BSEB Matric Fine Arts flashcards

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

Elements of art

The basic visual components used to build any artwork: line, shape, form, space, texture, value and colour. They are separate from the principles of design, which organise them.

Principles of design

Rules for arranging elements: balance, rhythm, contrast, emphasis, proportion, unity and movement. They describe how elements are organised rather than what the elements are.

Asymmetrical balance

A composition balanced by unequal visual weights, such as a large pale mass against a small dark one. It feels dynamic but stable when the weights are correctly distributed.

Negative space

The empty or background area surrounding the subject in a composition. Careful use of negative space defines the subject and prevents a drawing from feeling crowded.

Vanishing point

The point on the horizon line where receding parallel lines appear to meet in linear perspective. It fixes the viewer's eye level and controls convergence.

Pencil grade scale

The range from 9H to 9B. H grades are hard and give pale fine lines; B grades are soft and give dark tonal marks; HB sits in the middle.

Cross-hatching

A shading technique in which sets of parallel lines cross at angles. Closer spacing and more overlapping layers produce darker values in the drawing.

Blind contour drawing

A drawing exercise where the artist draws the outline of a subject without looking at the paper. It trains hand-eye coordination and close observation of edges.

Gesture drawing

A rapid sketch, usually done in under two minutes, that captures the pose, movement and weight of a figure rather than detailed anatomy or features.

Sight measurement

Comparing proportions by holding a pencil at arm's length and marking lengths on it. The head is commonly used as a unit to check figure proportions.

Complementary colours

Pairs opposite each other on the colour wheel, such as red and green or blue and orange. Adjacent placement increases contrast; mixing them neutralises towards grey.

Tint, shade and tone

A tint is a colour mixed with white, a shade is mixed with black, and a tone is mixed with grey. These change value without changing the hue.

Subtractive colour

Colour mixing with pigments, where each added pigment absorbs more light and the result darkens. Printing uses cyan, magenta, yellow and black as its primaries.

Fat over lean rule

In oil painting, each successive layer should contain more oil than the one beneath it. This prevents the upper layer from drying faster and cracking.

Watercolour transparency

Watercolour relies on white paper for its lights because the pigment is transparent. Washes are built from light to dark and white is reserved, not painted.

Aerial perspective

Creating depth by making distant forms paler, cooler, lower in contrast and less detailed. It mimics the effect of atmosphere over distance.

Bhimbetka rock art

Prehistoric paintings on rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh, showing hunting and dance scenes in red, white and green earth pigments. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ajanta murals

Buddhist cave paintings in Maharashtra dated roughly 2nd century BCE to 6th century CE. They were painted on prepared dry plaster and depict Jataka narratives.

Shadanga

The six limbs of painting described in classical Indian texts: roopabheda, pramana, bhava, lavanya yojana, sadrishya and varnikabhanga. They cover form, proportion, expression and colour.

Kishangarh school

A Rajasthani painting school known for the Bani Thani figure with elongated features and large lotus-shaped eyes, and for its lyrical Krishna themes.

Bengal School

A movement led by Abanindranath Tagore that revived Indian wash technique and Mughal and Ajanta idioms in reaction to Western academic realism.

Raja Ravi Varma

A 19th-century Indian painter who used European oil technique and realistic anatomy for Hindu mythological subjects, and popularised them through chromolithograph prints.

Amrita Sher-Gil

An Indian painter of Hungarian-Indian parentage whose post-impressionist works, such as Three Girls, depict Indian women and village life with bold simplified forms.

Nandalal Bose

A Santiniketan artist associated with the Bengal School who illustrated the Constitution of India and worked in linocut, tempera and large line drawings.

Jamini Roy

A Bengali painter who abandoned academic portraiture for a folk-derived style of flat colour, thick black outlines and tempera on cloth, painting Santhal women and cats.

Progressive Artists' Group

A group formed in Bombay in 1947 by artists including F. N. Souza and S. H. Raza, seeking a modern Indian idiom after independence.

Logo legibility rule

A logo must remain clear in one colour, at small size and in reverse. Marks are classed as wordmark, lettermark, pictorial, abstract or combination.

CMYK and RGB

CMYK is the subtractive ink model used for print, while RGB is the additive light model used for screens. Print files are usually set to 300 ppi and CMYK.

Rule of thirds

A layout guide dividing the frame into a three-by-three grid. Placing the focal point on a grid intersection gives a more dynamic, balanced composition.

Madhubani painting

A Mithila folk art of north Bihar, traditionally painted by women on walls for weddings. It uses double outlines, dense filling and natural pigments, and holds a GI tag.

Manjusha art

A folk art of Bhagalpur, Bihar, linked to the Bihula-Bishahari legend. It is restricted to green, pink and yellow with strong black outlines.

Patna Kalam

A Company-school painting style of 18th–19th century Patna depicting ordinary people, bazaars and festivals in miniature scale with light European-style shading.

Sujani embroidery

A quilted embroidery from Bhusra in Muzaffarpur district, Bihar, made from old saris. Running stitches create raised relief lines that narrate everyday scenes.

Portfolio practical marking

Practical work is judged on proportion and form, composition, tonal value, colour harmony, handling of the medium and overall finish or originality.