Media, Techniques, and Processes
Media, Techniques, and Processes
This domain tests practical knowledge of how materials behave and how processes produce specific marks, surfaces, and structures. Questions often present a studio problem and ask for the most appropriate medium, tool, or safety response.
Core rules
- Drawing: graphite for value ranges and erasure; charcoal for broad tonal masses and smudging; conte crayon for both line and tone; ink for line variety and wash. Hatching and cross-hatching build value with linear marks; stippling uses dots; scumbling uses broken, scratchy layers.
- Painting: watercolor is transparent, uses water as thinner, and can be worked wet-on-wet for soft blooms or wet-on-dry for crisp edges; gouache is opaque watercolor; acrylic dries fast and can be layered; oil dries slowly and supports blending; fresco is pigment in wet lime plaster; tempera uses egg binder.
- Printmaking: relief prints such as woodcut and linocut carry ink on raised surfaces; intaglio such as etching and engraving holds ink in incised lines and requires a press; lithography depends on oil-water repulsion; screenprinting forces ink through a stencil.
- Sculpture: additive processes build up through modeling and assemblage; subtractive processes remove material through carving; casting replaces a mold cavity with a liquid that sets.
- Ceramics: slab, coil, and wheel-throwing are forming methods; leather-hard is ideal for joining; bisque firing removes water; glaze is a glassy coating that matures in a kiln.
Worked example
A student wants crisp, fine linework with the ability to erase and build subtle value. Which medium is strongest? Reasoning: ink gives crisp lines but is difficult to erase; charcoal erases well but is coarse; graphite offers fine lines, gradation, and erasure. Answer: graphite.
Traps
Do not reverse relief and intaglio. Do not say glaze seals greenware before bisque. Do not treat acrylic as slow-drying. Do not confuse additive and subtractive sculpture. In photography, aperture controls depth of field and shutter speed controls motion blur; ISO affects sensitivity and noise.