List of art media
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Arts media is the material and tools used by an artist, composer or designer to create a work of art,[1] for example, "pen and ink" where the pen is the tool and the ink is the material. Here is a list of types of art and the media used within those types.
Architecture[]
- Cement, concrete, mortar
- Cob
- Glass
- Metal
- Stone, brick
- Wood
Carpentry[]
- Adhesives
- Wood (timber)
Ceramics[]
- Bone china
- Clay
- Glaze
- Porcelain
- Pottery
- Terracotta
Drawing[]
Common drawing materials[]
- Acrylic paint
- Chalk
- Charcoal
- Conté
- Crayon
- Gouache
- Graphite
- Ink
- Oil paint
- Glass paint
- Pastel
- Pixel
- Sketch
- Tempera
- Watercolor
- Glitter
Common supports (surfaces) for drawing[]
- Canvas
- Card stock
- Concrete
- Fabric
- Glass
- Human body
- Metal
- Paper
- Plaster
- Scratchboard
- Stone
- Vellum
- Wood
Common drawing tools and methods[]
- Brush
- Finger
- Pen
- Ballpoint pen
- Fountain pen
- Gel pen
- Technical pen
- Marker
- Pencil
- Mechanical pencil (clutch, screw, and ratchet)
- Colored pencil
- Stylus
- Charcoal
Electronic[]
- Graphic art software and 3D computer graphics
- Word processors and desktop publishing software
- Digital photography and digital cinematography
- Specialized input devices (e.g. variable pressure sensing tablets and touchscreens)
- Digital printing
- Programming languages
Film[]
- Animation
- Computer animation and computer-generated imagery
- Video art and its subsets single-channel video and video installation
Food[]
A chef's tools and equipment, including ovens, stoves, grills, and griddles. Specialty equipment may be used, including salamanders, French tops, woks, tandoors, and induction burners.
Glass[]
Glassblowing, colouring and marking methods.
Installation[]
Installation art is a site-specific form of sculpture that can be created with any material. An installation can occupy a large amount of space, create an ambience, transform/disrupt the space, exist in the space. One way to distinguish an installation from a sculpture (this may not apply to every installation) is to try to imagine it in a different space. If the objects present difficulties in a different space than the original, it is probably an installation.
Literature[]
Traditional writing media[]
- Digital word processor
- Internet websites
- Letterpress printing
- Computer printers
- Marker
- Pen and ink or *quill
- Pencil
Common bases for writing[]
- Card stock
- Paper, perhaps ruled
- Vellum
Natural world[]
- Floral design
- Rock
- Soil
- Vegetation
- Water
Painting[]
Traditional paint media[]
- Acrylic paint
- Blacklight paint
- Encaustic paint
- Fresco
- Gesso
- Glaze
- Gouache
- Ink
- Latex paint
- Magna paint
- Oil paint
- Primer
- Stencil
- Ink wash (sumi-e)
- Tempera or poster paint
- Vinyl paint (toxic/poisonous)
- Vitreous enamel
- Watercolor
Indigenous materials for painting[]
- Human hair and blood
- Various bodily fluids and excrement including elephant dung
- Solar energy
- Garlic
- Rust
- Coffee
- Onion
- Coconut juice
- Mud
- Black palm
- Tomato
- Soy sauce
- Staple wire
- Ochre (Yellow, red, white or charcoal)
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
- Palette knife
- Sponge
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:
- Aerosol paint
- Digital painting
- Fresco
- Image projector
- Mosaic
- Pounce art
Graphic narrative media[]
Comics creators use many of the same media as traditional painters.
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
- Collotype
- 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
- Linocut
- Metalcut
- Relief etching
- Wood engraving
- Woodcut
- 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[]
- Bone carving
- Bronze
- Gemstones
- Glass
- Granite
- Ice
- Ivory
- Marble
- Plaster
- Stone
- Wax
- Wood
Casting media[]
- Cement
- Ceramics
- Metal
- Plaster
- Plastic
- Synthetic resin
- Wax
Modeling media[]
- Clay
- Papier-mâché
- Plaster
- Sand
- Styrofoam
Assembled media[]
- Beads
- Corrugated fiberboard (cardboard)
- Edible material
- Foil
- Found objects
- Glue and other adhesives
- Paperboard
- Textile
- Wire
- Wood
Finishing materials[]
- Acids to create a patina (corrosive)
- Glaze
- Polychrome
- Wax
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. See also music and sound art.
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[]
- Collage
- Conceptual art
- Decorative arts
- Design tool
- Fashion design
- Fine art
- Fire performance
- Fresco
- Graffiti
- Graphic arts
- Liberal arts
- List of pen types, brands and companies
- Medium specificity
- Mixed media
- Multimedia
- New materials in 20th-century art
- Plastic arts
- Publishing
- Pyrotechnics
- Recording medium
- Stationery
- Video game art
References[]
- ^ Tate. "Medium – Art Term". Tate. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
External links[]
- Media (artists' materials) — definition from the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus.
- Artistic Medium, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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