Art Techniques Glossary: From Acrylic to Woodcut
Acrylic
Painting technique using pigment made from plastic (polyester) mixed with latex. Acrylic colors are opaque and quick-drying, offering smooth, bright, and luminous surfaces.
Watercolor
Painting technique on paper or cardboard, characterized by transparency. Pigment is diluted in water and bound with a soft gum, such as gum arabic. White is achieved through the transparency of the paper.
Airbrush
Apparatus using compressed air to spray paint or varnish on canvas, boards, cards, etc.
Binder
Ingredient mixed with powdered pigment to produce a painting technique (oil, watercolor, acrylic, pastel, tempera, etc.).
Aguada
Very diluted ink or watercolor applied to a support, allowing the color to spread quickly.
Etching
Engraving in hollow on a copper plate, using acid to bite into areas not protected by varnish. Aquatint is a type of etching focusing on tonal gradations.
Gouache
Paintings done in gouache on white canvas, using opaque watercolors.
High Relief
Sculpture where the motif projects significantly from the background surface.
Alla Prima
Fast painting technique with a single application of color and no retouching.
Sizing
Thin glue layer used to prepare canvas before priming.
Aim (Draft)
Quick drawing from nature, capturing essential features.
Harmony
Suitable proportion and correspondence of elements, creating a pleasing whole.
Repentance
Correction made in a painting, sometimes visible over time.
Low Relief
Sculpture where the motif protrudes slightly from the background.
Varnish
Transparent resin coating to protect and fix paintings and engravings.
Frame
Wood structure holding canvas taut for painting.
Sketch
Draft of a painting, drawing, sculpture, or other work.
Still Life
Genre painting depicting inanimate objects, often food and tableware.
Body Copy
Main text in design, explaining the headline.
Sculpture in the Round
Freestanding sculpture viewable from all sides.
Engraving Tool
Sharp steel tool for engraving on metal.
Bust
Representation of a human figure including head, neck, shoulders, and chest.
Easel Painting
Any painting made using an easel, distinct from murals.
Intaglio
Engraving on metal (copper, etc.) using techniques like etching or drypoint.
Canon
Rules governing proportions of the human body in art.
Barrel Vault
Hemispherical arch vault, also called canyon vault.
Charcoal
Carbonized stick used for sketching.
Elliptical Arch
Three-centered arch, typical of Gothic architecture.
Bevel
Triangle tool for drawing angles and perpendicular lines.
Poster
Printed graphic work with image and text for public display.
Cartoon
Full-size design for transfer to another surface.
Chiaroscuro
Effect highlighting light and shadow distribution in a painting.
Glue (Tail)
Gelatinous substance used in paint preparation and priming.
Collage
Art technique using pasted materials on a support.
Comic
Story in sequential vignettes, often published serially.
Comix
Counterculture or underground comic with unconventional themes.
Composition
Arrangement of elements in a work of art.
Copy
Faithful repetition of an existing work.
Copywriter
Person drafting advertising text.
Décollage
Art technique using torn or distorted pasted materials.
Design (Drawing)
Graphic technique based on line, with or without color.
Design (Applied)
Projection of everyday objects, considering materials and function.
Impasto
Thick paint application creating a textured surface.
Fit
Structural lines and outline of a figure or object.
Encaustic
Mural painting with melted wax colors.
Plastering
Smooth coating applied to walls.
Ergonomics
Science of adapting work environments to humans.
Outline
Rapid, schematic representation of a work of art.
Chisel
Tool for carving wood.
Foreshortening
Representing anatomy in perspective.
Set Square
Right triangle tool for drawing angles and lines.
School
Artistic works with common characteristics or origin.
Carving
Sculptural technique for stone.
Sculpture
Creating three-dimensional forms in various materials.
Sfumato
Smooth transition between areas, blurring outlines.
Stencil
Tracing procedure using a perforated sheet.
Statue
Full-body sculpture imitating a natural figure.
Aesthetics
Science of beauty.
Pens
Ink reservoir pens for drawing and labeling.
Stewing
Decorating wooden sculpture by revealing gold under paint.
Stucco
Plaster, gypsum, and sand mixture for decoration.
Figure
Character in a painting or sculpture, or a standard measure.
Fixer
Lacquer product preventing pastel, charcoal, etc., from smudging.
Flower Painting
Genre painting focusing on flowers.
Fresco
Wall painting on fresh plaster with water-diluted colors.
Frottage
Creating textures by rubbing over a surface.
Fumage
Creating textures using candle smoke.
Casting
Sculpture technique using molds and molten metal.
Genre Painting
Pictorial genre depicting everyday scenes.
Gouache (Tempera)
Opaque watercolor technique on paper or cardboard.
Engraving (Print)
Image obtained from a prepared plate.
Graffito
Drawing incised on a hard surface.
Graffiti
Inscriptions or figures painted on surfaces.
Grisaille
Painting in shades of gray.
Group
Painted or sculpted figures dramatizing a theme.
Headline
Title or heading introducing an advertisement.
Rotogravure
Industrial printing using engraved cylinders.
Ideogram
Graphical representation of a trademark.
Primer
Layer preparing a surface for painting.
Interpretation
Personal rendering of an existing work.
Layout
Finished drawing or model for an advertising campaign.
Canvas
Fabric support for painting.
Linocut
Relief engraving using linoleum.
Lithography
Printing based on grease and water repulsion.
Logo
Letters or abbreviations representing a trademark.
Mandorla
Oval frame around Christ or Madonna in Romanesque art.
Art Dealer
Promoter and seller of artworks.
Seascape (Marina)
Representation of the sea.
Medallion
Circular sculpture with a figurative element.
Metope
Architectural element in a Doric frieze.
Modeling
Representing the form and volume of an object.
Model
Project or person posing for an artist.
Module
Unit of measure for proportions in art.
Mosaic
Composition using small pieces of stone, glass, etc.
Monochrome
Painting using only one color in various hues.
Mobile
Sculpture with moving parts.
Mural
Pictorial composition on a wall.
Still Life (Nature Morte)
Genre painting of inanimate objects.
Oil Painting
Technique using oil-based colors.
Order
Rules governing column form and proportion.
Landscape
Genre painting depicting outdoor scenery.
Palette
Board for mixing colors.
Pantocrator
: Image of Christ Almighty, sitting on his throne as judge and master, with the Gospels in his left hand, and to bless with right. Own the Byzantine and Romanesque painting. PANTOGRAPH: An apparatus to reproduce a drawing given to a different scale.PARALEX: Rule that through some threads that run at either end allows you to draw, always parallel lines. PASTEL: Technical pictorial usually done on a rough surface of paper or cardboard, to implement the color with a pigment composed of cylindrical rods, kaolin, gypsum and gum arabic.
Is often applied to paint portraits. PAYOFF: A phrase that concludes the ad, which will memorize short, being the most be remembered. It is situated at the foot of the page. PERSPECTIVE: Technical represent spatial depth on a flat surface. PIGMENTO: Substance of color, usually in the form of fine dust, which the medium is dissolved that enables the different techniques pictorial.
They are distinguished by type: metallic pigments, mineral pigments, organic and organometallic. PINACOTECA: A place where exhibits and collections of paintings remain open to the public on a permanent and stable. PAINTING: Technique that uses colors and a utensil and deposited on a given surface, can be wall or easel, on wood, fabric, glass, etc. and al fresco, oil, tempera, pastel, watercolor, gouache, gouache, encaustic, gouache, miniatures. PLANT: Drawing representing a building in horizontal section. BOOM: Technical drawing that uses pen and ink, usually producing strokes very thin, usually black. Polychrome: decorative painting technique of sculpture, particularly wood, usually consists of painting on a layer of plaster applied to the figure previously cut. Polyptych: Generic name applied to the altarpiece of several streets and in particular to compositions pictóricascompuestas for more than three boards can sometimes folded. Should they be two or three are preferred specific diptych and triptych, respectively. It also applies to the sculptures of several wards. POSTER: English words in it, sometimes generally referred simply to the lineup, but that might be better to apply only to those realizations of posters that are small, not are placed on billboards and even need not be themselves or even advertising. Predel: Bottom of an altarpiece, usually divided into casamentos and intended narrative scenes complete with a central theme. PROJECT: A set of drawings and documents relating to a work or building, installation, machine, etc.. to be built or constructed in accordance with instructions of who handles or pin to a given program. Each project includes a graphical part (drawings with plants, elevations, sections, perspective views, etc..) And a documentary (technical report, budgets, etc.). PUNTA SECA: Engraving, much like the chisel, which is works in the metal plate directly. RED: It’s how to divide the space of a regular and harmonious through closed polygonal structures developed in the plane. RELIEF: Sculpture worked on a surface on which is defined and only is visible from one side, can be hollow, low or high relief. REPLICA: A copy of a work made by the same author. PLAYBACK: Copies made by mechanical means. RETABLO: Decorative element located on the Christian altar, often with painted scenes or sculptured and sometimes precious materials, can be single or multi-street polyptych-and whether or not a predella.Rhythm: repetition of a series of plastic elements ROSES: The Wind circular large-scale, open at the foot of the temple and on the front door, decorated with stained glass; important in Gothic architecture. ROUGH: English words in the first known drawing or sketch made by the designer on paper, taking into account the size provided and is usually of small size. SANGUINE: red ocher pencil or drawing done with it. SEPIA: Type of color, brown, extracted from the cuttle-fish of cuttlefish and used in the drawing with the pen. Also photographic dye or toner. SERIGRAFIA: Technique engraving silk. To print, first covered with a silk screen area that should receive the plea in question and which may be paper, glass, wood, metal material, etc.., Then plugged with wax or lacquer those areas where no you need the color and then there arise many passes as needed colors. It differs from most téwcnicas etching print is flat. SILHOUETTE: Technical plastic representing the grounds through cuts in its perimeter. CHAIRS: large stone block and cut perfectly. Ashlar: Stone block size regular and badly cut. SEATING: Set of seats in the choir at a Christian church. Sinopia: Drawing made on the preparation of a wall to be painted in fresco. Tabica: Refers to the technique of enamel, consisting of base training lamellae a series of compartments to draw a plea, then filling them with glass paste or stones of different colors, also called cloisonné. TABLE: Type of painting done on wood-based preparations of successive layers of plaster may be distemper and oil. CARVED: Technical sculptural woodworking or other woody material. SUBJECT: Case tried in a sculpture or painting, often naming the different genres of painting. TEMPLE: painting technique that can run on a wall, on wood or canvas , to implement the color dissolved in water and fat (egg yolk, glue, milk, etc.).. Requires ejecucuión fast because it dries quickly. TERRACOTTA: Figure in clay sun-dried or baked. TEXTURE : plastic as a concept, is described as consisting of many elements identical or similar low-relief, regularly distributed on a surface. Its characteristic is the uniform repetition and the eye perceives as a surface. TIENTO: Vara long thin wood that the artist takes with his left hand and resting on the canvas by one end, serves to support it and thus the right hand to paint details with enough pulse. plain dye: Area covered by a uniform color, without light or dark. TONDO: part circular painting or sculpture, important in the Renaissance. TONE Amount luminous color expressed by a relation with others. TORSO: Sculpture missing the head and limbs. TORCULO: Press to get prints. Triglyph: architectural elements in the Doric frieze, square and located on the end of a beam, gets its name the three channels (glyphs) that run through the vertical. Alternate with the metopes. TRIPTICO: Altarpiece of three streets. TIP: Camera film with special devices to perform certain special effects and used in filming cartoons.CASTING: Machinery for reproducing objects through the round, usually in clay molds, plaster or wax. It is used to obtain copies of sculptures and also as a means of creating truthful anatomy of living things, eg. pop in sculpture. VANITAS: Gender close to still life painting and also belonging to the realm of still life, marked by the thematic use of the skull with a moralizing intention; own Baroque painting. VEDUTE: Genre painting specializing in urban view or veduta (view of a city, always in perspective, but sometimes mapping), typical of Italian eighteenth-century, especially in the Venetian school. veiling: transparent color layer which serves to soften the tone of the painting. VERSION: Change on the same work, performed either by the author or another. You may be confused with the interpretation. VIDRIERA: Specialized technique by which glass is colored with enamel, and cut the pieces according to the needs of figuration represented to unite them by means of lead wires. It seems that this is a medieval invention that reached its peak at the Gothic. XILOGRAFIA: Engraving in which negative work on wood, lowering the field and leaving the area to print up on the bottom. The term applies both to the plate recorded as the prints obtained.