Vocabulary

PERSPECTIVE TERMINOLOGY:

  1. Picture Plane : an imaginary pane of glass or window parallel to your face. This coincides with the 2-dimensional piece of drawing paper.
  2. One-point perspective: The front face of a cube;· or the back wall of a room is parallel to the picture plane. Depth recedes from the picture plane. The viewer faces the parallel plane head on.
  3. Two-point perspective: The cube is rotated so that verticals are still parallel to the picture plane, but the receding side planes are not parallel to the picture plane. In the room, the viewer is turned toward a comer. Neither of the side walls is parallel to the picture plane.
  4. Ground plane: The floor or ground of a room or space. The plane that the artist/viewer is standing on.
  5. Eye level/horizon line: The height of the eyes of the viewer above the ground plane. This changes depending on whether the viewer is standing, sitting, or lying down. This is actually a plane turned on its edge at eye level.
  6. Vanishing point: The point at which the receding planes or lines (orthogonals) converge. All planes or edges that are in fact parallel to one another will share the same vanishing point.
  7. Orthogonal: All lines receding from the picture plane. These are not parallel to the picture plane
  8. Central Ray of Vision: The line of sight straight out from the viewer’s eyes.
  9. Cone of Vision: The 60-degree volumetric area symmetrically surrounding the central ray of vision that constitutes what the viewer can see without distortion when he or she looks in any one direction without having to turn the head. The picture plane forms the base of this cone and moves as the artist/viewer looks up, down, or sideways.
  10. Station Point: The fixed eye position of the artist/viewer.
  11. Diminution: Objects of equal size appear smaller as their distance from the observer increases.
  12. Convergence: Parallel lines appear to approach each other as they recede.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

COLOR PROPERTIES – Terminology created by analog painters. The basic aspects include hue, value, and saturation.

THE FOLLOWING TERMS ARE COMMONLY USED BY BOTH DIGITAL AND ANALOG IMAGING EXPERTS.

1. Hue= PURE COLOR AS IN THE ACTUAL NAME OF THE COLOR.
2. Value= OFTEN THOUGHT OF AS THE GRAYSCALE. NEUTRAL COLORS RANGING FROM BLACK TO WHITE. EACH VALUE STEP IS USUALLY SHIFTED BY CONSTANT AMOUNTS. IN ILLUSTRATOR THE STEPS ARE INCREASED BY 10%.
3.  Saturation= IT IS ALSO MEASURED AS PERCENTAGE VALUE. A RANGE OF COLOR FROM PURE UNMIXED COLOR TO GRAY AT A CONSTANT LIGHTNESS VALUE. CAN ALSO BE CALLED INTENSITY.
4. Harmony Colors= IN ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR, THE PREMIXED COLOR GROUPS ARE FORMED AND BROKEN UP INTO WARM/COOL, VIVID/MUTED AND TINTS TONES AND SHADES.
5. Tints, Tones and Shades= Tints= ORIGINAL COLOR MIXED WITH WHITE AND THEREFORE LIGHTER THAN ITS ORIGINAL. Tones= ORIGINAL COLOR MIXED WITH GRAYS, BLACK OR WHITE. Shades= DARKER THAN ORIGINAL COLOR DUE TO THE MIX OF BLACK.
6. Lightness= RANGES FROM FULLY-SHADED TO FULLY TINTED.
7. Chroma/Chromaticity/Chromatic Signals= COLOR PERCEPTION SIMILAR TO SATURATION. CHROMA IS A COMPONENT OF A COLOR MODEL. IT IS THE INTENSITY OF THE CHROMATIC SIGNAL. THERE IS A BLUE-YELLOW AND RED-GREEN COMPONENT.

________________________________________________________

TERMINOLOGY
Vocabulary CRITIQUE TERMINOLOGY/QUESTIONS  Updated as each project occurs 

Design Principles Vocabulary– COMPOSITIONAL ELEMENTS

1.    Scale/Mass/Extension= INCREASING AND DECREASING SIZE. GROWING, STRETCHING, CROPPING ARE EXAMPLES. (CONTOUR, POS/NEG, VALUE)
2.    Number/Frequency/Density=CROWDED, HEAVY, VARYING THE THICKNESS, SPACING, AND NUMBER OF MARKS. APPLIES TO (CONTOUR AND MARK MAKING ASSIGNMENTS)
3.    Positive/Negative= FIGURE-GROUND AND CONTRAST. BLACK ON WHITE OR WHITE ON BLACK. APPLIES (POSITIVE NEGATIVE)
4.    Orientation/Direction=MARKS THAT INDICATE MOVEMENT AND CHANGE IN DIRECTION, ROTATION, REFLECTION, AND REVERSION. APPLIES (GESTURE DRAWING AND PRACTICE WITH SHAPES IN ILLUSTRATOR)
5.    Alteration=AT LEAST TWO IMAGES THAT CREATE DIFFERENT VARIABLESCOMPOSITIONAL ELEMENTS (CONTOUR, POS/NEG, VALUE ASSIGNMENT)
6.    Sequence=ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, CONTINUITY (MARK MAKING/PATTERN ASSIGNMENT)
7.    Rhythm=MOVEMENT BY REPETITION. REPEATED POSITIVE SHAPES SEPARATED BY NEGATIVE SPACES. IT CAN BE REGULAR AND HAVE VARIOUS SPEEDS OF SLOW AND FAST. APPLIES (POSITIVE NEGATIVE)
8.    Repetition=ELEMENTS ARE REPEATED IN PATTERN OR SYSTEM. APPLIES (TO CONTOUR, POS/NEG, VALUE, MARK MAKING)
9.    Proportion=COMPARISON IN DIMENSION BETWEEN TWO OR MORE ELEMENTS OR RATIO IN A COMPOSITION.  APPLIES (TO CONTOUR, POS/NEG, VALUE, MARK MAKING)
10.  Axis=APPLIED LINE OR DIRECT THAT RUNS FROM BOTTOM TO TOP AND TRAVELS THROUGH THE MIDDLE FOR BALANCE AND MOVEMENT. NON- STATIC.  APPLIES (TO CONTOUR, POS/NEG, VALUE, MARK MAKING)
11.  Focal point=WHAT THE EYE IS FIRST DRAWN TO ON A PICTURE PLANE. APPLIES (TO CONTOUR, POS/NEG, VALUE, MARK MAKING)
12.  Contrast=OPPOSITION, APPLIES TO (POSITIVE/NEGATIVE)
13.  Balance=OPPOSITES ARE EQUAL IN STRENGTH AND WEIGHT. APPLIES TO (POSITIVE/NEGATIVE)
14.  Dominance=ELEMENTS HAVE A STRONGER PRESENCE THAN OTHER PARTS. CAN POSSESS CONTRAST, OPPOSITION, LARGER SCALE, COLOR DIFFERENCE, WEIGHT IMBALANCE. APPLIES TO (CONTOUR, TONAL VALUE)
15.  Symmetry=USE OF IDENTICAL OR SIMULAR ELEMENTS TO MIRROR EACHOTHER APPLIES (PRACTICE WITH SHAPES IN ILLUSTRATOR)
16.  Proximity= DEGREE OF DISTANCE. APPLIES (GESTURE DRAWING AND PRACTICE WITH SHAPES IN ILLUSTRATOR)
17.  Continuance= GROUPING IN A CONTINUING DIRECTION OFTEN SUGGESTING MOVEMENT. APPLIES TO (CONTOUR ASSIGNMENT)
18.  Closure=GROUPING INTO FORMS OR SHAPES. SIMILARITY, PROXIMITY, AND CONTINUANCE. APPLIES TO (CONTOUR ASSIGNMENT)

Visual examples of artists application