Castilla y León PAU Graphic-Plastic Expression Techniques Exam cheat sheet

Support sizing: paper weights above 200 g/m² resist wet media without cockling; below 120 g/m² requires stretching or mounting.

Tooth (grain) determines grip: rough paper holds charcoal and pastel; hot-pressed (smooth) suits pen, ink and detailed coloured pencil.

Acidity rule: paper with pH below 7 yellows and embrittles; buffered, acid-free supports (pH 7–9.5) are the archival standard.

Absorbency: sized or primed surfaces slow absorption (oil, acrylic); unsized paper wicks water-based media quickly.

Primers: gesso (acrylic or chalk-glue) seals canvas and board; oil grounds are lead- or alkyd-based and only accept oil media.

Brush families: round (line and wash), flat (blocks and edges), filbert (blended strokes), rigger (fine lines), mop (broad washes).

Pencil hardness scale runs 9H (hardest, lightest) to 9B (softest, darkest); HB sits at the middle.

Solvents and mediums: turpentine or white spirit thin oil paint; linseed oil slows drying and adds gloss; water thins acrylic and gouache.

Graphite value range: harder grades (H) give pale, precise lines; softer grades (B) deposit more graphite and darker tone.

Charcoal forms: willow/vine charcoal erases easily and gives soft tonal masses; compressed charcoal is denser, darker and harder to lift.

Fixative reduces smudging of charcoal and pastel but darkens values slightly; apply in thin coats from a distance.

Pastel types: soft pastel (high pigment, low binder, crumbly), hard pastel (square sticks for detail), oil pastel (waxy, non-dusting, blendable with solvent).

Coloured pencil layering: build tone with light, overlapping hatching rather than heavy pressure, which burnishes and blocks further layers.

Burnishing fuses layers into a smooth, saturated surface using a colourless blender or a light-coloured pencil.

Kneaded eraser lifts tone without abrading the tooth; it can be shaped to a point for highlights.

Hatching systems: parallel hatching (single direction), cross-hatching (crossed sets), contour hatching (follows form) - density controls value.

Ink wash values come from dilution: one pigment yields a full scale from pale grey to opaque black by adding water.

Watercolour is transparent: white comes from the paper, so light areas are reserved (left unpainted) rather than added.

Wet-on-wet produces soft bleeding edges; wet-on-dry gives crisp, controlled edges.

Gouache is opaque watercolour with added chalk/white; light colours can be painted over dark ones once dry.

Tempera binds pigment with an emulsion (egg yolk or modern polymer); it dries fast, matte and water-resistant once cured.

Wash grading: tilt the board and add water to the loaded band to create a smooth gradient from dark to light.

Masking fluid protects reserved whites; remove it only after the paint is fully dry to avoid tearing the paper.

Glazing in water-based media: apply a thin transparent layer over a dry layer to modify hue without muddying.

Fat-over-lean rule: each successive oil layer should contain more oil (or less solvent) than the one beneath, preventing cracking.

Oil drying is oxidation, not evaporation: thin layers dry faster; thick impasto may skin over while remaining soft inside.

Acrylic dries by water evaporation within minutes; retarders extend open time, and glazing mediums build transparent layers.

Impasto (thick, textured paint) versus glaze (thin, transparent) are the two poles of paint handling and light effects.

Alla prima: the whole painting is completed wet-in-wet in one session, giving unified edges and fresh colour.

Mixed media compatibility: water-based layers can sit under oil only if fully dry and isolated by a ground; oil over wet acrylic fails.

Underpainting (imprimatura, grisaille) establishes value structure before colour is applied.

Scumbling is a thin, opaque, scrubbed layer dragged over a darker passage to cool or lighten it optically.

Relief printing (linocut, woodcut, stamping): ink sits on uncut raised areas; cut-away areas print as white (negative).

Intaglio (engraving, etching, drypoint): ink is forced into incised lines and wiped from the surface; damp paper and press pressure pull it out.

Linocut mirroring: the block must be cut in reverse, since printing reverses the image left-to-right.

Registration ensures successive colour layers align; use corner marks or a jig for multi-block and reduction prints.

Reduction linocut: one block is progressively cut and reprinted, so the edition is limited and the block is destroyed.

Stamping: consistent pressure and even ink coverage prevent patchy impressions; brayer rolling in two directions gives an even film.

Digital basics: raster images (pixels, resolution in ppi) versus vector images (paths, resolution-independent); CMYK for print, RGB for screen.

Bleed and safe margin: artwork extends beyond the trim line (typically 3 mm) so cutting tolerances leave no white edge.

Primary sets: subtractive/pigment primaries are cyan, magenta, yellow; additive/light primaries are red, green, blue.

Complementary colours sit opposite on the colour wheel; mixing two pigments that are complements neutralises toward grey-brown.

Harmony schemes: monochromatic (one hue), analogous (adjacent hues), complementary (opposites), split-complementary, triadic.

Simultaneous contrast: a colour shifts in appearance according to its neighbour - grey looks warmer beside blue, cooler beside orange.

Value is independent of hue: a colour can be light or dark at any saturation; squinting reveals the value pattern.

Colour temperature: warm hues (red, orange, yellow) advance; cool hues (blue, green) recede - used to build depth.

Mixing rule: add dark to light, not light to dark, to keep control of value when tinting.

Psychological associations are culture-dependent (e.g., white for mourning in some East Asian contexts, for weddings in Western ones) and must be read contextually.

Visual elements: point, line, shape, form, texture, colour, value, space.

Principles of design: balance, rhythm, contrast, emphasis, proportion, scale, unity/variety, movement.

Rule of thirds: placing key elements near the intersections of a 3×3 grid produces dynamic balance.

Linear perspective: parallel lines converge at vanishing points on the horizon; one-point, two-point and three-point systems organise depth.

Aerial (atmospheric) perspective: distant forms lose contrast, cool in hue and lighten toward the horizon.

Chiaroscuro uses strong light–dark contrast to model volume; tenebrism pushes most of the image into deep shadow.

Figure–ground relationship: the eye separates a focal subject from its surround; ambiguous figure–ground creates visual tension.

Golden ratio (≈1.618) and dynamic symmetry are proportion systems used to structure harmonious divisions.

Gestalt laws: proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, common fate - the eye groups elements by these rules.

Reading path: high contrast, sharp focus and warm colour attract the eye first; designers sequence information along that path.

Denotation is the literal content of an image; connotation is its implied or cultural meaning.

Anchorage (Barthes): text fixes the meaning of an ambiguous image; relay: text and image advance meaning together.

Sign types: icon (resembles), index (causal link, e.g., smoke–fire), symbol (arbitrary convention).

Visual hierarchy is built with size, colour, contrast, position and isolation of the key element.

Legibility versus readability: legibility is letterform recognition; readability is ease of reading a text block.

Image analysis framework: describe (what is seen), analyse (how composed), interpret (meaning), evaluate (effectiveness).

Project cycle: brief/research → references and moodboard → sketches and thumbnails → development → final production → evaluation.

Thumbnails test composition cheaply before committing to the final support; several variants are compared side by side.

Moodboard and visual references fix palette, texture and tone before production begins.

Iteration: each version is documented (sketchbook, dated files) so decisions and alternatives remain traceable.

Constraints (format, deadline, materials, audience) drive decisions and must be stated in the brief.

Evaluation criteria: adequacy to brief, coherence of composition, technical execution, originality, presentation.

Sketchbook practice records process: studies, colour tests, annotations and failed attempts are part of the evidence.

Presentation: mount, label and sequence work so the process and the final piece read as one argument.