Unit 2:

Making an Artwork

ARTS 1301, Art Appreciation

Prof. Morgan

Drawing & Painting

Paper is the foundation of most drawings

Paper thickness is also important to consider

Gesture Drawing

Hatching is a foundational drawing technique

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Charcoal & Pastels

Drawing & Painting

Examples of Compressed (left)  & Natural (right) Charcoal for Artists

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Sanguine looks like red chalk/charcoal, but is in fact a rock used by painters to sketch

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Pastels are traditionally oil-based drawing media

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Pencils

Drawing & Painting

Pencils were once made with lead,
but graphite is most common today

Example of a graphite sketch

Example of a detailed graphite drawing

Introducing color to a pencil drawing can have a dramatic effect

Silverpoint

Drawing & Painting

Silverpoint is a very old technique that makes
durable & detailed drawings

Silverpoint Drawing Demo

Drawing & Painting

Ink Pens

Pen and ink drawings have a very illustrative effect

Example of a pen and ink line drawing

Example of a pen and ink drawing

Michael Booker on his Drawings

Ink Painting

Drawing & Painting

Ink can be used to make paintings, as well as drawings

Many bold effects are possible within ink paintings

Much like pencil drawings, adding color has a huge effect with ink painting

Painting in East Asia

Drawing & Painting

There is a long tradition of ink painting in East Asia

Examining a Painted Scroll

Example of a Southern School Song Dynasty Painting

A Northern School Song Painting

Fujiwara no Takanobu

Minamoto no Yoritomo

1179 CE
Hanging Silk Scroll

Silk Painting Process

Watercolor

Drawing & Painting

Watercolor paintings behave like ink paintings but use different materials

Tempera, Fresco, &
Oil Paints

Drawing & Painting

Tempera paint is another water-based painting medium

Entry into Jerusalem, Duccio, 1308-1311 CE

Tempera was most often used in the European Medieval era for paper-based works like book illustrations

Fresco is another old art media from the Mediterranean area that was especially popular in Ancient Rome and the Renaissance

Sibila Libica, Michelangelo, 1512 CE

School of Athens, Raphael, 1509-1511 CE

Demonstration of the fresco painting process

The Tribute Money, Masaccio, 1425 CE

The Tribute Money, Masaccio, 1425 CE

(fresco)

Merode Altarpiece, Robert Campin, 1428 CE

(oil paint)

The advantages of oil paint

Note the extreme detail possible when using oil paints

Last Supper, Leonardo, 1495-1498 CE

Choosing the wrong media/technique can have dire consequences...

Painting within
Street Art

Drawing & Painting

Street Artists have pioneered the use of spray paint to create their works

Group of Animals (off Rivington Street, London), Roa, c. 2010 CE

Stencils also feature heavily in spray painted works

Some artists still choose traditional paint brushes regardless of location

On Forgeries, Mastery, & the Value of Originality

Printmaking & Reproduction

Block Printing

Printmaking & Reproduction

Woodcut or woodblock prints may be the
oldest printmaking method

As the drawing to the left shows, the method is similar to rubber stamps and linocut.

Tugboat Printshop

Golden Apple Tree

2015 CE

Tugboat Printshop

Overlook

2016 CE

Full-color woodblock prints are possible by printing in 4 colors

Each color is printed with a specially designed block

The colors build up and mix to create the full color spectrum

Primary 'process' colors aren't enough for a truly rich image

Black is added to the layers to complete it

Full-color woodblock prints are the most difficult

Katsushika Hokusai

Great Wave Off Kanagawa

1831 CE | Ukiyo-e Woodblock Print

Ukiyo-e Printing Block

Ukiyo-e Woodblock Printing

A Selection of Woodcut Printed Fabrics (Chintz) from India

Indian Woodcut Printing Blocks

Making a Traditional Wood Printing Block

Chintz Panel from the 18th Century

Making Woodblock Printed Fabric

Linoleum is also used to make 'linocut' prints due to its
high carvability

Linocut Tools

Linocut pieces tend to be bold and simple in design

Linocut Printmaking with Wuon-Gean Ho

Intaglio

Printmaking & Reproduction

Intaglio pieces are made with engraved metal plates

Intaglio is almost the inverse of the woodcut process

Making a Mezzotint Print

Screenprinting

Printmaking & Reproduction

Silkscreen printing is an old wallpaper making technique

It makes full-colored images similar to CMYK woodcut prints

Andy Warhol Popularizes the Silkscreen Process in the 1960s

Silkscreen prints are the most reproducible of all print styles

Printmaker Zach Wolfson on their Work

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Sculpture & Installation

Carving & Modelling

Sculpture & Installation

Casting

Sculpture & Installation

Installation &
Site-Specific Art

Sculpture & Installation

Alternative
Materials

Sculpture & Installation

Photography, Movement, & Illusion

Motion in Artworks

Photography, Movement, & Illusion

Photography

Photography, Movement, & Illusion

Optical Illusions

Photography, Movement, & Illusion

Impossible Trident Illusion
D.H. Schuster
1964 CE

Tilted Table Illusion
James Gibson
1937 CE

Which way is the top piece leaning?

Optical Illusions often employ basic elements to fool your eyes.

They sort of "hijack" your brain's natural pattern recognition abilities through clever use of lines, shapes, and color.

Tilted Table Illusion
James Gibson
1937 CE

The Tilted Table is an example of a Zöllner illusion

Zöllner illusion
Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner
1860 CE

Are the horizontal lines to the right straight and even?

Café Wall Illusion (aka Münsterberg illusion)
Hugo Münsterberg
1894 CE

How the Cafe Wall Illusion Works

Shepard Tables
Roger Shepard
1990 CE

Which of the two tables appears longer?

Proving the Shepard Tables Illusion:
The radius of each circle remains the same.

Proving the Shepard Tables Illusion:
The radius of each circle remains the same.

Müller-Lyer Illusion
Franz Carl Müller-Lyer
1889 CE

Which arrow appears longer?

Bertano-Müller-Lyer Illusion (examples)
Franz Bertano
1882 CE

Bertano-Müller-Lyer Illusion (moving example)
Franz Bertano
1882 CE

Dynamic Müller-Lyer Illusion
Gianni Sarcone
2015 CE

Expanding Black Hole Illusion
Laeng, Nabil, & Kitaoka
2022 CE

Irradiation Illusion
named by Hermann von Helmholtz
1867 CE
(possibly 1632 CE by Galileo)

Which square looks bigger?

"A Bulge" (Irradiation Illusion example)
 Akiyoshi Kitaoka
1998 CE

Rotating Snakes
Akiyoshi Kitaoka
2003 CE

Example of  a Peripheral Drift Illusion

Anomalous Motion Illusion
Paul Nasca
2010 CE

Is there anything 'hiding' in the image below?

End of
Unit 2

ARTS 1301: Unit 2 Making an Artwork (2025)•••

By Jonathan Morgan

ARTS 1301: Unit 2 Making an Artwork (2025)•••

ARTS 1301, Lone Star College, Prof. Morgan | Updated Spring 2025

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