Artistic mediums: what are the different types of artistic mediums
What is and what does the word medium mean in art? A simple definition of an artistic medium would be the various tools and methods that artists use in to create their works of art.
In fact, a work is distinguished by four factors: style, subject, technique or medium, material or support.
This short guide will introduce you to the different art mediums available to you so that you can choose which types of art mediums best suit your art project.
Painting and drawing artistic mediums
Among all artistic mediums, drawing and painting techniques have the greatest variety in terms of artistic mediums available to choose from. Painting and sketching are the most used techniques in art, the technique walks together with the medium, which we could also call material, in fact the medium is nothing more than the material that allows us to develop our technique and create our work. , in this post you will find the most common commercial and non commercial mediums to choose from.
Graphite pencils
The graphite pencils are a French invention of the XVIII century. They are said to be great for sketching compositions, making preparatory drawings, creating sketches, or even applying shading to your artwork. Graphite pencil is one of the ideal art mediums for beginners as you can easily edit and change your subject by erasing mistakes and retrying until the desired result is achieved.
Nonetheless it is in my opinion a very fascinating medium and if used on suitable artistic paper as well as allowing a remarkable artistic expression, the result is a unique aesthetic beauty especially for human subjects such as portraits, close-ups and figures.
Chalk
Chalk is an organic material and ocher, limestone and black stone were used to create colors such as sanguine, black and white.
Chalk or chalk is a calcium sulfate stick used as a writing material on suitable surfaces, typically blackboards. Blackboard chalk is typically white, but is commercially available in many different colors.
Chalks are also used for writing on concrete and on sidewalks (sidewalk chalk drawing). Drawing with chalk is a street art phenomenon at the center of events and competitions. Artists such as Kurt Wenner, Ellis Gallagher and Julian Beever have created intricate graffiti with chalks and pastels, often using anamorphism.
Chalks can also be used on paper, especially white chalk on black drawing paper.
Pastels
The pastels are composed of pigments and a binder there can be wax or glue in a minimum percentage, to ensure greater adhesion of the colored powders to the paper on the drawing, a fixative can be vaporized which however decreases the vividness of the colors. Harder pastels are great for sketches and overall composition contours, while softer pastels look amazing when blended. Another version of the pastel art medium uses a sponge for application, called pan pastels.
Pastels can be found on the market in the form of sticks of various shapes.
The pastel according to the mixture it is made of can be:
Hard dough: square in shape, suitable for drawing thinner lines than round equivalents. When using them you must be careful not to force the stroke, because they could scratch the support of the painting, preventing it from retaining the pigment.
Medium dough: round in shape, it is used both for the preparatory sketch and for the finishing of the painting.
Soft dough: Used mainly to cover large areas of the painting, as it is more brittle and dusty and easier to blend.
Charcoal
is part of the mediums used in the branch of drawing.
you can also draw with charcoal as an end in itself but the charcoal sticks that are on the market are made by binding the anthracite powder with flour glue, this process makes the charcoal more difficult to erase, because the flour glue makes it tender and therefore it is fixed to the paper with greater strength than natural charcoal, which is obtained by carbonizing various wood essences.
Charcoal can easily be found in fine art stores in the form of sticks, chalks or pencils.
Watercolors
Watercolors are, for my taste, one of the most beautiful techniques due to the range of colors and transparencies that can be created from them. However, working with watercolors can be a bit tricky, especially for first-time artists. The range of colors obtainable is a great advantage, but the watercolor does not allow errors, it cannot be erased or superimposed on another coat of paint or color to modify or improve a possible error, the only thing that can be done in case of mistake is to start over.
On the market there are many brands of watercolors for all budgets, they can also be obtained by mixing natural pigments, distilled water and arabic gum.
Colored pencils
Most children enjoy drawing and coloring with colored pencils, which is why they are said to be not perfect artistic mediums to learn your skills with, but I am of the opposite opinion as they can be used as a high level medium to create true professional works of art.
Inks
The inks can be used with a pen or brush, the former is excellent for creating homogeneous and solid strokes while with the latter it is possible to create solid shapes but also shades and transparencies similar to watercolor.
Medium prince in the art of calligraphy, I often use it successfully in drawings, female portraits on book pages, in this way the ink remains in its native context, the words. Depending on the use for which you intend to use the inchoistro, you can find a multitude of suitable drawing tools such as drawing pens, fountain pens and graphics, small calligraphy brushes up to the finest Japanese calligraphy brushes.
Acrylic colors
one of the most popular mediums for its affordability, availability and range of colors, but also its easy workability.
Acrylic paints dry on average fast and are water resistant once dried. In the market there are many colors at affordable prices, you can mix the colors together until you get a special color for you.
A kind of acrylic paint can also be created by yourself directly from natural pigments, vinyl glues and natural thickeners.
Oil painting
Oil painting is the most important artistic medium of visual art, the commercial one commonly sold in a tube is composed of various pigments designed to compose a specific shade of color and mixed with an oily compound consisting mainly of linseed oil.
Oil painting is an artistic medium that is commonly considered to be of value. Due to its slow drying properties, it is said that artists can easily modify their paintings and correct any errors, in reality this is not the case, the oil painting technique is one of the most difficult to perform, at least in my point of view. view view.
oil paint can also be obtained by obtaining natural pigments and crushing them with cooked or raw linseed oil, the cooked one dries earlier, the raw one leaves a better shine but drying times are infinitely long.
Tempera
Tempera is a very simple type of pictorial medium and used since ancient times thanks to its natural ingredients such as durable pigments, quick-drying technique, it is usually the first truly complex artistic technique in which we all approach since childhood.
In ancient times egg tempera was widely used, which is composed of pigments linked to an egg yolk emulsion, egg albumen is usually used as a final finish varnish.
