Visual Arts Overview and Techniques

Visual Arts Overview

• Visual arts are forms of art that can be seen.
• They have evolved over centuries.
• Artists in the Middle Ages produced paintings, sculptures, and prints.
• Modern visual art encompasses various forms.

Drawing

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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.

Computer Art

• 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.

Sculpture

• 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.