List of art media

Materials and tools used to create a work of art

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Look up medium in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

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

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Main articles: Outline of architecture and Building material

* Cement, concrete, mortar
* Cob
* Glass
* Metal
* Stone, brick
* Wood

## Carpentry

[edit]

Further information: List of woods

* Adhesives
* Wood (timber)

## Ceramics

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Main article: Ceramic art

* Bone china
* Clay
* Glaze
* Porcelain
* Pottery
* Terracotta
* Tile

## Drawing

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Main article: Outline of drawing and drawings

### Common drawing materials

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* Acrylic paint
* Chalk
* Charcoal
* Colored pencil
* Conté
* Crayon
* Encaustic
* Fresco
* Glitter
* Gouache
* Graphite
* Ink
* Intaglio
* Oil paint
* Glass paint
* Pastel
* Pixel
* Printmaking
* Sketch
* Tempera
* Watercolor

### Common supports (surfaces) for drawing

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* Canvas
* Card stock
* Concrete
* Fabric
* Glass
* Human body
* Metal
* Paper
* Papyrus
* Parchment
* Plaster
* Scratchboard
* Stone
* Vellum
* Wood

### Common drawing tools and methods

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* Brush
* Finger
* Pen
* Ballpoint pen
* Eraser
* Erasing shield
* Fountain pen
* Gel pen
* Kneaded eraser
* Technical pen
* Marker
* Pencil
* Mechanical pencil (clutch, screw, and ratchet)
* Colored pencil
* Stylus
* Charcoal

## Electronic

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Main articles: Electronic art, Digital art, and Electronic media

* 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

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Main articles: Outline of film and Cinematic techniques

* Animation
* Cel animation
* Computer animation
* Cutout animation
* Drawn-on-film animation
* Stop motion
* Live action
* Puppet film
* Video art
* Single-channel video
* Video installation

Film, 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

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Main article: Culinary art

A 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

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Glassblowing, Glass fusing, colouring and marking methods.

## Installation

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Main article: Installation art

Further information: Lighting designer

Installation 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

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Main articles: Literature and Writing implement

### Traditional writing media

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* Digital word processor
* Internet websites
* Letterpress printing
* Computer printers
* Marker
* Pen and ink or quill
* Pencil

### Common bases for writing

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* Card stock
* Paper, ruled paper
* Vellum

## Natural world

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Main articles: Gardening and Landscape architecture

* Floral design
* Rock
* Soil
* Vegetation
* Water

## Painting

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Main article: Outline of painting

### Common paint media

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* 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

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* Various bodily fluids and excrement including elephant dung
* Solar energy
* Garlic
* Rust
* Coffee
* Onion
* Coconut juice
* Mud
* Black palm
* Tomato
* Soy sauce
* Staple wire[clarification needed]
* Ochre (Yellow, red, white or charcoal)

### Supports for painting

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* Architectural structures
* Canvas
* Ceramics
* Cloth
* Glass
* Human body (typically for tattoos)
* Metal
* Paper
* Paperboard
* Vellum
* Wall
* Wood

### Common tools and methods

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* Action painting
* Aerosol paint
* Airbrush
* Batik
* Brush
* Cloth
* Paint roller or paint pad
* Palette knife
* Sponge
* Pencil
* Finger

### Mural techniques

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Muralists use many of the same media as panel painters, but due to the scale of their works, use different techniques. Some such techniques include:

* Aerosol paint
* Digital painting
* Fresco
* Image projector
* Marouflage
* Mosaic
* Pouncing

### Graphic narrative media

[edit]

Main article: Graphic narrative

Comics creators use many of the same media as traditional painters.

## Performing arts

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Main articles: Performing arts and Performance art

The performing arts are a form of entertainment that may be created by the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium. There are many genres of performance; dance, theatre and re-enactment are a few examples. Performance art is a performance that may not present a conventional formal linear narrative.[clarification needed]

## Photography

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Main article: Outline of photography

In photography, a photosensitive surface is used to capture an optical still image, usually utilizing a lens to focus light. Some photographic media include:

* Digital image sensor
* Photographic film
* Potassium dichromate
* Potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate
* Silver nitrate

## Printmaking

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In 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
* Linocut
* Metalcut
* Relief etching
* Wood engraving
* Woodcut
* Screen-printing
* Woodblock printing

## Sculpture

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Main article: Outline of sculpture

In 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

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#### Carving media

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* Bone carving
* Bronze
* Gemstones
* Glass
* Granite
* Ice
* Ivory
* Marble
* Plaster
* Stone
* Wax
* Wood

#### Casting media

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* Cement
* Ceramics
* Metal
* Plaster
* Plastic
* Synthetic resin
* Wax

#### Modeling media

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* Clay
* Papier-mâché
* Plaster
* Polystyrene
* Sand
* Styrofoam

#### Assembled media

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* Beads
* Corrugated fiberboard (cardboard)
* Edible material
* Foil
* Found objects
* Glue and other adhesives
* Paperboard
* Textile
* Wire
* Wood

#### Finishing materials

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* Acids to create a patina (corrosive)
* Glaze
* Polychrome
* Wax

### Tools

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* Bristle brush
* Chisel and hammer (modern pneumatic)
* Clamp or vise
* Hammer or mallet (modern pneumatic)
* Kiln for heating ceramics and metals
* Knife
* Pliers
* Potter's wheel
* Power tools
* Sandpaper
* Saw
* Scraper
* Snips
* Welding and cutting torch
* Wirecutter

## Sound

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Main articles: List of musical instruments and Music theory

The 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

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Further information: Industrial design, Product design, and Engineering

The 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

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In 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

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* Arts portal

* 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]

1. ^ Tate. "Medium – Art Term". Tate. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
2. ^ Martin Lister; Jon Dovey; Seth Giddings; Iain Grant; Kieran Kelly. New Media: A Critical Introduction (PDF) (2nd ed.).

## External links

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* Media (artists' materials) — definition from the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus.
* Artistic Medium, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Look up media or medium in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Art by material and Art by medium.

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Visual arts and the art world

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Places
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Lists|

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Decorative arts and handicraft

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Textile|

* Banner-making
* Crocheting
* Cross-stitch
* Embroidery
* Felting
* Friendship bracelet
* Knitting
* Lace-making
* Lucet
* Macrame
* Millinery
* Needlepoint
* Needlework
* Patchwork
* Quilting
* Ribbon embroidery
* Carpet
* Rug hooking
* Rug making
* Sewing
* Shoemaking
* Spinning
* String art
* Tapestry
* Tatting
* Tie-dye
* Weaving

Paper|

* Altered book
* Bookbinding
* Calligraphy
* Cardmaking
* Cast paper
* Collage
* Decoupage
* Papier collé
* Photomontage
* Decal
* Iris folding
* Kamikiri
* Origami
* Kirigami
* Moneygami
* Embossing
* Marbling
* Papercraft
* Papercutting
* Chinese
* Jewish
* Slavic
* Papermaking
* Paper toys
* Papier-mâché
* Pop-up book
* Quilling
* Scrapbooking
* Stamping
* Wallpaper

Wood|

* Bentwood
* Cabinetry
* Carpentry
* Chip carving
* Ébéniste
* Fretwork
* Intarsia
* Marquetry
* Wood burning
* Wood carving
* Woodturning

Ceramic|

* Azulejo
* Bone china
* Earthenware
* Porcelain
* Pottery
* Stoneware
* Terracotta
* Tile

Glass|

* Cameo glass
* Chip work
* Enamelled glass
* Glass etching
* Glassware
* Mirror
* Stained glass

Metal|

* Andiron
* Bronze and brass
* Chemical milling
* Enamel
* Engraving
* Etching
* Goldsmith
* Ironwork
* Jewellery
* Silversmith

Other|

* Assemblage
* Balloon modelling
* Beadwork
* Bone carving
* Doll making
* Dollhouse
* Egg decorating
* Engraved gems
* Faux painting
* Featherwork
* Kāhili
* Grotesque
* Gargoyle
* Hardstone carving
* Inro
* Lath art
* Lapidary
* Leatherworking
* Miniatures
* Mosaic
* Glass
* Micromosaic
* Netsuke
* Ornament
* Pargeting
* Pietra dura
* Private press
* Oshibana, pressed flower craft
* Scrimshaw
* Straw marquetry
* Taxidermy
* Wall decal

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* Mexico
* Painting in Hälsingland
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