Visual Arts Overview and Techniques

Study Notes

Drawing involves creating a picture using tools like pencils, crayons, pens, or markers.
Artists create drawings on surfaces such as paper and canvas.
The earliest drawings were discovered in caves dating back approximately 30,000 years.
Ancient Egyptians drew on papyrus, and Greeks and Romans made drawings on objects like vases.
Medieval drawings were sketches on parchment.
Drawing became a refined art form during the Renaissance, perfected by masters such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.

Painting is often considered the most important visual art form.
It involves applying colours to a canvas or wall.
Painters convey ideas through colour combinations and brushstrokes.
Paintings emerged as an ancient art form, with prehistoric people painting scenes on cave walls.
Ancient Egyptian tombs featured paintings depicting daily life.
During the Renaissance, Italy became the centre of painting, with renowned artists like Rembrandt and Vermeer in the 17th-century Dutch Golden Age.
Impressionism and Cubism were later painting movements of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Printmaking uses a plate covered in ink to create an impression on another surface.
The process primarily involves pressing the inked plate onto paper, though cloth and other surfaces were initially used.
Plates are traditionally made of wood or metal.
Printmaking originated in ancient Mesopotamia and gained popularity in ancient Egypt and China.
The printmaking technique spread to Europe towards the end of the Middle Ages.

Photography captures images by letting light pass through camera lenses onto film.
Traditional methods involved developing the film chemically to produce printed images.
Today, photography is primarily digital, with images recorded directly onto silicon chips.

Filmmaking creates moving images, known as films.
The process is complex and expensive, including tasks like scriptwriting, casting and editing before showing to an audience.
Producing a full-length film often takes many weeks or months.

Art is no longer limited to traditional mediums; digital techniques are now prominent.
Modern artists use computers for image capture and manipulation.
Computer art covers a variety of forms from sound manipulation to video game creation.

Sculptures are three-dimensional artworks crafted by shaping materials.
Common materials include stone, steel, plastic, ceramics, and wood.
Sculpting, often termed "plastic arts", dates back to ancient Greece and has been significant in various world religions.
Michelangelo was a renowned sculptor during the Renaissance period.
His famous work includes the statue of David, carved from marble.