Punjab PSEB Senior Secondary Drawing and Painting cheat sheet

Seven elements of art: line, shape, form, space, texture, value, colour; principles include balance, rhythm, emphasis, proportion, unity, contrast, movement, pattern.

Line types and use: contour (outer edge), cross-contour (surface topography), gesture (rapid action line), hatching and cross-hatching for value, stippling for tone.

Graphite hardness scale: H grades are hard and light (9H hardest), B grades soft and dark (9B softest), HB and F sit mid-scale; softer grades smudge and suit broad tonal masses.

Dry media: graphite, charcoal (vine and compressed), conte crayon, pastel, chalk; wet media: ink, watercolour, gouache, acrylic, oil, tempera.

Charcoal fixative reduces smudging; work loose-to-tight and light-to-dark because dark pigment is hard to lift once burnished into paper.

Papers are graded by weight (gsm) and surface (rough, cold-press/not, hot-press/smooth); heavier paper resists buckling under wet washes.

Sighting and measuring: hold pencil at arm's length, align the tip and thumb with the subject, then transfer that unit to the drawing to check proportion.

Value structure: classify every passage as highlight, light, halftone, core shadow, reflected light or cast shadow; a full range needs at least five distinct values.

Prehistoric rock art: Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh) shelters show linear figures and hunting scenes in red, white and green mineral pigments.

Indus Valley: Harappan seals, the bronze 'Dancing Girl' (Mohenjo-daro) and the red-sandstone male torso indicate modelled form and drilled-detail technique.

Maurya-Shunga: Ashokan lion capital at Sarnath (polished sandstone, c. 250 BCE) and the Didarganj Yakshi (Chunar sandstone, polished).

Buddhist mural sites: Ajanta (Maharashtra, 2nd century BCE-6th century CE) and Bagh and Badami caves; Ajanta paintings use earth pigments on lime plaster.

Gupta period: Mathura and Sarnath Buddha images with transparent drapery and a serene inward expression; classical golden age of sculpture.

Medieval: Pallava and Chola bronzes (Nataraja, lost-wax casting), Khajuraho and Konark temple sculpture, Jain manuscript painting on palm leaf.

Mughal miniature painting: Akbar's illustrated manuscripts, Basawan and Daswanth; Jahangir's naturalism, Ustad Mansur's animal studies; use of opaque watercolour and gold.

Rajput and Pahari schools: Kishangarh's elongated Bani-Thani, Kangra and Guler lyrical Krishna themes; subjects shift from court to Bhakti poetry.

Modern Indian art: Bengal School (Abanindranath Tagore, wash technique), Amrita Sher-Gil, Rabindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Jamini Roy, F. N. Souza and the Progressive Artists' Group (1947).

Prehistoric: Lascaux and Altamira cave paintings (charcoal and ochre), Venus figurines; art served ritual and sympathetic-magic purposes.

Egyptian convention: composite view (frontal shoulders and eye, profile head), registers, hierarchical scale, fixed canon of proportion.

Greek phases: Archaic (stiff kouros, archaic smile), Classical (contrapposto, idealised anatomy, Phidias), Hellenistic (drama, Laocoon, Winged Victory).

Medieval: Byzantine mosaics with gold ground and flattened space; Romanesque heavy masonry; Gothic pointed arch, flying buttress, stained glass.

Renaissance: linear perspective (Brunelleschi, Alberti), sfumato and chiaroscuro (Leonardo), humanist proportion (Durer, Vitruvian figure).

Baroque: dramatic diagonals, tenebrism (Caravaggio), dynamic movement (Rubens, Bernini), theatrical light (Rembrandt, Velazquez).

Modern movements in order: Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism (1874), Post-Impressionism, Fauvism (1905), Cubism (1907), Futurism, Dada (1916), Surrealism (1924), Abstract Expressionism (1940s).

Cubism: Picasso and Braque; analytic phase (1909-12, faceted monochrome) then synthetic phase (1912-14, collage, flat shapes).

Appreciation vocabulary: formal analysis covers medium, scale, composition, colour, light, brushwork, subject, context and patron.

Primary pigments (subtractive, RYB): red, yellow, blue; secondaries: orange, green, violet; tertiaries mix a primary with an adjacent secondary.

Additive primaries (light): red, green, blue; their secondaries are cyan, magenta, yellow.

Complementary pairs sit opposite on the colour wheel (red-green, yellow-violet, blue-orange); they neutralise each other when mixed and create maximum contrast side by side.

Hue is the colour name, value is lightness or darkness, saturation (chroma) is purity or intensity; a tint adds white, a shade adds black, a tone adds grey.

Colour temperature: reds, oranges and yellows advance and read warm; blues, greens and violets recede and read cool; warm light makes cool shadows.

Simultaneous contrast: a colour appears different depending on its surround; grey looks darker on white and lighter on black.

Afterimage: staring at a colour then looking at neutral grey produces its complementary, a basis for complementary-shadow painting.

Optical mixing (pointillism) blends dots of pure colour in the eye; physical mixing of the same pigments yields duller results.

Monochromatic, analogous (adjacent on wheel), complementary and triadic are standard colour schemes; local colour is an object's actual hue, optical colour its appearance under light.

Composition types: symmetrical (formal balance), asymmetrical (informal balance through unequal masses), radial, pyramidal/triangular, diagonal, L-shape and S-curve.

Rule of thirds: divide the frame into a 3x3 grid and place key elements on the intersections; avoids a dead-centre subject.

Golden ratio approximately 1:1.618; the golden rectangle and spiral guide pleasing placement of focal points.

Focal point created by contrast of value or colour, isolation, convergence of lines, sharpest detail and placement in an active area.

One-point perspective: one vanishing point on the horizon; all receding edges converge there, verticals and horizontals stay parallel.

Two-point perspective: two vanishing points on the horizon; used for a corner view; three-point adds a vertical vanishing point for looking up or down.

Horizon line equals the viewer's eye level; objects below it show their tops, objects above it show their undersides.

Foreshortening compresses forms along the line of sight; overlapping, size diminution, atmospheric perspective (lighter, cooler, less detailed distance) create depth.

Negative space and notan (light-dark pattern) checks: squint or view the work in a mirror to verify balance and value structure.

Set-up rule: choose simple geometric objects (cube, cylinder, sphere, cone) plus one textured object; light from a single direction, ideally a window at 45 degrees.

Block-in sequence: envelope/gesture, then proportion check, then planes, then values, then detail; never start with outline detail.

Ellipses follow the eye level: circular rims flatten as they approach eye level and open as they move away from it; both sides of an ellipse are symmetrical.

Cast shadow direction is opposite the light source; core shadow sits on the form's shadow side; reflected light lies within the shadow and is never lighter than the halftone.

Sphere shading: highlight, halftone, core shadow, reflected light, cast shadow; the terminator (shadow edge) is soft on a rounded form and sharp on a faceted one.

Reflective surfaces (metal, glass) show high value contrast and mirror the surroundings; transparent glass shows refracted highlights and the background through it.

Composition: vary object size and spacing, avoid tangents where edges touch, keep the group within the frame with breathing space, and unify by a cast shadow or drapery.

Medium choice: graphite for tonal study, charcoal for broad value, watercolour for transparent washes built light to dark; gouache or acrylic for opaque corrections.

Divide a landscape into foreground, middle ground and background; each layer differs in value contrast, edge sharpness and colour temperature.

Atmospheric perspective: distant forms are lighter in value, cooler and bluer, lower in contrast and less detailed than near forms.

Sky and cloud study: sky is usually lightest near the horizon and deepest at the zenith; clouds have a lit top and a shadowed base.

Tree structure: trunk, main branches, secondary branches, then foliage masses; paint foliage as grouped masses with a light side and a shadow side.

Water reflects the sky and nearby objects; reflections are darker and less saturated than the source, and ripple breaks the reflection into horizontal bands.

Plein-air workflow: choose a limited viewfinder frame, establish the horizon and big shapes first, then middle values, then accents; finish in one sitting for consistent light.

Nature study requires observation of leaf venation, bark texture and growth pattern; sketch from life before stylising.

Time-of-day light: early morning and late afternoon give long, warm, low-angle light and long cast shadows; midday gives short shadows and cool shadows.

Adult head proportions: eyes sit about halfway down the head; the face divides into thirds (hairline to brow, brow to nose base, nose base to chin).

Eye spacing: the distance between the eyes is about one eye width; the head is roughly five eyes wide; the nose base is about one-third from brow to chin.

Ear placement runs from the brow line to the nose base; the neck is about half the head width and attaches behind the jawline.

Canon of figure proportion: adult figure is about 7.5 to 8 heads tall; shoulders about 2 head-widths, wrist level at the crotch, elbows at the waist.

Gesture drawing captures action and weight in 30 seconds to 2 minutes; line of action runs through the spine and weight-bearing leg.

Contrapposto shifts weight onto one leg, tilting the pelvis and shoulders in opposite directions; the weight-bearing leg is straight, the other relaxed.

Portrait likeness depends on bone structure and spacing rather than detail; check the triangle of eyes, nose tip and mouth corners.

Skin tones are built from a base of ochre or burnt sienna varied by warm highlights and cool (bluish or greenish) shadows; avoid a single flat flesh colour.

Thumbnail stage: produce at least three small value sketches before the final; choose the strongest for clarity of focal point.

Narrative clarity: one dominant idea per image; supporting elements must not compete with the focal point.

Visual hierarchy: largest, sharpest, highest-contrast element reads first; use size, overlap and placement to order attention.

Silhouette test: a good character or object design reads as a recognisable shape when filled solid black.

Colour script: assign a limited palette per mood; warm analogous schemes for energy, cool schemes for calm, complementary accents for tension.

Illustration workflow: brief, research, thumbnails, rough, value study, colour study, final rendering, presentation.

Stylisation tools: exaggeration, simplification, repetition, distortion and scale shift; keep internal consistency of style.

Common faults to correct: tangent edges, centred subject with equal spacing, cluttered background, inconsistent light direction, muddy over-mixing.

Design elements repeat the fine-art elements; design principles add hierarchy, alignment, proximity, repetition, white space and legibility.

Poster design: one message, one dominant image, readable type hierarchy (headline, subhead, body), strong contrast and a clear visual path.

Typography basics: serif faces aid long reading, sans-serif suits headlines and signage; avoid more than two type families in one layout.

Logo design criteria: simple, scalable, memorable, versatile in one colour, and appropriate to the client; a logo is not a full illustration.

Colour in applied art: use CMYK for print and RGB for screen; check contrast for accessibility and test in greyscale for value.

Layout grid: margins, columns, gutters and baseline grid keep alignment consistent; the optical centre sits slightly above the geometric centre.

Portfolio contents: 12-20 strongest works, each with title, medium, size, date and a short intent note; show range plus depth in one area.

Presentation: mount or mat uniformly, photograph flat under even light without glare, order works for a strong opening and closing piece, and label consistently.

Career paths in applied art include graphic design, illustration, animation, textile and fashion design, interior and product design, advertising art direction and teaching.