Texture (visual arts)

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Paint texture on The Sower with Setting Sun by Vincent van Gogh WLANL - jankie - De zaaier, Vincent van Gogh (1888).jpg
Paint texture on The Sower with Setting Sun by Vincent van Gogh

In the visual arts, texture refers to the perceived surface quality of a work of art. It is an element found in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional designs, and it is characterized by its visual and physical properties. The use of texture, in conjunction with other design elements, can convey a wide range of messages and evoke various emotions.

Contents

Physical

The bumpy texture of tactile paving. Surfaces bumpy walkway between sidewalk and street closeup view.JPG
The bumpy texture of tactile paving.

The physical texture, also known as actual texture or tactile texture, refers to the patterns of variations found on a solid surface. These can encompass a wide range of materials, including but not limited to fur, canvas, wood grain, sand, leather, satin, eggshell, matte, or smooth surfaces like metal or glass.

Physical texture differentiates itself from visual texture by having a physical quality that can be felt by touching the surface. The specific use of texture can impact the perceived smoothness or roughness conveyed by an artwork. For instance, rough surfaces can create a visually active effect, while smooth surfaces can evoke a visually restful sensation. Both types of texture can be employed to imbue a design with a sense of personality or utilized to create emphasis, rhythm, contrast, and other artistic effects. [1]

Light plays a crucial role in perceiving the physical texture as it can significantly influence how a surface is viewed. Strong lighting on a smooth surface can obscure the readability of a drawing or photograph, whereas it can create pronounced contrasts on a highly textural surface like river rocks or sand.

Visual

Visual texture or implied texture is the illusion of having physical texture. Every material and every support surface has its own visual texture and needs to be taken into consideration before creating a composition. As such, materials such as canvas and watercolour paper are considerably rougher than, for example, photo-quality computer paper and may not be best suited to creating a flat, smooth texture. Photography, drawings and paintings use visual texture both to portray their own subject matter realistically and with interpretation. Texture in these media is generally created by the repetition of the shape and line. Another example of visual texture is terrazzo or an image in a mirror.

Decorative

Decorative texture "decorates a surface". Texture is added to embellish the surface either that usually contains some uniformity.

Spontaneous

This focuses more on the process of the visual creation; the marks of texture made also creates the shapes. These are often "accidental" forms that create texture.

Mechanical

Texture created by special mechanical means. An example of this would be photography; the grains and/or screen pattern that is often found in printing creates texture on the surface. This is also exemplified by designs in typography and computer graphics.

Hypertexture

Hypertexture can be defined as both the "realistic simulated surface texture produced by adding small distortions across the surface of an object" [2] (as pioneered by Ken Perlin) and as an avenue for describing the fluid morphic nature of texture in the realm of cyber graphics and the tranversally responsive works created in the field of visual arts therein (as described by Lee Klein). [3]

Examples of physical texture

Examples of visual texture

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drawing</span> Visual artwork on two-dimensional surface

Drawing is a visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface. The instruments used to make a drawing are pencils, crayons, pens with inks, brushes with paints, or combinations of these, and in more modern times, computer styluses with graphics tablets or gamepads in VR drawing software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wire-frame model</span> Representation of a 3D object with only its edges rendered

In 3D computer graphics, a wire-frame model is a visual representation of a three-dimensional (3D) physical object. It is based on a polygon mesh or a volumetric mesh, created by specifying each edge of the physical object where two mathematically continuous smooth surfaces meet, or by connecting an object's constituent vertices using (straight) lines or curves. The object is projected into screen space and rendered by drawing lines at the location of each edge. The term "wire frame" comes from designers using metal wire to represent the three-dimensional shape of solid objects. 3D wireframe computer models allow for the construction and manipulation of solids and solid surfaces. 3D solid modeling efficiently draws higher quality representations of solids than conventional line drawing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Printmaking</span> Process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper

Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique, rather than a photographic reproduction of a visual artwork which would be printed using an electronic machine ; however, there is some cross-over between traditional and digital printmaking, including risograph.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Image</span> Visual artifact that depicts or records perception

An image is a visual representation. An image can be two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be displayed through other media, including a projection on a surface, activation of electronic signals, or digital displays; they can also be reproduced through mechanical means, such as photography, printmaking, or photocopying. Images can also be animated through digital or physical processes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fine art</span> Art developed primarily for aesthetics

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visual communication</span> Method of communication

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reyes rendering</span> Computer software architecture in 3D computer graphics

Reyes rendering is a computer software architecture used in 3D computer graphics to render photo-realistic images. It was developed in the mid-1980s by Loren Carpenter and Robert L. Cook at Lucasfilm's Computer Graphics Research Group, which is now Pixar. It was first used in 1982 to render images for the Genesis effect sequence in the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Pixar's RenderMan was an implementation of the Reyes algorithm, It has been deprecated as of 2016 and removed as of RenderMan 21. According to the original paper describing the algorithm, the Reyes image rendering system is "An architecture for fast high-quality rendering of complex images." Reyes was proposed as a collection of algorithms and data processing systems. However, the terms "algorithm" and "architecture" have come to be used synonymously in this context and are used interchangeably in this article.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Composition (visual arts)</span> Placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art

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Elements of art are stylistic features that are included within an art piece to help the artist communicate. The seven most common elements include line, shape, texture, form, space, color and value, with the additions of mark making, and materiality. When analyzing these intentionally utilized elements, the viewer is guided towards a deeper understanding of the work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3D computer graphics</span> Graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data

3D computer graphics, sometimes called CGI, 3-D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics, are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering digital images, usually 2D images but sometimes 3D images. The resulting images may be stored for viewing later or displayed in real time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graphic communication</span> Communication using graphic elements

Graphic communication as the name suggests is communication using graphic elements. These elements include symbols such as glyphs and icons, images such as drawings and photographs, and can include the passive contributions of substrate, colour and surroundings. It is the process of creating, producing, and distributing material incorporating words and images to convey data, concepts, and emotions.

Applied aesthetics is the application of the branch of philosophy of aesthetics to cultural constructs. In a variety of fields, artifacts are created that have both practical functionality and aesthetic affectation. In some cases, aesthetics is primary, and in others, functionality is primary. At best, the two needs are synergistic, in which "beauty" makes an artifact work better, or in which more functional artifacts are appreciated as aesthetically pleasing. This achievement of form and function, of art and science, of beauty and usefulness, is the primary goal of design, in all of its domains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer graphics</span> Graphics created using computers

Computer graphics deals with generating images and art with the aid of computers. Computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, digital art, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great deal of specialized hardware and software has been developed, with the displays of most devices being driven by computer graphics hardware. It is a vast and recently developed area of computer science. The phrase was coined in 1960 by computer graphics researchers Verne Hudson and William Fetter of Boeing. It is often abbreviated as CG, or typically in the context of film as computer generated imagery (CGI). The non-artistic aspects of computer graphics are the subject of computer science research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collage</span> Technique of art production using assemblage of different forms

Collage is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole.

<i>Fruit Dish and Glass</i> Painting by Georges Braque

Fruit Dish and Glass (1912), by the French artist Georges Braque, is the first papier collé. Braque and Pablo Picasso made many other works in this medium, which is generally credited as a key turning point in Cubism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charcoal (art)</span> Form of dry art medium

Artists' charcoal is charcoal used as a dry art medium. Both compressed charcoal and charcoal sticks are used. The marks it leaves behind on paper are much less permanent than with other media such as graphite, and so lines can easily be erased and blended. Charcoal can produce lines that are very light or intensely black. The dry medium can be applied to almost any surface from smooth to very coarse. Fixatives are used with charcoal drawings to solidify the position to prevent erasing or rubbing off of charcoal dusts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surface</span> Outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space

A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is the portion with which other materials first interact. The surface of an object is more than "a mere geometric solid", but is "filled with, spread over by, or suffused with perceivable qualities such as color and warmth".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Design elements</span>

Design elements are the basic units of any visual design which form its structure and convey visual messages. Painter and design theorist Maitland E. Graves (1902–1978), who attempted to gestate the fundamental principles of aesthetic order in visual design, in his book, The Art of Color and Design (1941), defined the elements of design as line, direction, shape, size, texture, value, and color, concluding that "these elements are the materials from which all designs are built."

References

Citations

  1. Gatto. Exploring Visual Design: The Elements and Principles. pp. 122–123.
  2. "What does HYPERTEXTURE mean?". Definitions.net. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  3. "Hypertexture | A Gathering of the Tribes". Tribes.org. 2006-10-01. Retrieved 2013-08-17.

Sources