Getting started in art can sometimes feel like you’re learning to speak a new language as well as how to produce a drawing or painting! This page is an attempt to collect a lot of words that you might run into.
These are in alphabetical order, so just scroll to the first letter of the source of your confusion!
A
- 70/30 rule – 30% of an art piece is filled with the main focus and detail, and the remaining 70% is secondary
- “After” – when one artist has worked in the style of another artist
- Abstract – shapes, designs, textures and colors that emphasize moods or feelings
- Acrylic Paint – water soluble paint composed of pigment particles dispersed in an acrylic polymer emulsion
- Aesthetic – a perception that something is pleasing to the eye.
- Airbrush – spray painting method where the color is applied by compressed air.
- Alcohol markers – transparent markers that blend smoothly, with ink inside that is alcohol-based. Not lightfast.
- All-over space – art with no focal point where all parts of the canvas have equal importance.
- Alla Prima – painting technique where color is applied in a single pass with no underpainting.
- Allegory – art that reveals a hidden meaning, often moral or political.
- Analogous Colors – colors that are closely related, adjacent on the color wheel.
- Applied Art – functional objects created to be beautiful.
- Arabesque – motifs featuring interwoven plants, typical of Islamic design.
- Art Deco – Short for Arts Décoratifs, from a 1925 exposition held in Paris in 1925.
- Art history – study of the origins, evolution and development of the fine arts.
- Art Nouveau – art movement popular between 1890 and 1910 inspired by natural forms like plants and flowers, and frequently seen in the decorative arts.
- Arts and Crafts – 19th century art movement, valued craftsmanship over mechanization.
- Asymmetrical – having a kind of balance in which the two sides of an artwork are not exactly alike, but still look balanced.
Atmospheric Perspective – the use of value to create distance in a work of art. - Automatism – a technique of subconscious drawing where the unconscious guides the hand.
- Avant-garde – “advance guard,” experimental art that goes beyond any contemporary styles.
B
- Bacchanal – art featuring peasant scenes in 17th century art.
- Background – the parts of an artwork in the distance, behind the foreground.
- Balance – design principle whereby the arrangement of elements (size and quantity achieves a sense of equality.
- Baroque – a style of exaggerated motion designed to produce drama.
- Belle Époque – French for “beautiful era,” 1890 – 1914.
- Binder – the substance that keeps pigment in place after the paint dries
- Bird’s Eye View – an artwork seen from high up in the air, as a bird in flight might see it.
- Bookplate – a pasted-in sign of a book’s ownership.
- Brush stroke – a line, shape or texture created by applying paint with a paintbrush.
- Brushwork – the way an artist makes marks with their brush.
- Bust – a portrait showing the sitter’s head and shoulders only.
C
- Calligraphy – the art of writing letters and words in an ornamental style using brushes or pens.
- Canon – a number of artworks that represent an entire field of art.
- Canvas – fabric used for painting, usually linen or cotton, stretched across a frame.
- Caricature – artwork where the subject’s characteristics are exaggerated for a comic effect.
- Carpet page – In manuscript illumination, a page completely filled with decorative design.
- Cast shadow – the shadow an object creates on the ground below/beside it.
- Catalogue raisonné – comprehensive list of an artist’s work.
- Ceramics – fired clay such as pottery and porcelain.
- Charcoal – the oldest drawing material made from carbon (the residue left over from burning wood, bone, or vegetable matter).
- Chroma – the characteristic of a color that refers to its saturation or intensity.
- Collage – work of art created by attaching paper, fabric, scraps, photographs or other materials to a flat surface.
- Color – the hue, value, and intensity of an object.
- Color Wheel – a circular diagram that shows colors and their relationships to one another.
- Colored Pencils – pigment encased in wood; can use a wax or oil based binder.
- Color field painting – a style of abstract painting characterized by large fields of solid color.
- Color Wheel – a circle divided into sections of different colors. It shows how colors can be mixed or used together.
- Commission – to request a work of art to be produced.
- Complementary Hues – colors that are opposite on the color wheel and contrast with each other.
- Composition – arrangement of elements of an artwork to achieve an effective expression of an artist’s idea.
- Conceptual Art – an artwork in which the artist’s idea overrides any aesthetic values.
- Contemporary Art – a loose term for art created since 1970.
- Contrast – a large difference between two things; for example, warm and cool, light and shadow.
- Cool Colors – colors ranging from the greens through the blues and violets.
- Crosshatching – parallel lines are applied in the opposite direction to indicate various values.
- Curator – a person who organizes an exhibition and selects the art.
E
- Elements of Art – basic components of value, color, shape, line, movement, texture, form, shape, and texture.
- Emboss – when a surface is molded, stamped or carved to produce a design in relief.
- Emphasis – the use of art elements and design to draw attention to certain areas or objects in a work of art.
- Engraving – the incision of lines into wood, metal or another hard surface.
- Etching – a print process where the design is drawn on a metal plate through a layer of acid-resistant wax.
- Expressionism – emotional art in which intense colors, free-flowing brushwork, a generous, highly textured paint application can be a focus.
F
- Figurative – artists that retain aspects of the real world as their subject matter; not synonomous with realism.
- Figure drawing – art dominated by a human figure, often full length.
- Fine art – artworks created to be beautiful rather than functional.
- Focal Point – the most important part or area in a work of art; typically the area of highest contrast.
- Folk art – traditional art with a focus on cultural aesthetics and sometimes social issues.
- Foreground – the part of a work of art that isin the front, nearest to the viewer.
- Foreshadowing – perspective applied to a single object.
- Foreshortening – the use of perspective to make something appear three dimensional.
- Form – the three dimensional structure of an object. Also, the elements which make up a piece of art (color, shape, size, medium etc.)
- Fresco – painting done with water-based paint on fresh plaster so that as it dries, the colors are absorbed into the wall.
- Frieze – a continuous band of decoration, often seen in classical architecture.
G
- Genre – the stylistic categorization of artworks.
- Genre painting – artworks showing a scene from everyday life.
- Geometric – design based on simples shapes, such as triangles, squares, rectangles and circles.
- Gesso – a mixture of chalk, or plaster, or glue, used to prepare a surface for painting.
- Glaze – a transparent layer of paint applied over another.
- Gouache Art – an opaque watercolor paint often used in studies for oil paintings because the results are similar.
- Graphic Design/Art – type of visual art made for commercial purposes (posters, advertisements, signs, books, etc)
H
- Hatching – drawing technique using closely spaced parallel lines to indicate tone. It becomes cross-hatching when lines are applied in the opposite direction.
- Hieroglyphics – pictorial form of writing, extensively used by the Egyptians.
- Highlight – the side of an object that is closer to the light.
- History painting – depicting a moment in history, often a moment of significance – a meeting, a death.
- Horizon Line – actual or imaginary line in a work of art representing the point at which water or land seems to end and the sky begins.
- Hue – another word for color.
I
- Icon – images of Christ, the Virgin or a venerated saint; from the Greek word for “image.”
- Illumination -decoration of handwritten manuscripts on vellum or parchment, a practice dating to the Egyptians.
- Illusionism – use of optical and perspectival techniques to create an illusion of something being three dimensional.
- Illustrate – to create designs and pictures for books or magazines to explain or show what happens in a story.
- Impasto – the application of paint so thickly that it stands out in relief.
- Implied Lines – lines you cannot see; implied lines are hidden.
- Impressionism – 19th century French art movement featuring small, thin brush strokes and acute depiction of light to show seemingly ordinary subject matter.
- India ink = simple black ink made from a type of soot, called lampblack.
- Ink wash – painting with black ink instead of paint; East Asian in origin.
- Intensity – relative brightness or dullness of a color. Also called saturated color.
- Intermediate Colors – a color made by mixing a secondary color with a primary color. Examples are blue-green, yellow-orange, and red-violet.
K
- Kinetic – expressing motion.
- Kitsch – mass-produced “cheesy” objects, often intended to be a souvenir.
L
- Landscape – a painting or drawing showing a scene from nature; often including mountains, trees, rivers, fields and other outdoor scenery.
- Life drawing – art created using a human model.
- Lightfast – color that will not fade in direct or indirect sunlight.
- Line – the continuous path of a point as it moves across a surface.
- Linear Perspective – showing depth and distance in a picture with converging lines. Parallel lines get closer together in the distance.
- Lino cut – print produced by carving a design into linoleum.
M
- Mandala – Hindu and Buddhist art form, usually circular.
- Medium – (pl.media) – material that an artist uses, such as oil, pen and ink, chalk, watercolor.
- Middle Ground – the part of the artwork that lies between the foreground and the background.
- Miniature – a very small painting.
- Minimalist art – where color and form are reduced to their simplest representation.
- Mixed Media – work of art formed from a combination of more than one medium.
- Model – a person who poses for an artist. Also, a small-sized copy or image that represents a larger object.
- Modern art – starting with Impressionism, from about 1874 til the 1960s.
- Monochrome – work of art is made inw a single colour.
- Monotype – printing process where an impression is made on a smooth surface like metal or glass, which yields a single print.
- Mood – the feeling or emotion suggested or created by a work of art.
- Mosaic – a picture or design made by fitting small pieces or colored stone, glass, paper or tile together.
- Motif – an oft-repeated feature in a body of works.
- Movement – art with a sense of motion using lines that cause the eye to move over the work.
- Mural – a large painting that covers a wall or painted directly on to a wall.
- Muse – artist’s guiding spirit.
N
- Negative painting – technique of painting around an object to define its edges.
- Negative space – the empty space surrounding shapes or forms in a work of art.
- Neutral Colors – black, white, brown and grays; can be mixed with hues to make them more neutral.
O
- Objet trouvé – French for “found object.”
- Oeuvre – the total body of work of an artist.
- Oil paint – pigment mixed with an oil, allowing for tremendous detail and rich color.
- Old master – any of the great European artists from 1500 to the early 1700s.
- One-Point Perspective – a form of linear perspective in which all lines appear to meet at a single point on the horizon.
- Opaque – something that does not let light in and cannot be seen through.
- Optical art – illusions are created in an abstract form, often in black and white.
- Organic – utilizes shapes and forms that are related to or developed from plant and animal forms.
- Original art – unique, one-of-a-kind artwork; not a print.
- Outline – shows the outer edges of a shape of form, also sometimes called the contour.
- Overlap – to extend over or rest on top of something and partly cover it up.
P
- Painting – (verb) the process of applying paint, or (noun) the resulting object created by the application of paint.
- Palette – surface an artist uses to mix paint OR the range of colors used by an artist.
- Panel painting – use of wooden panels for painting.
- Panorama – an artwork offering a wide view or landscape scene.
- Pastel – a soft drawing tool made from finely ground pigments, a binder, and a white filler that is rolled into a stick shape. Also: an artwork created in this medium.
- Pastoral – artwork depicting an idealized rural scene.
- Pattern – the repetition of shapes, lines or colors in a design.
- Perspective – a technique of representing three-dimensional scenes or objects on a flat, two-dimensional surface. (see Linear and Atmospheric)
- Petroglyphs – rock paintings of early humans.
- Photorealism – realistic style of painting created in such detail that it is almost photographic.
- Pieta – art featuring the Virgin Mary and Christ’s dead body.
- Pigment – granular solids (organic, inorganic, natural or synthetic) which give paint its color; milled to a tiny particle size. Does not dissolve, remains suspended in the paint.
- Plein air/en plein air – “in the open air” in French; painting nature while being totally surrounded by and immersed in it.
- Pochade – a type of sketch used in painting that still captures color and atmosphere; also a plein air kit.
- Pop art – art movement in the 1960s featuring imagery from mass culture.
- Portrait – any work of art showing a person, several people or an animal.
- Primary colors – red, blue and yellow: every color except white can be created from various blending of these three colors.
- Principles of Design – guidelines that aid in arranging and composing attractive designs. These include balance, contrast, pattern, variety, rhythm and emphasis.
- Print – artwork in which ink or paint is spread onto a block (wood, linoleum) with a design carved into it. The block is then pressed onto paper to make a print (copy) of the design.
- Proportion – the size, location or amount of something as compared to something else; the relationship of the parts to the whole.
- Provenance – information recording the origins and ownership of a piece of art. Verifyies the authenticity of an important work.
R
- Radial – lines or shapes that spread out from a central point.
- Readymades – mass manufactured objects shown as art.
- Realism – 19th century style of painting featuring everyday subject matter.
- Realistic – the true appearance of people, objects or scenes as seen by the human eye.
- Related Colors – colors that are next to each other on the color wheel.
- Renaissance (rebirth) – art from 1400 to 1600, influenced by classical antiquity, realism, and the noble nature of humanity.
- Repetition – a design that has parts that are used over and over again in a pleasing way.
- Reproduction – any copy of an original artwork.
- Rhythm – repetition of lines, shapes, colors or patterns.
- Romanticism – artmovement from 1800 to 1850 where the past was glorified.
- Rubbing – copy of a textured surface is made by rubbing the edge of a medium over a piece of paper which rests on its surface.
S
- Saturation – a color’s strength or brightness. Also known as intensity.
- Scale – the ratio of the size of the parts in a drawing or artwork to their size in the original.
- Screenprinting – a mesh is used to transfer ink onto a substrate except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a stencil. A blade is then moved across the mesh to fill the open holes with ink.
- Sculpture – carving, model or other three-dimensional piece of art.
- Secondary Colors – colors that are mixed from two of the primary colors. The secondary colors are orange, green, and purple.
- Shading – the side of an object that is on the opposite side from the light source.
- Self-portrait – image of the artist created by the artist.
- Silverpoint – a type of drawing where a silver rod or wire is scratched across a surface.
- Sketch – a simple, quick, rough drawing done without a lot of detail but catching the chief features and a general impression of an object or scene.
- Stencil – image created by applying ink or paint through a cut-out surface.
- Still life – painting of inanimate everyday objects.
- Stippling – a technique where numerous dots construct the image.
- Study – a preparatory art produced in advance of the main artwork to help the artist.
- Style – artistic technique, an artist’s special way of creating art.
- Support – material on which a painting or drawing is applied. Canvas, paper, parchment, panel, wall, etc.
- Surrealism – movement featuring art that was often illogical.
- Symbol – something that stands for something else, especially a letter, figure or sign that represents a real object or an idea.
T
- Tempera – method where pigment is mixed with water and eggs.
- Temperature – the visual warmth or coolness of a color.
- Transparent – property of any medium where colors or lines can be seen through it.
- Triptych – a trio of decorated art panels, often hinged together.
- Trompe l’oeil – French for “deceives the eye” where a painting’s subject matter is made to look highly three dimensional.
V
- Value – the shade (darkness) or tint (lightness) of a color.
- Vehicle – the flowing substance that carries the pigment; water is the vehicle for watercolor, for example.
- Visual art – broad category of disciplines, encompassing fine arts and many applied arts.
W
- Watercolor – method of painting using water-soluble paint, generally on sheets of white paper; its thin consistency allows the brightness of the paper to show through, giving a general effect of radiance.
- Watercolour paint – suspends raw pigment in a binder, usually gum Arabic (derived from the sap of the acacia tree) mixed with water.
- Woodblock – a print produced using a block of wood.
W
- Zoomorphic – art with animal motifs.
Add to (or clarify!) our list of terms.
If something seems incomplete or missing, let us know.