PAINTING TERMS

This page is intended to help artist, painters and visitors in search for the meaning and understanding about painting terminology.

The first word of an entry, printed in Bold Type, is the word to be defined. It is known as the "headword".

The following phrase is the definition that gives the meaning of the words.

Art - To create beauty and value in any type of particular application to a matter and forms. Literally art was derived from the Latin word ars, meaning "skill" has changed through history. The first artist was said to be the cavemen's who have decorating their caves (their home) with sketches of animals like horse, fish, cats, flowers, the wildlife to were they are living. The first illustrations was said to be in charcoal sketches (until the present time has been practiced as a medium) and carving with their chisel stones becomes a decorative artworks that recorded the drama of the prehistoric world.

Accent - A detail, brushstroke, or area of color placed in a painting for emphasis.

Acrylic - Paint made from pigments and a synthetic plastic binder, water-soluble when wet, insoluble when dry. Developed commercially in the 30s and 40s and perfected in the 50s through 70s, this popular alternative to oil paint can also duplicate many of watercolor's unique characteristics when used in a fluid manner.

Advancing Color - Dark or hot colors tend to move into the foreground. They're very aggressive... heavy tones such as Red, Black, Dark Brown, Dark Blues and Greens are among these.

Advertising - An advertisement is a message - printed in newspaper or magazine, broadcast on radio, televisions or internets, send to individuals though the mails, or disseminated in some other fashion - that attempts to persuade readers or listeners to buy a particular product, favor a particular organization, or agree with a particular idea. It is paid for by the advertiser and may be prepared either by the advertiser or, more commonly, by a professional advertising agency.

Alla Prima - Italian phrase meaning "first time". Painting directly in one session with no under-drawing or painting. Usually refers to oil or acrylic painting.

Analogous colors - A grouping of related colors next to each other on the color wheel. Example: Yellow, Yellow Green, and Green.

Animation - Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways. The most common method of presenting animation is as a motion picture or video program, although several other forms of presenting animation also exist.

Archival Paper - Archival watercolor paper is any pure 100% rag , cotton, or linen watercolor paper of neutral or slightly low ph, alkaline (base) vs. acidic, and pure ingredients. Some synthetic papers are archival in nature but have unique working properties.

Aquarelle - The French term for the process and product of painting in transparent watercolor.

Atmospheric Color - As the sunlight ascends and descends from day to day, its effects on forms optically influences how we perceive it's color. Prevailing light conditions in nature is constantly changing, which affects color relationships. In addition, there are gaseous molecules and water particles in the air which affects the atmospheres appearance regardless of the season. Fog will further diminish the intensity of a color.

Atmospheric Perspective - Understanding Atmospheric Perspective or (Aerial Perspective) is invaluable when painting landscapes. Using this system alone will give the impression of distance.
Distant forms in a landscape are cooler and lighter due to gaseous molecules and water particles in the atmosphere which affects a colors intensity. The tonal contrasts in the distance are subdued.
So, add more blue in the distance and add the modifier (white) to subdue the colors.

Back runs - When your fresh brush stroke hits a still damp wash it will force the original wash out in a irregular, often fractal manner. This can totally screw up what you are intending to do, unless you do it intentionally. Practice playing with paint and coping with "happy accidents." (also known as back wash).

Background - The area of a painting farthest from the viewer. In a landscape this would include the sky and horizon. In a still life or portrait it could be a wall or room interior.

Batik -Using wax resist designs on dyed fabrics. Colors are dyed lightest color to darkest color, with new design elements added before each color bath.

Binder - That which holds the paint together, such as linseed oil for oil painting, polymers for acrylics, gum arabic for watercolors and gouache.

Blending - Fusing two color planes together so no discernable sharp divisions are apparent.

Blocking in -The simplifying and arranging of compositional elements using rough shapes, forms, or geometric equivalents when starting a painting.

Blotting - using an absorbent material such as tissues or paper towels, or a squeezed out brush, to pick up and lighten a wet or damp wash. Can be used to lighten large areas or pick out fine details.

Blow Dry - For rapid painting production, these electronic hair drying devices are a necessity at times. Overheating liquid frisket areas can "set" the frisket into the top layer of paper fibers. Which can make removal of the frisket interesting in the least.

Body Color - The mixing of opaque white gouache with transparent watercolor; or gouache colors in general.

Broken colors - The unequal mixing of two complementary colors.

Brown - There is a diverse amount of Brown in nature. This color can be mixed with any other color. It can be modified very easily without destroying it. Adding a touch of white to brown will bring out it's richness. Brown can be enhanced by adding red. Blues and Greens are used to darken this hue.The range of possibilities by adding other colors to Brown is endless.

Caricature - Art that exaggerates the qualities, defects, or peculiarities of a person or idea, usually in a humorous manner. Traditionally used in editorial cartooning.

Carpenter's Pencil - A graphite pencil that features a flat ovoid wooden grip surrounding a wide graphite core capable of creating chiseled thick and thin pencil lines. Used for sketching and drawing. Must be hand sharpened and shaped.

Cartoon - A preparatory sketch or design that is then transferred to the final work surface.

Casein - A water-soluble protein found in milk that is used as a binder for creating casein paints. Casein is sometimes used as an under painting for oil or acrylic painting.

Cast Shadow - The dark area that results when the source of light has been intercepted by an object.

Charcoal - Used for drawing and for preliminary sketching on primed canvas for oil painting. Natural vine charcoal is very soft and can be easily rubbed off with a soft rag. Natural willow charcoal is harder than vine charcoal and gives a darker line. Compressed charcoal is available in several forms. You can choose from stick form, wood-encased pencils, and peel-as-you-go paper wrapped pencils. These charcoal formulations range from extra soft to hard. Powdered charcoal is used to transfer drawings to surfaces by dusting through "pounced" lines on the drawing.

Chiaroscuro - 1) The rendering of light and shade in painting; the subtle gradations and marked variations of light and shade for dramatic effect. 2) The style of painting light within deep shadows. Carrivagio and Rembrandt are considered masters of chiaroscuro.

Chroma - The purity or degree of saturation of a color; relative absence of white or gray in a color.

Circle Composition - Following the rule of thirds, you can place the center of interest in one of the focal points, then arrange other objects in your design to lead the viewers eye back to the center of interest.

Cold Pressed - Watercolor paper that is Cold Pressed (CP) or 'Not' Pressed (NP) has mildly rough texture. It takes color smoothly but the tooth allows for slight irregularities and graining in washes.

Color Temperature - Colors will affect the perspective and mood in a painting. Blues and purples will recede while reds and yellows will advance. The "cool" colors like blue is overpowered by the "warm" yellows and oranges.This is not to say that "warm" hues such as a red barn, should not be placed in the distance. One must use a modifier to subdue the intense reds of the barn.

Collage - A composition made of cut and pasted pieces of different materials, sometimes photographs or drawn images are used.

Complimentary Colors - Red and green; blue and orange; yellow and purple... Colors that are opposite one another. When placed side by side they will intensify one another, making each more vibrant. This is useful when attempting to emphasize an emotion in your painting.

Composition - The arrangement of elements of form and color within an artwork.

Corporate Identity - a corporate identity is simply a symbol. It can be as simple as a color scheme (eg. Red , Orange, Blue ect.) or a word written a certain way, simple classy letters, or a picture. These physical images are often associated with the “image” of the company behind them. They are often designed with a certain motive.

Cross-hatching - Using fine overlapping planes of parallel lines of color or pencil to achieve texture or shading. Used in traditional egg tempera technique; drawing in pencil, chalk, pen and ink; and engraving, etching, and other printmaking techniques.

Deckle - The tapered rough edges of watercolor and drawing papers, also refered to as "barbs".

Drawing - The act of marking lines on a surface, and the product of such action. Includes pencil, charcoal, pen and ink, conte crayon, markers, silverpoint, and other graphic media on paper.

Dry Brush - Any textured application of paint where your brush is fairly dry (thin or thick paint) and you rely the hairs of your brush, the angle of attack of your stroke, and the paper's surface texture to create broken areas of paint. Study the range of technique in Andrew Wyeth's dry brush watercolors. Used for rendering a variety of textured surfaces: stone, weathered wood, foliage, lakes and rivers, bark, clouds. • See dry brush tutorial.

Easel - A stand or resting place for working on or displaying a painting. A simple easel can be a tripod with a cross bar for the painting to sit on.

Ebony Pencil - A drawing pencil that features a thick core of graphite formulated to be very black and smooth. Capable of a wide tonal range with rich darks. For sketching and drawing.

Encaustic - Encaustic paints a blend of oil paint and beeswax and must be heated for use. Examples of ancient encaustic murals and portraits were found among the ruins of Pompeii.

Faux painting or Faux finishing are terms used to describe a wide range of decorative painting techniques. The naming comes from the French word faux, meaning false, as these techniques started as a form of replicating materials such as marble and wood with paint, but has subsequently come to encompass many other decorative finishes for walls and furniture.

Ferrule -The metal cylinder that surrounds and encloses the hairs on a brush. Customarily made of nickel or nickel-plated base metal.

Figure - A human or animal form.

Fine Art Photography - Fine art photography refers to photographs that are created to fulfill the creative vision of the artist. Fine art photography stands in contrast to photojournalism and commercial photography. Photojournalism provides visual support for stories, mainly in the print media. Commercial photography's main focus is to sell a product or service.

Fixative - A resinous or plastic spray used to affix charcoal, pencil, or pastel images to the paper. Used lightly it protects finished art (or underdrawing) against smearing, smudging, or flaking.

Flat Color - Any area of a painting that has an unbroken single hue and value.

Flat Wash - any area of a painting where a wash of single color and value is painted in a series of multiple, overlapping stokes following the flow of the paint. A slightly tilted surface aids the flow of your washes. Paper can be dry or damp. • See our tutorial.

Foreground - The area of a painting closest to the viewer. In a landscape this would include the area from the viewer to the middle distance. • See Background, Middle ground.

Foreshortening - The technique of representing a three dimensional image in two dimensions using the laws of perspective.

Foxing - The development of patterns of brown or yellow splotches (stains) on old paper. Caused by a type of mold, foxing is often removed by treating with diluted bleach.

Fresco - Meaning "fresh" in Italian, fresco is the art of painting with pure pigments ground in water on uncured (wet) lime plaster. An ancient technique used world wide by artists of many ages and cultures. Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel is a famous example fresco painting. Durability is achieved as the pigments chemically bind with the plaster over time as it hardens to it's natural limestone state.

Frottis - Thin transparent or semi-transparent glazes rubbed into the ground in the initial phases of an oil painting. From the French term "frotter", meaning "to rub".

Fugitive Colors - The pigments in the "fugitive" class of paints have the unfortunate characteristic of looking beautiful and unique when first painted but show bad side-effects over time. Side effects include fading to non-existence, changing color, darkening to black, and other fun stuff. Unless you're planning on hermetically sealing your paintings and viewing them in a low-UV climate controlled room, skip them. Use lightfast ratings I & II when possible. • Go to Pigments section.

Focal Points - One of four points in the rule of thirds is designated as the center of interest in a composition. Limit your Focal Point (or center of interest) to one area. Any more than this will create conflicting elements in your design. You can get away with secondary centers of interest but make sure that your major Focal Point is up front in volume, size and shape.

Fresco (plural either frescos or frescoes) is any of several related painting types. The word fresco comes from the Italian word affresco which derives from the adjective fresco ("fresh"), which has Germanic origins. Fresco paintings are done on plaster on walls or ceilings.

Genre - A category of artistic work marked by a particular specified form, technique, or content.

Genre painting - The depiction of common, everyday life in art, as opposed to religious or portrait painting for example.

Gesso - Ground plaster, chalk or marble mixed with glue or acrylic medium, generally white. It provides an absorbent ground for oil, acrylic, and tempera painting.

Gestalt - Gestalt theory states that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Creating effective designs depends on creating and balancing gestalt. Originally a therapeutic psychological theory (ink blots) artist's have adopted the concept for creating more balanced and dynamic art.

Giclees - Editioned prints made with high resolution ink jet printers using pigmented inks and archival, artist-grade papers. Lightfast ratings close to original paintings. .

Glaze - Glazes are transparent colors applied thinly over an opaque color. It's usually brushed over a lighter hue. Glazes will intensify a color or subdue a color.

Glazed Wash - Any transparent wash of color laid over a dry, previously painted area. Used to adjust color, value, or intensity of underlying painting. (Glaze)

Golden Mean - a compositional procedure to harmonize and unify unequal parts into the whole. It's a mathematical sequence found in nature... 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, etc. It's applied to a composition by dividing the support mathematically with lines and curves that intersect to delineate perfect proportions.

Gouache - 1) Watercolor painting technique using white and opaque colors. 2) A water-based paint, much like transparent watercolor but made in opaque form. Traditionally used in illustration.

Graded Wash - A wash that smoothly changes in value from dark to light. Most noted in landscape painting for open sky work, but an essential skill for watercolor painting in general.

Graffiti - (singular: graffito; the plural is used as a mass noun) is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or any form of marking on property that does not belong to the artist. Graffiti is often regarded by others as unsightly damage or unwanted vandalism.

Grain - The basic structure of the surface of paper, as in fine, medium and rough grain.

Graphic design - an art of complex combinations of words and pictures, numbers and charts, photographs and illustrations that, in order to succeed, demands the clear thinking of a particularly thoughtful individual who can orchestrate these elements so they all add up to something distinctive, or useful, or playful, or surprising, or subversive or somehow memorable.

Graphite - A type of carbon used for pencils, transfer sheets and as a dry lubricant. Synthetic graphite is made from carborundum

Grisaille - The technique of painting a highly-modeled, black and white monochromatic base painting and then glazing it with transparent colors.

Gum Arabic - Gum arabic is produced from the sap of the African acacia tree and is available in crystalline form or an already prepared solution. It binds watercolor pigments when used with water and glycerine or honey.

Highlight - A point of intense brightness, such as the reflection in an eye.

Hot Pressed - Hot pressed (HP) watercolor paper is pressed for an extremely smooth work surface. Excellent for mixed ink and watercolor techniques. •See Cold Pressed, Rough

Hue - This is the name of a color within a spectrum color. For example, Prussian Blue, Ultramarine Blue and Cerulean Blue are all blues which are close in hue. When describing close or similar colors, the word hue is often used.

Illusionism - The use of pictorial techniques such as perspective and foreshortening to deceive the eye into believing that what is painted is real.

Popular in the Hellenistic period, especially in the painted fictive architecture at Pompeii, the technique was revived by Italian painter ANDREA MANTEGNA (1431-1506) in his ceiling for the Camera degli Sposi (1474) in Mantua.

Illusionist effects reached their height in 16th and 17th century Italian architecture, and in the peepshow cabinets of the 17th-century Dutch painters.

Illustration - an illustration is a visualization such as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that stresses subject more than form. The aim of an illustration is to elucidate or decorate textual information (such as a story, poem or newspaper article) by providing a visual representation.

Impasto - Thickly applied oil or acrylic paint that leaves dimensional texture through brushstrokes or palette knife marks.

Imprematura - A transparent wash of color applied over a white support is called an imprematura. Bright colors are the best choice for this.

India Ink - 1. A black pigment made of lampblack and glue or size and shaped into cakes or sticks. 2. an ink made from this pigment.

Inert Pigment - A powdered paint additive that does not change the shade or hue, but extends or otherwise imparts a special working quality to the paint. Fillers are used in lower and student grade paints as extenders, making the paint cheaper to produce, but of lower quality.

Intensity (or Saturation) - Refers to the brilliance or relative strength of a color. Adding a colors complimentary will reduce it's intensity.

Key - The lightness (high key) or darkness (low key) of a painting.

Juxtaposition - Colors place side by side.

Landscape - A painting in which the subject matter is natural scenery.

Lightfast - A pigments resistance to fading on long exposure to sunlight. Watercolors are rated lightfast on a scale of I-IV. I and II ratings are the most permanent.

Line Composition - By positioning the center of interest to the left or right of the focal point (following the rule of thirds), you can design a line for the viewer to other elements of the composition. For instance, a deer painted on the far left of a wide formatted composition would confine the viewers attention to that area of your painting. If you include a river bank or a shore line that's below or intersects the deer, you're creating a line for the viewer to follow, thus leading the viewers eye through the rest of your composition.

Linear Perspective - This is the idea that receding parallel lines meet at vanishing points along a horizontal line called the horizon line. The horizon line is at eye level. As your view point changes, so does the angles of the parallel lines. Utilizing this system resolves much of your foreshortening issues; particularly when painting cityscapes.

Local Color - The true color of an object removed from all outside influence.

Masking fluid - A latex gum product that is used to cover a surface you wish to protect from receiving paint. Miskit by Grumbacher and Art masking fluid by Winsor & Newton are two such products. Also referred to as liquid frisket.

Medium - 1) The type of art material used: pencil, ink, watercolor, oil, acrylic, egg tempera, etc. 2) The liquid mixed with paint to thin, aid or slow drying, or alter the working qualities of the paint.

Middle ground - The area of a painting between the foreground and the background. In a landscape this usually where your focal point would be.

Modeling - Representing color and lighting effects to make an image appear three-dimensional.

Monochromatic - A single color in all it's values.

Motif - A term meaning "subject". Flowers or roses can be a motif.

Mural Painting - A mural is any piece of artwork painted directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface.

Muted - Suppressing the full color value of a particular color.

N.W.S. - Abbreviation of the National Watercolor Society, established in 1920.

Negative Space - The areas of an artwork that are NOT the primary subject or object. Negative Space defines the subject by implication.

Non-staining colors - Pigments that can be lifted cleanly (wet or re-wet) with little or no discoloration of the underlying paper fibers.

Notan - A Japanese art/compositional term meaning "Dark-Light". It's the interplay of dark and light, positive and negative, and the implications of all opposites balancing harmoniously as one, in creating art. See: Negative Space, Positive Space, Gestalt

Oil painting - is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil — especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body and gloss. Other oils occasionally used include poppy seed oil, walnut oil, and safflower oil. These oils confer various properties to the oil paint, such as less yellowing or different drying times. Certain differences are also visible in the sheen of the paints depending on the oil. Painters often use different oils in the same painting depending on specific pigments and effects desired. The paints themselves also develop a particular consistency depending on the medium.

Although oil paint was first used in western Afghanistan sometime between the fifth and ninth centuries, it did not gain popularity until the 15th century. Its practice may have migrated westward during the Middle Ages. Oil paint eventually became the principal medium used for creating artworks as its advantages became widely known. The transition began with Early Netherlandish painting in northern Europe, and by the height of the Renaissance oil painting techniques had almost completely replaced tempera paints in the majority of Europe.

Overpainting - Layers of paint applied by scumbling or glazing is called Overpainting. The underlying colors optically mix with the subsequent layers creating a third color which is much richer than combing complimentaries on the palette.

Opaque - A paint that is not transparent by nature or intentionally. A dense paint that obscures or totally hides the underpainting in any given artwork.

Optical Mixtures - Pointillists such as Georges Seurat placed dots of colors side by side to create another color when viewed from a certain distance. The colors are Optically mixed. Seurats juxtaposition of color is brilliant.

Ox Gall - Derived from the bile of domestic cows or other bovines, ox gall is added to paint as a surfactant or wetting agent to allow paint to flow more freely.

Painting - is the practice of applying color to a surface (support) such as, e.g. paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer or concrete. However, when used in an artistic sense, the term "painting" means the use of this activity in combination with drawing, composition and other aesthetic considerations in order to manifest the expressive and conceptual intention of the practitioner.
Painting is used as a mode of representing, documenting and expressing all the varied intents and subjects that are as numerous as there are practitioners of the craft. Paintings can be naturalistic and representational (as in a still life or landscape painting), photographic, abstract, be loaded with narrative content, symbolism, emotion or be political in nature. A large portion of the history of painting is dominated by spiritual motifs and ideas; sites of this kind of painting range from artwork depicting mythological figures on pottery to biblical scenes rendered on the interior walls and ceiling of The Sistine Chapel to depictions of the human body itself as a spiritual subject.

Palette - 1) The paint mixing and storing surface of various shapes and being made of plastic, metal, glass, ceramic, or enameled trays for watercolor. Glass, palette paper, formica, and oiled wood are used for oil painting; and glass, metal, styrofoam, and palette paper are used for acrylic painting palettes. or, 2) The selection of colors an artist chooses to work with.

Pastels - 1) Ground pigments, chalk, and binder formed into sticks for colored drawing. Also, 2) Any subdued, high key color (tint).

Photorealism - is the genre of painting based on making a painting of a photograph, recently seen in a splinter hyperrealism art movement. However, the term is primarily applied to paintings from the US-American photorealism art movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Perspective - Representing three-dimensional volumes and space in two dimensions in a manner that imitates depth, height and width as seen with stereoscopic eyes.

Polychrome - Poly=many, chrome or chroma=colors. Can refer to artwork made with bright, multi-colored paint.

Polyptych - A single work comprised of multiple sections, panels, or canvas. Diptych= two, triptych=three.

Positive Space - The areas of an artwork that IS the primary subject or object. Positive Space defines the subjects outline. see: Negative Space, Notan

Pounce bag - Used to dust pounced drawings. To make a pounce bag place a small wad of cotton balls in the middle of a coarsely woven square rag (a pink shop rag works well) and add a couple tablespoons of powdered charcoal before drawing up the edges of the cloth and binding the contents into a ball with tape or string. Lightly tap the ball on a pounced drawing to transfer the design to another surface. • See Charcoal, Pounce wheel.

Pounce wheel - A metal pencil-like tool that has a toothed wheel that freely rotates on the drawing end. The teeth puncture an evenly spaced series of small holes through the paper as you trace a line. Use to transfer drawings, designs and patterns to surfaces with powdered chalk or charcoal. • See Charcoal.

Primary colors - Red, yellow, and blue, the mixture of which will yield all other colors in the spectrum but which themselves cannot be produced through a mixture of other colors.

Receding Colors - Pale or cool colors tend to recede into the background, thus they give us the impression of distance.

Relief - The apparent or actual (impasto, collage) projection of three-dimensional forms.

Resist - Any material, usually wax or grease crayons, that repel paint or dyes. Lithography is a grease (ink)and water (wet stone or plate) resist printing technique. Batik is a wax resist fabric artform.

Rice Paper - A generic term for Japanese and other asian forms of paper made for artist's use. Used for sumi-e, brush calligraphy, and watercolor. Fibers from the inner bark of woody plants such as kozo (mulberry), mitsumata, and gampi, and the outer layer of herbaceous plants such as flax, hemp, and jute, are used in manufacturing wide varieties of rice paper.

Rough - Rough watercolor paper has a coarse rough texture. This surface allows for maximum graining of washes and accidental highlights and texture. •See Cold Pressed, Rough

Rule of Thirds - The Rule of Thirds is simple to remember and implement. It's similar to the golden section and just as effective. All you have to do is visualize your support as divided into thirds. The lines intersect at four points. These are called focal points. The center of interest is placed at one of the points. A horizon line in a landscape painting is often placed along one of the lines.
An experienced painter may break this rule in order to emphasize drama or emotion.
If you're new to painting, follow this rule until you gain a greater understanding of composition.

Scumbling - Dragging a dense or opaque color across another color creating a rough texture.

Secondary Colors - Green, Orange and Purple. The combination of two primaries results in a secondary color. Red and Yellow makes Orange.

Scumble - A Scumble is a semiopaque or opaque color applied thinly over a darker color. Like glazing, Scumbling is transparent, which is optically mixed with the color under it to produce a third color.

Shade - A color that is darker than it's normal value is refered to as a shade; deep green, dark blue.

Sketch - A rough or loose visualization of a subject or composition.

Staining Colors - Colors that cannot be fully removed from your paper. Staining colors permeate the fiber of the paper and leave a permanent tint. Check your hands after painting, the hardest colors to wash off are usually the staining colors.

Still life - Any work whose subject matter is inanimate objects.

Study - A comprehensive drawing of a subject or details of a subject that can be used for reference while painting.

Support - The surface on which a painting is made: canvas, paper, wood, parchment, metal, etc.

Still life - is a work of art depicting inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural (food, plants and natural substances like rocks) or man-made (drinking glasses, cigarettes, pipes, hotdogs and so on). Popular in Western art since the 17th century, still life paintings give the artist more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition than do paintings of other types of subjects such as landscape or portraiture.

Tempera - Pigments mixed with egg yolk and water. Also, a student-grade liquid gouache.

Temperature - Colors are warm, hot or cold in appearance; orange, red, blue. This is true within each category of color. There are hotter and colder colors in every category.

Tertiary Colors - This is a mixture of a primary and secondary color. Red and Orange makes Red-Orange.

Texture - The actual or virtual representation of different surfaces, paint applied in a manner that breaks up the continuous color or tone.

Thumbnail Sketch - Small (credit card size or so) tonal and compositional sketches to try out design or subject ideas.

Tints - A color is refered to as a tint when white is added. They're always lighter in value to it's hue. By adding white to red, a tint of pink is created.

Toned Ground - A support which is coated with an opaque color prior to painting is refered to as a Toned Ground.

Tone - The darkness or lightness of a color.

Trompe l'oeil - A term meaning "Fool the eye" in French. It involves rendering a subject with such detail and attention to lighting and perspective that the finished piece appears real and three-dimensional.

Underpainting - The first stages of a painting in which the elements and the tonal values of a composition are established is known as the Underpainting.

Value - When you describe a color as pale, light or very dark, you're refering to it's value. Imagine a color wheel in black and white. You're seeing the values.

Variegated Wash - A wet wash created by blending a variety of discrete colors so that each color retains it's character while also blending uniquely with the other colors in the wash.

Vehicle - The liquid used as a binder in the manufacture of paint.

Videography - Videography refers to the process of capturing moving images on electronic media (e.g., videotape, hard disk, or solid state storage, streaming media). The term includes methods of electronic production and post production. It is the equivalent of cinematography, but with images recorded on electronic media instead of film stock.

Vignette - A painting which is shaded off around the edges leaving a pleasing shape within a border of white or color. Oval or broken vignettes are very common.

Wash - A transparent layer of diluted color that is brushed on.

Watercolor - Painting in pigments suspended in water and a binder such as gum arabic. Traditionally used in a light to dark manner, using the white of the paper to determine values.

Web design - the skill of creating presentations of content (usually hypertext or hypermedia) that is delivered to an end-user through the World Wide Web, a kind of graphic design intended for development and styling of objects of the Internet's information environment to provide them with high-end consumer features and aesthetic qualities.

Wet-in-wet - A technique used in painting in which the colors flow together. There's a risk of creating a muddy look when painting in this manner. Many brilliant masterworks have been painted using this technique. It's often used by Oil Painters.

Wet-on-dry - Painting over a dry layer of paint. It's much easier to control than wet-in-wet. Most acrylic painters use this technique.

Wove paper - A paper showing even texture and thickness when held to light. Created with a very fine netting, a uniform, smooth texture results. Often used in fine writing and calligraphy, archival quality woven paper can used by watercolorists with good results.

3D Computer Graphics - 3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations. Such images may be for later display or for real-time viewing. 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical, wireframe representation of any three-dimensional object (either inanimate or living) via specialized software.