For Project Educate, the Traditional Dream Team is proud to present the community the

Official Traditional ABCs

Everyone on the Trad team had their fingers dipped into the pie to make sure that we can provide you, the amazing artist, a basic A-Z explanation of Trad. Mind you, this does not cover ever Traditional aspect under the sun (for that we need a lot more letters), but we'd like to think that we've got a good chunk of it.

So sit back, relax, and educate yourself with this guide around our favorite category.

With love and pencil smudges,
and

A is for Acrylic

a paint made from synthetic materials that is water soluble and easily mixed when wet. However it is quick to dry and once dry it become hard and pliable.

B is for Body Art

a sub category of Traditional Art. It includes Body Painting, which is the application of temporary paint on the body used as a living canvas, Make-Up that involves creative and artistic use of make-up as well as Special Effects creations, and Tattoo which is for photographs of actual, permanent Tattoos and Henna Art.
Your GD for Body Art is !!

C is for Colored Pencils

a drawing medium.

D is for Drawing vs. Painting

What defines drawing as opposed to painting? A lot of that depends on various components. Some define drawing as dry medium, and painting as wet, but pastels, with proper application can be painting whereas ink is always in drawing, no matter how it's used. The real difference lies in the tones and hues within the piece. Drawings typically have limited hue and tonal value, and paintings have more of that depth. Truth of the matter is, there is no universally accepted definition, so that gives a bit of flexibility in the area. If you have a questions as to where your piece may belong, contact one of your Traditional Art GDs, we'd be more than happy to guide you!

E is for *EvanCampbell

an impressive sculptor.

F is for Frottage

(pronounced fro-taj). French term, meaning to rub a crayon or other tool onto paper or other material, which is placed onto a textured surface, in order to create the texture of that surface on the paper. The Surrealist artist Max Ernst used this technique in some of his collages.

G is for Gouache

a method of painting with opaque watercolors mixed with a preparation of gum. There has been controversy as to whether this belongs in drawing or painting, but it differs depending on the technique.

H is for Henna

a plant from which a paste is made and used for Body Art and hair dye. Ground Henna leaves are mixed with acidic liquids and essential oils to create a paste which is applied to the skin in elaborate, traditional designs. Photos of Henna Art belong in the Tattoo category of Body Art.

I is for Ink

a drawing medium.

J is for Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition, or to juxtapose is a term used when describing composition. It is placing two objects next to one another to provide contrast.

K is for ~kique

an amazing surrealist artist, with just a hint of the political here on dA!

L is for Linocuts and Lithographs.

Linocuts are relief prints like woodcuts, but the matrix is carved on a sheet of Linoleum (a floor covering material made of linseed oil and wood or cork dust on a canvas backing).



Lithographic prints were usually done on stone blocks, through a chemical process that fixed grease-based designs on the surface. The stone was wetted before inking for printing, so the rest of the surface would repel the ink which would only stick to the greasy markings.

M is for Models

a sub-category of Traditional Sculpture. Though the artist typically does not sculpt a Model from scratch, the finished work is often a combination of assembled parts as well as paint and glaze.

N is for `nimra

one of the phenomenal pencil artists in our ranks.

O is for Oils

perhaps one of the more well known media of traditional art. Oil paint is pigment combined with a binder such as linseed oil (there's a variety of usable options, there) to create a slow drying medium to work with. Paintings with oil typically have multiple layers and depth.

P is for Portraits

Paintings or Drawings where the head and face are the focus of the piece and the rest of the body is left out should be submitted to Traditional Art > Drawings / Paintings > Portraits. This includes celebrity portraits when they are shown "off character". If your Traditional works shows a celebrity as a recognizable character of a movie or TV series, it belongs on the Fan Art Gallery.

Q is for

R is for Resin

Binders used in paint.

S is for Street Art

Street art is any art developed in public spaces. Some examples of street art include traditional graffiti artwork, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheatpasting and street poster art, and street installations.
Your Street Art GD is the ever magnificent !

T is for Tattoos

Permanent tattoos and henna should be placed in this category if it is physically on the body. Concept art for tattoos that are not applied to the body go into Designs & Interfaces > Tattoo Design.

U is for Underpainting

A layer of color or tone applied to the painting surface before the painting itself is begun, to establish the general compositional masses, the lights and darks (values) in the composition, or as a color to affect/mix with subsequent layers of color. Underpainting is generally a thin, semi-opaque layer of paint.

V is for Value

the lightness or darkness of a line, shape or area in terms of black to white; also called tone; e.g., a light red will have a light value; a dark red will have a dark value.

W is for Watercolor

a paint composed of a water soluble pigment.

X is for Xylography

one of the oldest techniques for printmaking. Xylography involves carving a block of wood, using both negative and positive space to make a stamp. Albrecht Dürer is an example of an artist who used this method.

Y is for *YannickBouchard

another fantastic surrealist painter.

Z is for `zeruch

kick ass Trad GD of old.