100 Words Related to Painting & Drawing

No.	Term	Definition
1.	Acrylic paint	Fast-drying water-based paint.
2.	Airbrush	Tool spraying paint in fine mist.
3.	Angle brush	Slanted bristles for sharp edges.
4.	Artboard	Rigid surface for drawing or painting.
5.	Artist’s tape	Low-tack tape for masking edges.
6.	Atmospheric perspective	Depth effect from hazy distant tones.
7.	Binder	Medium that holds pigment together.
8.	Blending	Smoothing transitions between colors or values.
9.	Blocking in	Roughly placing major shapes and tones.
10.	Brushstroke	Mark made by a brush.
11.	Burnishing	Polishing surface to a smooth sheen.
12.	Canvas	Fabric surface for painting.
13.	Charcoal	Black drawing stick from burnt wood.
14.	Chiaroscuro	Strong contrast of light and shadow.
15.	Color wheel	Circular chart of color relationships.
16.	Complementary colors	Opposite hues on the color wheel.
17.	Composition	Arrangement of elements in an artwork.
18.	Contour line	Line defining an object’s edge.
19.	Crosshatching	Shading with intersecting lines.
20.	Dabbing	Applying paint with light taps.
21.	Dry brush	Technique using little paint and water.
22.	Easel	Stand supporting canvas or paper.
23.	Edge control	Managing hard and soft boundaries.
24.	Eraser	Tool for removing drawing marks.
25.	Expressive line	Line showing emotion and energy.
26.	Fixative	Spray that sets dry media.
27.	Flat brush	Brush with flat, squared bristles.
28.	Foreshortening	Shortened appearance from perspective.
29.	Fresco	Painting on wet plaster.
30.	Frottage	Rubbing texture from a surface.
31.	Gesso	Primer for preparing painting surfaces.
32.	Gesture drawing	Quick sketch capturing movement and pose.
33.	Glaze	Transparent layer to modify color.
34.	Gouache	Opaque watercolor paint.
35.	Graphite	Pencil material for drawing.
36.	Grisaille	Monochrome underpainting in gray tones.
37.	Ground	Prepared base layer under paint.
38.	Hard edge	Crisp boundary between shapes.
39.	Highlight	Brightest area where light hits.
40.	Horizon line	Eye-level line in perspective drawing.
41.	Hue	The basic family of a color.
42.	Impasto	Thick paint applied with texture.
43.	Ink wash	Diluted ink used for shading.
44.	Kneaded eraser	Moldable eraser for lifting graphite.
45.	Laying in	Establishing initial colors and values.
46.	Line weight	Thickness variation in drawn lines.
47.	Linear perspective	Depth using converging lines.
48.	Local color	Object’s inherent color in neutral light.
49.	Mahl stick	Rod supporting hand while painting.
50.	Maquette	Small model used for planning.
51.	Masking fluid	Liquid resist for watercolor whites.
52.	Medium	Additive altering paint handling or drying.
53.	Mixing palette	Surface for combining paint colors.
54.	Monochrome	Artwork using one color family.
55.	Mural	Large painting on a wall.
56.	Negative space	Space around and between subjects.
57.	Oil paint	Pigment mixed with drying oils.
58.	Opaque	Not letting light pass through.
59.	Optical mixing	Colors blend visually, not physically.
60.	Palette knife	Tool for mixing or applying paint.
61.	Pastel	Soft colored stick drawing medium.
62.	Pigment	Colored powder giving paint its hue.
63.	Plein air	Painting outdoors from life.
64.	Pointillism	Image built from small color dots.
65.	Portrait	Artwork depicting a person.
66.	Primary colors	Base colors used to mix others.
67.	Proportion	Size relationships between parts.
68.	Raking light	Low-angle light revealing surface texture.
69.	Rendering	Detailed depiction of form and light.
70.	Resist	Material blocking paint or ink.
71.	Round brush	Pointed brush for lines and detail.
72.	Rule of thirds	Composition guide using a 3×3 grid.
73.	Saturation	Intensity or purity of a color.
74.	Scumbling	Thin, broken layer over dry paint.
75.	Sfumato	Soft smoky blending of edges.
76.	Shading	Adding tones to show form.
77.	Shadow	Dark area blocked from light.
78.	Sketch	Quick preliminary drawing.
79.	Soft edge	Blurred boundary between forms.
80.	Solvent	Liquid used to thin oil paint.
81.	Still life	Artwork of arranged inanimate objects.
82.	Stippling	Shading with small dots.
83.	Study	Practice work focusing on one subject.
84.	Support	Surface holding the artwork.
85.	Texture	Surface quality, real or implied.
86.	Thumbnail	Small rough composition sketch.
87.	Tint	Color lightened by adding white.
88.	Tone	Lightness or darkness of a color.
89.	Tortillon	Paper stump for blending graphite.
90.	Underdrawing	Preliminary drawing beneath paint.
91.	Underpainting	Initial layer setting values or colors.
92.	Value	Lightness or darkness of a tone.
93.	Varnish	Protective final coating for paintings.
94.	Viewfinder	Framing tool to choose composition.
95.	Wash	Thin diluted layer covering an area.
96.	Watercolor	Transparent paint activated with water.
97.	Wet-on-wet	Applying wet paint onto wet surface.
98.	X-Acto knife	Precision knife for cutting paper.
99.	Yupo paper	Synthetic smooth paper for watercolor.
100.	Zentangle	Decorative drawing with structured patterns.