Basque PAU Artistic Drawing II flashcards

38 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Primary volumes

The four basic solids - sphere, cylinder, cone, cube - into which complex forms are simplified before detail is added. Drawing them first fixes scale and orientation of the whole.

Cross-contour line

A line that wraps around a form following its surface curvature, like a latitude ring on a sphere. Spacing between cross-contours indicates how quickly the surface turns away.

Negative space

The shape of the area enclosed by or between forms rather than the forms themselves. Judging enclosed areas is often more accurate than judging positive shapes directly.

Structural axis

The central line of symmetry or growth through a form, drawn first so paired landmarks can be kept equidistant. It governs tilt, balance, and orientation of the whole figure.

Wireframe construction

Drawing the hidden far side of a volume through the near side, so corners, ellipses, and axes can be checked for alignment. It reveals structural errors before shading hides them.

Occlusion depth cue

When one form interrupts another's contour, the interrupting form is nearer. Correct overlap is a stronger depth signal than shading or atmospheric effects.

Ground contact

The ellipse or shadow where an object meets the ground plane. Without a believable contact point the object appears to float, whatever its internal perspective.

Head-unit canon

A proportion system measuring the figure in head heights: about 7.5 heads for a mature adult, 8 in the older classical canon, with the head roughly one-eighth of height.

Rule of thirds

A compositional grid dividing the format into three equal parts each way. Placing the focal point near an intersection avoids the static effect of dead-centre placement.

Golden section

A ratio of about 1:1.618 in which the whole relates to the larger part as the larger part relates to the smaller. A golden rectangle subdivides into a square plus a similar rectangle.

Visual weight

The apparent heaviness of a shape, increased by dark value, high contrast, saturation, and central position. Balance is achieved by opposing weights across the composition.

Lost-and-found edge

A contour that is drawn in some places and allowed to dissolve in others where values match. It prevents forms from reading as flat cut-outs pasted on the background.

Gesture line

A rapid continuous stroke capturing the axis, tilt, and thrust of a form. It is drawn in seconds before structure and is the basis for sustained drawing.

Line weight hierarchy

The deliberate ranking of line thickness: heavy for near or dominant forms, medium for secondary, light for construction. It encodes depth and importance without any shading.

Core shadow

The darkest band on a lit form, located where the surface turns away from the light, before reflected light begins. It is not the outline edge of the object.

Reflected light

Light bounced from surrounding surfaces onto the shadow side of a form. It is lighter than the core shadow but darker than the halftone, and keeps shadows from going flat black.

Chiaroscuro

The modelling of volume through strong light and shade, developed in the Renaissance and pushed to extremes in tenebrism. It uses value, not line, as the primary descriptive means.

Local tone

The inherent lightness or darkness of an object's own colour, independent of lighting. A dark local object in light can be lighter than a white object in shadow.

Munsell dimensions

The three attributes specifying any colour: hue (family), value (lightness scale), and chroma (saturation). Naming all three is required for an unambiguous colour description.

Simultaneous contrast

The shift in a colour's appearance caused by its surroundings: a neutral grey on a saturated ground appears tinted with that ground's complement. Adjacent colours alter each other.

Tint, shade, tone

Tint adds white and raises value; shade adds black or dark and lowers value; tone adds grey or complement and lowers chroma. Each modifies a different attribute.

Optical mixing

Separate small strokes of different colours that blend in the viewer's eye at a distance. It preserves higher chroma than mixing the same pigments physically on the palette.

Graphite H and B scale

Pencil grading from 9H (hardest, palest) through HB to 9B (softest, darkest). H grades hold a fine point for construction; B grades deposit tone quickly.

Vine versus compressed charcoal

Vine charcoal is soft, light, and easily erased, suited to blocking in. Compressed charcoal is denser and darker, resists erasure, and is used for final darks.

Paper tooth

The surface texture that determines how pigment is caught. Rough tooth holds charcoal and pastel; hot-pressed smooth surfaces suit pen and fine pencil work.

Kneaded eraser

A pliable eraser that lifts pigment without abrading paper tooth and can be shaped to a point. A hard vinyl eraser removes more completely but damages the surface.

Two-point perspective

A system with two vanishing points on one horizon, used when a rectangular object is seen corner-on. Vertical edges stay vertical while both horizontal directions converge.

Horizon line

The line at the viewer's eye level, on which all vanishing points of horizontal receding lines lie. It is fixed by viewpoint, not by the object being drawn.

Circle in perspective

A circle seen at an angle appears as an ellipse with no pointed ends. In one- and two-point perspective its major axis stays horizontal in a horizontal plane.

Cone of vision

The roughly 60-degree field within which perspective construction looks natural. Vanishing points far outside the format cause severe distortion at the edges.

Sight-measuring

Comparing dimensions with a pencil held at fixed arm's length, then expressing every other measurement as a ratio to the first. It transfers proportion without a ruler.

Foreshortening

The compression of a form that points toward the viewer, so its axis shortens and its cross-sections overlap. Draw the overlapping sections rather than the remembered length.

Anatomical landmarks

Surface points used as fixed proportion references: clavicle, acromion, iliac crest, patella, medial malleolus. They are checked before any shading is applied.

Thumbnail study

A small rapid sketch testing format, focal point, and value structure before work begins on the final support. Several are compared to select the strongest composition.

Serial variation

Repeating a subject while holding one variable constant and changing another, so the effect of each decision can be isolated and judged.

Renaissance disegno

The conception of drawing as the intellectual stage of art, separating design from execution. Vasari's Lives of 1550 articulates this hierarchy.

Alberti on perspective

De pictura (1435) codified linear perspective as a geometric construction, turning drawing into a rule-based system with the picture as a window.

Academic cast drawing

Training by copying plaster casts before drawing the live model, central to European academies. Spain's Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, founded 1752, used this method.