Art Basics:Drawings
Types of Visual Art Forms: Drawing
Q. What are the main types of drawing media? Which artists were best at sketching?
In ancient Greece, artists used a metal stylus to draw on papyrus. During the Renaissance period, the stylus was used with a variety of different metallic alloys to create other dry media like metalpoint and silverpoint. Apprentice artists typically used an empty stylus to practice drawing by making easily removable indentations on wax tablets. Nowadays, draughtsmen use charcoal, chalks, pastels, and pen and ink. Other alternatives are wax or conte crayons, markers, graphite sticks, and various types of inked pens. The world’s best sketchers include such masters as Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Albrecht Durer, Rembrandt and Edgar Degas.
Q. What is figure drawing?
The term “figure drawing” commonly refers to the Life class taught in most academies and schools of fine art, during which students draw a live model sitting in front of them. This classical instructional method is seen as the best way to acquire the skill of drawing the human body and mastering its line, shape and depth. Perhaps the single greatest example of figurative drawing is the series of pictures created by Michelangelo for the ceiling and wall of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
Q. What is “graphic art”?
The term ‘graphic art’ (from the German “Graphik”, originating from graphikos, the Greek for drawing) refers to those forms of visual expression that depend for their effect on line and tone, rather than color.
Source: Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art. Additional information can be found at or http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/art-questions.htm