NBPTS AYA Art cheat sheet

Art Content Knowledge (Component 1)

• Elements of art: line, shape/form, color, value, texture, space. Principles of design: balance (symmetrical, asymmetrical, radial), contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm, unity/variety, proportion, scale.

• Color theory: primary (red, yellow, blue) and secondary (orange, green, violet) in traditional RYB; additive primaries are red, green, blue (light); subtractive primaries are cyan, magenta, yellow (pigment/print). Complementary pairs sit opposite on the color wheel and neutralize when mixed; analogous colors are adjacent.

• Color properties: hue (name), value (lightness/darkness), intensity/saturation (purity). Tints add white; shades add black; tones add gray. Warm colors (red, orange, yellow) advance; cool colors (blue, green, violet) recede.

• Perspective: linear perspective uses vanishing points on a horizon line (one-point, two-point, three-point). Atmospheric/aerial perspective reduces contrast, detail, and saturation with distance. Foreshortening compresses forms along the line of sight. Overlap, size variation, placement, and detail are depth cues.

• Drawing/media: graphite hardness scale H (hard, light) to B (soft, dark), HB mid-range. Charcoal (vine, compressed), conte crayon, pastel (soft/hard/oil), ink, and marker each have distinct value ranges and fixative needs. Erasers: kneaded (lifting), gum, vinyl/plastic.

• Painting: watercolor is transparent, uses washes and wet-on-wet/wet-on-dry, and relies on paper white for highlights; gouache is opaque watercolor; acrylic dries fast and is water-soluble while wet; oil dries slowly, allows blending, and requires solvent/medium. Supports: canvas, panel, paper; grounds: gesso, rabbit-skin glue.

• Printmaking: relief (woodcut, linocut) inks raised surfaces; intaglio (etching, engraving, drypoint, mezzotint) inks incised lines and requires a press; planography (lithography) relies on oil-water repulsion; screenprinting uses a stencil and squeegee. Edition numbering (e.g., 3/25) and artist's proof (A/P) conventions.

• Sculpture and craft: additive (modeling, assemblage, casting) vs. subtractive (carving); relief (bas-relief, high relief) vs. freestanding/in-the-round. Materials: clay (slab, coil, pinch, wheel; firing and glaze), plaster, wax, metal (lost-wax casting), wood, stone, glass, fiber (weaving, felting, basketry).

• Art history anchors: prehistoric cave painting (Lascaux, Altamira); Ancient Egypt (frontal canon, hieroglyphs); Classical Greece (contrapposto, idealized proportion); Byzantine (gold ground, flattened space); Renaissance (linear perspective, humanism; Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael); Baroque (chiaroscuro, tenebrism, dramatic movement; Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt); Impressionism (broken color, plein air; Monet, Renoir, Degas); Post-Impressionism (Cézanne, Van Gogh, Seurat, Gauguin); Cubism (Picasso, Braque; multiple viewpoints); Expressionism (Die Brücke, Der Blaue Reiter); Dada (Duchamp, readymades); Surrealism (Dalí, Magritte, Miró; automatism); Abstract Expressionism (Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko); Pop Art (Warhol, Lichtenstein); Minimalism (Judd, Stella); Contemporary/Postmodern practices.

• Analysis framework: describe (what is visible), analyze (how elements/principles are used), interpret (meaning, context, artist intent), evaluate (judgment with criteria). Use formal vocabulary and cite specific evidence from the work.

• Contextual lenses: patronage, function, audience, technology, religion, politics, economics, gender, and cultural exchange. Compare works by form, function, context, and style rather than by chronology alone.