Studio Glossary
Here is a list of definitions of terms, as defined by me, students, and others. We also hold discussions about the terms every 3 months here at TheDrawingStudio; click the link below to sign up for our next meeting.
Our Next meeting will be held on 4/20/24
A
abstraction
art that does not try to mimic a camera's view
allover composition
"The last refuge of the scoundrel"-David Reed (as I remember him saying)
animating touch
The act of putting life in a mark
aphantasia
As a student explained it, not being able to draw from their minds eye.....Now, how to define "minds eye"....
asemic writing
writing without language
asymmetry
mobility with the most stability
B
before
what is in front of your body, that you eyes can see.
what happened until now.
C
calligraphic
"is a composition of drawing and writing: like writing its done with a brush and ink on a blank background; like drawing, its a visual language based on shape, gesture and tonality; and, like drawing, it's usually done on a blank surface, and negative space that is taken into consideration, and its overall composition." Amy Sillmans
contour line
isolating edges
cross contour
hard to explain, almost surface and edge at once....multiple contours to delinieate a surface and its volume
D
diagram
drawing aiming to communicate more than express
dimension-busting
finding more dimension
doodling
a kind of free style drawing
drawn score
a drawing that correlates with a series of moves
E
edge of light/dark
the contour where light meets dark and dark meets light
F
frame
forcefield of an artwork
H
handwriting
a kind of drawing
I
L
line quality
whats a line is like
the effect of line's weight, direction and speed all in one
M
N
negative space
space between objects
non-dominant
the side that doesnt take over.
Lydia Davis on her left hand
O
observational drawing
drawing from what is before you
What your iPhone or cellphone is telling you when you take a picture is only a teeny slice of what is in front of it when you take the picture. It’s an image of a fragment of time of reality.
-Samia Hallaby Slams
online
via the internet
P
perception
how the world continues to seem to us
poetic
sensitized, keeps coming
R
S
signature
the drawing of your name
style
technique used to create attitude
subconscious
"Drawings, the best of them, pulsate in my mind; they are always nearly incandescent with opportunity: look at what the eye and the hand and the imagination can do together, let's take it up a notch! Let's go further! Today you can have a thought and call it a drawing and why not since drawing begins with a thought or the hope of birthing one from the subconscious?"
- Hilton Als
substrate
surface for drawing
symmetry
the impossible task of no side being dominant
symmetry
stability with the most mobility