trapezoid: A four-sided shape in which only two sides are parallel.

Triangle: A shape with three straight sides and three angles.

Triptych: An artwork consisting of three related paintings or drawings.

UUnderdrawing: A loosely rendered sketch or drawing created as a guide for a final artwork.

Unity: A balanced composition in which the various components of a subject come together to create a sense of harmonious integration.

Upper eyelid: A fold of skin that opens and closes automatically (blinks) to protect the eyeball.

VValue map: (also called a shading map) A plan or blueprint for adding shading to a drawing.

Value scale: A range of different values that are drawn in order from light to dark or from dark to light.

Values: The various shades of gray in an artwork. A broad range of values can be achieved by using various grades of a medium and by varying the density of the shading lines and the pressure used when applying the medium to a surface.

Vanishing point: (also called VP) An imaginary point(s) on the horizon line where perspective lines converge.

Vertical: Straight up and down and at a right angle to a level surface.

Vertical line: A geometric object that is straight up and down and at a right angle to a level surface.

Viewfinder frame: An adjustable, see-through frame that allows artists to look at a subject from various viewpoints. A viewfinder frame is invaluable when planning a composition for any type of drawing or painting (such as portraits, figures, and landscapes). An easily constructed viewfinder frame consists of two adjustable L-shaped pieces of heavy paper, cardboard, or matboard that are held together with paper clips.

Vinyl eraser: A soft white eraser with a plastic texture used for erasing sections of drawings.

Vision (literal): The sense of sight which enables you to see objects and living beings as well as images from your memory, dreams, or imagination.

Vision (figurative): An artist’s creative aspirations.

Visual art: Artworks that can be appreciated with the sense of sight (such as drawings, paintings, and sculptures).

Visual intelligence: (also called spatial intelligence and seeing as an artist) The ability to visually interpret and mentally store and retrieve visual information. Individuals with highly developed visual intelligence (such as Leonardo da Vinci and Steven Spielberg) are better able to retain information about what they see and then transfer these images into a visual art discipline.




Visual perception: The ability to use one’s eyesight to interpret information in one’s surroundings.

Visual-object intelligence: One’s ability to process the visual properties of an object, such as texture, shape and color.

Visual-spatial intelligence: One’s ability to process the ways in which objects are spatially oriented and relative to one another in space.

WWarm colors: The colors yellow, orange, and red, as well as mixtures of any of these three colors with white or black or with one another. Warm colors are usually invigorating (such as the colors of fire).

Weight of paper: The thickness of individual sheets of paper. Thin paper weighs very little but is easily torn and damaged. Thick paper is more durable than thin because it weighs more.

White of the eye: The large visible section of an eyeball that is light in value and color but is not really white.

Wings of a nose: The two softly rounded (somewhat triangular) forms extending from the sides of the ball of the nose.

Wood-encased pencil: (also called a wooden pencil) A drawing or writing tool with a thin, cylindrical stick of graphite held inside a wooden casing.

Woodless pencil: A thick, cylindrical stick of graphite wrapped in a vinyl casing. Woodless pencils are ideal for large graphite drawings needing wider strokes than regular pencils can provide. When sharpened, they can also make thin lines.

YYellow: A primary color that is bright, cheery, and powerful. It is the color of happiness, sunshine, and many flowers (such as daffodils).




glossary of art terms - s3. · pdf fileanatomist: an expert in, or student of anatomy. ......

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