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Media, or mediums, are the core types of material (or related other tools) used by an artist, composer, designer, etc. to create a work of art.[1] For example, a visual artist may broadly use the media of painting or sculpting, which themselves have more specific media within them, such as watercolor paints or marble.
The following is a list of artistic categories and the media used within each category:
Architecture
editCarpentry
editCeramics
editDrawing
editCommon drawing materials
editCommon supports (surfaces) for drawing
editCommon drawing tools and methods
editElectronic
edit- Graphic art software and 3D computer graphics
- Word processors and desktop publishing software
- Digital photography and digital cinematography
- Specialized input devices (e.g. variable pressure sensing tablets and touchscreens)
- Digital printing
- Programming languages
Film
editFilm, as a form of mass communication, is itself also considered a medium in the sense used by fields such as sociology and communication theory (see also mass media). These two definitions of medium, while they often overlap, are different from one another: television, for example, utilizes the same types of artistic media as film, but may be considered a different medium from film within communication theory.[2]
Food
editA chef's tools and equipment, including ovens, stoves, grills, and griddles. Specialty equipment may be used, including salamanders, French tops, woks, tandoors, and induction burners.
Glass
editGlassblowing, Glass fusing, colouring and marking methods.
Installation
editInstallation art is a site-specific form of sculpture that can be created with any material. An installation can occupy a large amount of space, create an ambience, transform/disrupt the space, exist in the space. One way to distinguish an installation from a sculpture (this may not apply to every installation) is to try to imagine it in a different space. If the objects present difficulties in a different space than the original, it is probably an installation.
Literature
editTraditional writing media
edit- Digital word processor
- Internet websites
- Letterpress printing
- Computer printers
- Marker
- Pen and ink or *quill
- Pencil
Common bases for writing
edit- Card stock
- Paper, perhaps ruled
- Vellum
Natural world
editPainting
editCommon paint media
edit- Acrylic paint
- Blacklight paint
- Encaustic paint
- Fresco
- Gesso
- Glaze
- Gouache
- Ink
- Latex paint
- Oil paint
- Primer
- Ink wash (sumi-e)
- Tempera or poster paint
- Vinyl paint (toxic/poisonous)[clarification needed]
- Vitreous enamel
- Watercolor
Uncommon paint media
editSupports for painting
edit- Architectural structures
- Canvas
- Ceramics
- Cloth
- Glass
- Human body (typically for tattoos)
- Metal
- Paper
- Paperboard
- Vellum
- Wall
- Wood
Common tools and methods
edit- Action painting
- Aerosol paint
- Airbrush
- Batik
- Brush
- Cloth
- Paint roller or paint pad
- Palette knife
- Sponge
- Pencil
- Finger
Mural techniques
editMuralists use many of the same media as panel painters, but due to the scale of their works, use different techniques. Some such techniques include:
Graphic narrative media
editComics creators use many of the same media as traditional painters.
Performing arts
editThe performing arts is a form of entertainment that is created by the artist's own body, face and presence as a medium. There are many skills and genres of performance; dance, theatre and re-enactment being examples. Performance art is a performance that may not present a conventional formal linear narrative.
Photography
editIn photography a photosensitive surface is used to capture an optical still image, usually utilizing a lens to focus light. Some media include:
Printmaking
editIn the art of printmaking, "media" tends to refer to the technique used to create a print. Common media include:
- Aquatint
- Collotype
- Computer printing
- Dye-sublimation printer
- Inkjet printer (sometimes called giclée printing)
- Laser printer
- Solid ink printer
- Thermal printer
- Embossing
- Engraving
- Etching
- Intaglio (printmaking)
- Letterpress (literature)
- Linocut
- Lithography
- Mezzotint
- Moku hanga
- Monotype
- Offset printing
- Photographic printing
- Planographic printing
- Printing press
- Relief printing
- Screen-printing
- Woodblock printing
Sculpture
editIn sculpting, a solid structure and textured surface is shaped or combined using substances and components, to form a three-dimensional object. The size of a sculptured work can be built very big and could be considered as architecture, although more commonly a large statue or bust, and can be crafted very small and intricate as jewellery, ornaments and decorative reliefs.
Materials
editCarving media
editCasting media
editModeling media
editAssembled media
edit- Beads
- Corrugated fiberboard (cardboard)
- Edible material
- Foil
- Found objects
- Glue and other adhesives
- Paperboard
- Textile
- Wire
- Wood
Finishing materials
editTools
editSound
editThe art of sound can be singular or a combination of speech or objects and crafted instruments, to create sounds, rhythms and music for a range of sonic hearing purposes. See also music and sound art.
Technical products
editThe use of technical products as an art medium is a merging of applied art and science, that may involve aesthetics, efficiency and ergonomics using various materials.
Textiles
editIn the art of textiles a soft and flexible material of fibers or yarn is formed by spinning wool, flax, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel and crocheting, knitting, macramé (knotting), weaving, or pressing fibres together (felt) to create a work.
See also
edit- Collage
- Conceptual art
- Decorative arts
- Design tool
- Fashion design
- Fine art
- Fire performance
- Fresco
- Graffiti
- Graphic arts
- Liberal arts
- List of pen types, brands and companies
- Medium specificity
- Mixed media
- Multimedia
- New materials in 20th-century art
- Plastic arts
- Publishing
- Pyrotechnics
- Recording medium
- Stationery
- Video game art
References
edit- ^ Tate. "Medium – Art Term". Tate. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
- ^ Martin Lister; Jon Dovey; Seth Giddings; Iain Grant; Kieran Kelly. New Media: A Critical Introduction (PDF) (2nd ed.).
External links
edit- Media (artists' materials) — definition from the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus.
- Artistic Medium, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy