2-D Media, Materials, and Techniques

Media 媒介 are the materials an artist works with. Drawing media make marks directly on a surface and are the foundation of most 2-D work.

• Dry media 干性媒介: graphite (pencil), charcoal, conté, chalk and oil pastel, coloured pencil.
• Wet media 湿性媒介: pen and ink, brush and ink, markers.
• Mark-making techniques: hatching 排线, cross-hatching 交叉排线, stippling 点画, blending, and scribbling.
• The tooth 纸纹 (texture) of the paper changes the line and value possible.

Drawing is used both to investigate ideas (studies and sketches) and to make finished works.

Painting 绘画 applies pigment held in a binder 粘合剂 to a surface, building colour, value, and texture.

• Watercolour 水彩 is transparent; gouache 水粉 is opaque and water-based; acrylic 丙烯 dries fast; oil 油画 dries slowly and blends richly.
• The support 底材 and ground (paper, canvas, board; primer or gesso 石膏底料) affect how paint behaves.
• Techniques include washes, glazing 罩染, wet-on-wet, dry-brush, and impasto.

Printmaking 版画 transfers an image from a prepared surface (the matrix 版) to paper, so many copies (an edition 版数) can be made.

Relief prints from the raised surface; intaglio from incised lines; planographic from a flat greasy image; stencil pushes ink through a mesh

• Relief 凸版 (linocut, woodcut) — ink sits on the raised surface; cut-away areas stay blank.
• Intaglio 凹版 (etching, engraving) — ink sits in lines cut below the surface.
• Planographic 平版 (lithography) — image and non-image areas are on the same level, using grease and water.
• Stencil 孔版 (screen printing) — ink is pushed through open areas of a mesh.

The matrix is reversed, so the printed image is a mirror of the plate.

Dürer's engraving Melencolia I: in intaglio the lines are cut into a metal plate, and the fine, dense lines that engraving allows build deep shadow and rich detail

Collage 拼贴 assembles found materials onto a surface; mixed media 综合媒介 combines two or more materials or processes.

• Collage glues papers, photos, fabric, or found objects into a composition.
• Mixed media layers processes — for example, drawing over paint, or print with stitching.
• These add actual texture and unexpected meaning; a found material (a ticket, a map) can carry meaning beyond its look.

Photography 摄影 makes images with light and a lens; the elements and principles apply to the frame just as in any 2-D work.

Alfred Stieglitz's The Steerage, a famous early art photograph: the gangway, funnel, and figures form a strong geometric composition, so the elements and principles apply to a photo too

• Key controls: framing, focus 对焦, exposure 曝光 (light), depth of field 景深, and viewpoint.
• The rule of thirds, leading lines, and negative space compose a photograph.
• Editing 后期 (cropping, contrast, colour) is part of the creative process, not just correction.

Digital media 数字媒介 create and edit images on a computer or tablet, working in layers.

• Raster 位图 images are made of pixels (photo editing, digital painting); vector 矢量 images use maths paths and scale without losing quality.
• Layers 图层 let an artist build, mask, and revise without damaging earlier work.
• Digital colour uses RGB (screen, additive) or CMYK (print, subtractive); keep files high-resolution 分辨率 for the portfolio.

Mixing light (RGB) brightens toward white; mixing pigment (CMY) darkens toward black

Graphic design 平面设计 communicates a message visually; illustration 插画 makes images that support or tell a story.

• Design combines type 字体, image, colour, and layout to reach a viewer or client.
• Visual hierarchy guides the eye to what matters first, through size, weight, and placement.
• Typography 字体排印 — typeface, size, spacing, alignment — is a core design tool.
• Design and illustration are problem-solving: the audience and message shape every choice.

Worked example (writing about process). When your written evidence must explain a material and process: "I used charcoal on toned paper because its soft, smudgeable line let me build deep shadow quickly, and I lifted highlights with an eraser to suggest form." Notice the shape — name the medium, say why you chose it, and connect it to the idea you were exploring. Listing a material with no reason earns little.

• Match the medium to the intended effect, and justify the choice.
• For printmaking, state relief versus intaglio, and remember the printed image reverses.
• Explain transparent versus opaque paint, and layers and vector versus raster in digital work.
• Treat collage and mixed media materials as meaning, not just texture.
• In graphic design, show a clear visual hierarchy serving the message.