List of art mediums
A medium, is a material used by an artist or designer to create a work of art. Art mediums which are mostly used are in the form of design and media. The topics below describes the relation of design with media.
Architecture
In the art and science of architecture, the design and construction of buildings and interiors, infrastructure and other physical structures are created. It can involve multiple disciplines of brickwork, carpentry, engineering, stonemasonry and many other skills.
Carpentry
The art of carpentry and woodworking is by a skilled craftsperson or joiner, who designs and builds buildings, furniture and other objects.
Ceramics
A ceramic material is worked by hand and with tools that might be coloured or glazed, then fired in a kiln and hardened by heat, to make earthenware, stoneware, sculpture and mosaic art.
Drawing
In drawing, "media" refers to both the material that is manually applied and to the base onto which it is applied.[1] The media applied can be many things but the method of application is a stick type object with a point (not a brush) that transfers particles of media to the base. The point of the stick can be as minute as it can be large.
The most commonly practiced form of drawing or sketching is with a pencil and paper, however the wide and varied use of materials applied can be graphite, fusain, pastel, and ink among other things. Bases can be paper, plaster, canvas, wood or basically anything that accepts the medium applied from the point of the stick.
Traditional drawing media
- Airbrush
- Acrylic paint
- Chalk
- Charcoal (soft or hard)
- Coloured pencil
- Conté
- Crayon
- Gouache
- Graphite (can be pencils which are small or large sticks similar to charcoal)
- Human finger (with ink or paint)
- Marker
- Oil paint
- Pastel
- Pen and ink
- Pencil
- Sand
- Tempera
- Watercolor
Traditional Supports for drawing
- Canvas
- Card stock
- Fabric (with fabric pens)
- Glass
- Human body (typically for tattoos)
- Metal
- Paper
- Plaster
- Scratchboard
- Vellum
- Walls (typically for murals)
- Wood
Electronic
In contrast to traditional art media, electronic art media are tools and materials such as computers and electronic media to produce electronic art either for electrical display or printing.
There are various application software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Painter, and Maya. These are some of the programs that artists use to modify photos, create new digital illustrations, or model 3D objects and turn them into full body animations. These electronic programs provide artists with added control, that is unlike traditional and physical hand crafted materials. This allows for instant alterations to modify, add or undo, and delete any actions made, at any time when creating a work.
Digital artists achieve a level of industry and production quality in marketing advertisements, on magazines, and special effects in animated or live action films. There are also technical illustrations and visualization graphics which are made reconfigurable and scalable, with a high level of precise detail. Electronic media allows for art to be interactive and virtualized in ways not possible with traditional media.
Here are some examples of electronic forms that mirror traditional methods:
- Graphic art software for illustration and animation
- 3D computer graphics for sculpture and 3D animation or virtual reality
- Word processors and desktop publishing software for writing and page layout
- Digital photography and digital cinematography for the capturing of photographs and footage
- Specialized input devices (e.g. variable pressure sensing tablets and touchscreens) to bridge the gap between traditional techniques and digital painting
- Digital printing to streamline the printing process
- Programming to add interactivity and automated or computer simulation functions to the art
Film
In cinematography and film, a sequence of still images is captured with a video camera. A series of individual images are called frames. When these images are shown in rapid succession, a viewer gains the displayed illusion that motion is occurring.
- Animation
- Computer animation and computer-generated imagery
- Live action
- Live action and animation
- Stop motion
- Video art
Food
In the cooking and baking industries, culinary art media include a chef's tools and equipment, including ovens, stoves, grills, and griddles. Specialty equipment may be used in kitchens across the world, including salamanders, French tops, woks, tandoors, and induction burners. Prepared dishes serve as a visual art for the consumer, an olfactory art with different aromas resonating from the food, and occasionally an auditory art (e.g. with tandoor-cooked or crunchy foods). The texture and taste, including layers of complimenting flavors, from bitter to sweet or sour in a dish, also serve to influence the consumer's appreciation of the finished product.
Glass
The transparent and decorative art of glass making by hand was in recent history a relatively common skill, whereas today it is a scarcely practiced specialised skill. To handle the melted liquid state to the brittle hardened finish, makes using glass a precarious and fragile material to work with. Glassblowing, colouring and marking methods are used individually or combined to form small and large glass peaces of art, from studio glass or stained glass, to all kinds of glassware.
Light
The illumination of light as a practical use to visibly reveal what may be shaded or in the dark is common. Light as an art form is a function of art works and entertainment, it is a projection source and a backlighting source, for colours, focal or focus points and can be an element to enhance or change atmosphere or mood in areas or on objects.
Literature
The art of written words and typography is traditionally an ink and printed form on paper, or is creatively written with many forms of mediums.
Traditional writing mediums
- Digital word processor and internet websites
- Letterpress printing and computer printing
- Marker
- Nib (pen)
- Pen and ink
- Pencil
- Quill
Traditional bases for writing
Natural world
In the natural world large scale creative works can involve horticulture for the cultivation of plants, earthworks for landscaping and irrigation or rainwater harvesting for water features, in gardens, parks and botanical gardens.
Painting
In painting, "media" refers to both the type of paint used and the base (or ground) to which it is applied. A paint's medium refers to what carries a paint's pigments (colors), and is also called a "vehicle", "base" or binder. A painter can mix a medium with solvents, pigments, and other substances in order to make paint, and control consistency.
Traditional paint media
- Acrylic paint
- Blacklight paint
- Encaustic paint
- Fresco
- Gesso
- Glaze
- Gouache
- Ink
- Latex paint
- Magna paint
- Oil paint
- Primer
- Stencil
- Sumi-e (ink wash painting)
- Tempera or poster paint
- Vinyl paint (toxic/poisonous)
- Vitreous enamel
- Watercolor
Supports for painting
- Architectural structures
- Canvas
- Ceramics
- Cloth
- Glass
- Human body (typically for tattoos)
- Metal
- Paper
- Paperboard
- Vellum
- Wall
- Wood
Traditional tools and methods
- Action painting
- Aerosol paint
- Airbrush
- Batik
- Brush
- Cloth
- Paint roller or paint pad
- Palette knife
- Sponge
- Stick
Mural techniques
Muralists use many of the same media as panel painters, but due to the scale of their works, use different techniques. Some such techniques include:
Performing arts
The performing arts is a form of entertainment that is created by the artist's own body, face and presence as a medium. There are many skills and genres of performance, dance, theatre and re-enactment being examples. Performance art is a performance that may not present a conventional formal linear narrative.
Photography
In photography a photosensitive surface is used to capture an optical still image, usually utilizing a lens to focus light. Some media include:
- Digital image sensor
- Photographic film
- Potassium dichromate
- Potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate
- Silver nitrate
Printmaking
In the art of printmaking, "media" tends to refer to the technique used to create a print. Common media include:
- Aquatint
- Computer printing
- Dye-sublimation printer
- Inkjet printer (sometimes called giclée printing)
- Laser printer
- Solid ink printer
- Thermal printer
- Embossing
- Engraving
- Etching
- Intaglio (printmaking)
- Letterpress (literature)
- Linocut
- Lithography
- Mezzotint
- Moku hanga
- Monotype
- Offset printing
- Photographic printing
- Planographic printing
- Printing press
- Relief printing
- Screen-printing
- Woodblock printing
Sculpture
In sculpting, a solid structure and textured surface is shaped or combined using substances and components, to form a three-dimensional object. The size of a sculptured work can be built very big and could be considered as architecture, although more commonly a large statue or bust, and can be crafted very small and intricate as jewellery, ornaments and decorative reliefs.
Materials
Carving media
Casting Media
Modeling Media
Assembled Media
- Beads
- Corrugated fiberboard (cardboard)
- Edible material
- Foil
- Found objects
- Glue and other adhesives
- Paperboard
- Textile
- Wire
- Wood
Finishing materials
Tools
- Bristle brush
- Chisel and hammer (modern pneumatic)
- Clamp or vise
- Hammer or mallet (modern pneumatic)
- Kiln for heating ceramics and metals
- Knife
- Pliers
- Potter's wheel
- Power tools
- Sandpaper
- Saw
- Scraper
- Snips
- Welding and cutting torch
- Wirecutter
Sound
The art of sound can be singular or a combination of speech or objects and crafted instruments, to create sounds, rhythms and music for a range of sonic hearing purposes.
Technical products
The use of technical products as an art medium is a merging of applied art and science, that may involve aesthetics, efficiency and ergonomics using various materials.
Textiles
In the art of textiles a soft and flexible material of fibers or yarn is formed by spinning wool, flax, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel and crocheting, knitting, macramé (knotting), weaving, or pressing fibres together (felt) to create a work.
See also
- Conceptual art
- Decorative arts
- Design tool
- Fashion design
- Fine art
- Fire performance
- Fresco
- Graffiti
- Liberal arts
- List of pen types, brands and companies
- Mixed media
- Multimedia
- New materials in 20th-century art
- Plastic arts
- Publishing
- Pyrotechnics
- Recording medium
- Stationery
- Video game
References
- ↑ Mayer, Ralph. The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, ISBN 978-0670837014
External links
- Media (artists' materials) — definition from the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to |