Materials, Processes, and Techniques: every key term you need (+ practice quiz)

More AP 2-D Art & Design guides

• Sustained Investigation: Inquiry and Development
• Selected Works, Writing, and Critique

Materials

The physical or digital substances used to make a work, such as acrylic paint, cut paper, ink, photographic film, or vector software; the portfolio asks you to name them for every image.

Processes

The actions and methods used to make a work, such as layering, masking, printing, compositing, or collaging; process is distinct from the material it acts upon.

Techniques

Specific skilled applications of a process, such as dry brushing, cross-hatching, double exposure, or clipping masks in Photoshop.

2-D Design Scope

The 2-D portfolio welcomes graphic design, digital imaging, photography, collage, fabric design, weaving, illustration, painting, and printmaking, all judged as two-dimensional design.

Acrylic Paint

Fast-drying, water-based polymer paint that can be applied thick like oil or thinned like watercolor and layered quickly.

Watercolor

Transparent pigment suspended in water-soluble binder, applied in washes; light comes from the white of the paper, so highlights are reserved rather than painted.

Gouache

Opaque water-based paint that dries matte and flat, favored for graphic, poster-like color fields.

Ink Wash

Diluted ink applied with a brush in graded tones, producing atmospheric value ranges from pale gray to solid black.

Collage

Assembling cut or torn paper, photographs, fabric, and found materials onto a surface; layering and edge quality become expressive choices.

Mixed Media

Combining two or more materials or processes in one work, such as ink drawing over photo transfer with stitched thread.

Relief Printmaking

Carving away a block (linoleum, wood) so raised areas hold ink; the print is a mirror image of the block and yields multiples.

Screen Printing

Forcing ink through a stencil on a mesh screen; each color usually requires a separate screen, encouraging bold flat shapes.

Monotype

A one-of-a-kind print made by painting on a smooth plate and transferring the image to paper under pressure.

Digital Imaging

Creating or manipulating images with software; layers, masks, blend modes, and adjustment layers are core processes.

Vector Graphics

Images built from mathematically defined paths and anchor points that scale without loss of quality, standard for logos and typography.

Raster Graphics

Pixel-based images whose resolution is fixed; enlarging beyond native size causes softness or visible pixelation.

Resolution

Pixel density of a raster image, expressed as pixels per inch (ppi); 300 ppi is a common standard for print, while screens display at 72 to 150 ppi.

Layers

Stacked transparent planes in digital software allowing elements to be edited independently and reordered.

Layer Mask

A grayscale map that hides or reveals parts of a layer non-destructively; painting black conceals and white reveals.

Blend Modes

Rules such as Multiply, Screen, and Overlay that determine how a layer's pixels combine with the layers beneath.

Photography Exposure Triangle

Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO together control how much light reaches the sensor and how the image looks.

Aperture

The lens opening measured in f-stops; a wide aperture (f/1.8) gives shallow depth of field, a narrow one (f/16) keeps more in focus.

Shutter Speed

How long the sensor is exposed; slow speeds blur motion and fast speeds freeze it.

ISO

The sensor's light sensitivity; higher ISO allows shooting in dim light but introduces visible noise or grain.

Depth of Field

The range of distances that appear acceptably sharp in a photograph, controlled mainly by aperture, focal length, and distance to subject.

Double Exposure

Combining two images in a single frame, in camera or digitally, so forms overlap and merge.

Cyanotype

A camera-less photographic process using iron salts that produces Prussian blue prints when exposed to UV light and rinsed in water.

Image Transfer

Moving a printed image onto another surface using gel medium, solvent, or heat, often leaving distressed, partial results.

Typography Tools

Kerning, leading, tracking, and alignment are the technical controls used when letterforms are part of a 2-D design.

Kerning and Tracking

Kerning adjusts space between two specific letters; tracking adjusts spacing uniformly across a word or line.

Leading

The vertical space between lines of type, named for the strips of lead once used in metal typesetting.

Grid System

An underlying framework of columns and margins used to align type and image consistently in layouts.

Frottage

Rubbing a drawing tool over paper placed on a textured surface to capture the pattern beneath.

Stencil

A cut template through which paint or ink is applied to repeat a shape precisely across multiple works.

Ground

The prepared surface an artist works on, such as gessoed board, toned paper, or a black background that reverses value drawing.

Archival Materials

Acid-free papers and lightfast pigments that resist yellowing and fading, important when work must last.

Experimentation

Deliberately testing unfamiliar materials, processes, or combinations, and documenting the results as evidence of practice.

Material as Meaning

Choosing a material because it carries content, such as sewing family photographs with thread to speak about connection.

Digital Documentation

Photographing physical work evenly lit, square to the camera, in focus, and cropped, since juries only see the JPEG.