Turpentine is a plant-based oil painting medium used in the production of oil works to adjust the viscosity and concentration of the paint and to dilute dry oil. Painting mediums used in oil colors comprise mainly two types: volatile and dry oil.

Poppy seed oil is an oil painting medium used in the production of oil works to improve the fixing capacity, adjust the viscosity and concentration, and enhance the glossiness of the paint. It is also included as a pigment fixing component (main vehi

Petrol is a mineral-based oil painting medium used in the production of oil works to adjust the viscosity and concentration of the paint and to dilute dry oil. 

Painting mediums used in oil colors comprise mainly two types: volatile and dry oil. Pet

Gofun is a white pigment made from the shells of oysters, clams, scallops, etc. used in Japanese paintings. Its main component is calcium carbonate and is characterized by the fine particles which produce a smooth matt texture. Gofun itself has no ad

Stamp ink is the ink used for seals and rubber stamps. It is typically kept in a special container filled with ink called a stamp pad. A stamp pad contains a flat piece of cloth (pad) which holds the ink and has a lid to prevent the ink from drying a

A zinc plate is a metal plate that is used in lithography and intaglio printing. Zinc plates were often used as a substitute for stone, aluminum and copper plates but nowadays, they are not used as frequently as before. They came to be used in pl

Gesso is a milky white liquid ground made of an acrylic resin emulsion medium combined with an extender pigment such as titanium white and calcium carbonate. It is mainly used to coat substrates, fix paint and supplement coloring. Due to its strong c

Achromatic and chromatic colors both have dark and light colors. Lightness (sometimes called value) describes the degree of this variation in brightness. It is one of the three attributes of color (hue, lightness and saturation). Lightness is clos

When producing watercolors and Japanese paintings etc., the paper is first stretched on a wooden panel etc. This process utilizes the characteristic of paper whereby it expands when moistened with water and shrinks back to its original size as it dri

Suihi-enogu is a nihonga paint containing fine particles derived from natural mud or made by dyeing gofun or white clay. It spreads well and is characterized by the matte texture it produces. It is often sold in slabs and is ground into powder before

Since ancient times, humanity has used mineral ores, soil, animals and plants in the natural environment around them to produce coloring materials. This original form of paint has been handed down to the present day in the form of nihonga paint. In m

Corrugated cardboard is made of thick, hard paper (paperboard) and consists of a corrugated core with a liner on one or both sides. The characteristic wave-shaped layer is called the flute. Corrugated cardboard is divided into types based on the numb

Tone (or color tone) generally refers to the differences in tints and shades produced from the relationship between lightness and saturation. All colors have a tone such as bright and dark, deep and pale, strong and weak, etc. Light colors can be

Hue, lightness and saturation are referred to as the three attributes of color. The human eye perceives light that is absorbed and reflected by, or transmitted through, an object as color, but its appearance will differ according to the hue, lightnes

Ken is a unit of length in the traditional Japanese system of measurement known as shakkanho. Shakkanho was established under the Weights and Measures Act of 1891. Under this law, "shaku" was defined as the unit of length, "sho" as the unit of vol

Muse Cotton (official name: OK Muse Cotton) is a paper textured in a distinct stripe pattern that is available in a rich variety of colors and produced by Oji Paper Co., Ltd of Japan. It is used in a wide range of applications ranging from packaging,

Tincture is a liquid produced by dissolving powdered asphalt, grease, beeswax, etc. in solvent such as turpentine, and is used to reinforce the oil content of the drawing when making metal lithograph plates. Tincture contains a lot of fat. Replaci

Paint stripper is a liquid or gel used to dissolve and remove dry, hardened oil paint. It is used by applying a few drops on hardened paint on brushes and palettes, leaving this for around 10 minutes until the paint is lifted off the surface, and

A screen is a piece of mesh woven in a lattice which is used for the production of screen prints. The screen is stretched on a frame and the holes in areas other than the image are filled. When printing, ink is placed over this screen and forced thro

A canvas board is a support for oil painting made by pasting canvas or paper textured in a cloth pattern on a plywood board or cardboard. Oil paintings are generally done on thick panels and on canvases stretched on wooden frames, but canvas board

A slip sheet is a thin piece of paper slipped between print and water color art pieces done on paper for protection when storing them. With paper, mold and oxidation can cause yellowing and deterioration. Ink and color materials on the surface of

The vividness and intensity of a color is represented by its saturation. Depending on the presence or absence of this saturation, colors can broadly be divided into chromatic and achromatic colors. An achromatic color is a one that lacks hues such as

A color solid is a systematic, three-dimensional representation of colors in relation to each other. A systematic method of notation is required to describe colors accurately. This system for displaying color is called the color order system and c

Saturation (or chroma) is one of the three attributes of color (hue, lightness and saturation) and refers to the intensity and vividness of color. A clear color has a high saturation and a dull color a low saturation. This means a color with the same

Additive mixture or additive color mixture is the phenomenon in which brightness is increased with the mix of light source colors. Color can be divided into light source color, which is the color of the light itself, and object color, which is the

Kumohada mashi is a thick, strong washi paper made from hemp and mulberry. It is mainly used as a support medium for Japanese paintings. The name kumohada (literally, cloud surface) comes from the fact that the fibers of this paper are entwined so th

EPS, which stands for Encapsulated PostScript, is a file format for graphic data which uses a technology known as PostScript. It carries the extension, .eps. Because it can include vector data and bit map data, it is used as the file format for both

DPI stands for dots per inch and is a unit which is used to represent the resolution of input devices, such as scanners, and of output devices, such as monitors and printers. It is sometimes used in the same sense as PPI (pixels per inch), a unit of

A byte is a unit of information in computing. Generally, 1 byte consists of 8 bits and can express 8 binary digits (i.e. 256 types) of information. If used to express whole numbers, a single byte can express 256 whole numbers (e.g. 0 to 255, -128 to

BMP is the standard file format for bit map data in Windows (There is also a slightly different BMP in the OS/2 format). It carries the extension, .bmp. BMP files can be viewed and edited with the Windows accessory program, MS Paint, and is compatibl

Nikawasui (literally, glue water) is used in the production of Japanese painting, mainly for fixing paint onto the surface and is a solution made by dissolving glue in water. The basic method of making this glue solution from sanzenbon nikawa (hid

Glue has been used since the days of ancient murals and primitive paintings, and continues to be an important material for fixing paint onto the surface in the production of Japanese paintings today. It is made by boiling animal bones, hide, intes

A dosa sizing solution is a mixture of glue solution and alum for treating washi, eginu (silk canvas) and boards used as the support medium for Japanese paintings to prevent ink from smudging. When gilding with gold and silver leaf, applying sizing s

This is the process of converting analog data such as images and audio into digital data is called analog-digital (A-D) conversion. A-D conversion is performed via two processes: sampling and quantization. Quantization is the process of converting sa

Planographic lacquer is a pink volatile organic solvent used in the process of making metal lithography plates to reinforce the drawing. Compared to stone plates, aluminum and other metal plates are less sensitive to oil. Therefore, a coat of plan

The process of converting analog data such as images and audio into digital data is called analog-digital (A-D) conversion. A-D conversion is performed via two processes: sampling and quantization. Sampling is the process of measuring continuously ch

Stone plates are generally a piece of natural limestone carved into a rectangular plate shape for use as a lithograph plate. The surface of the plate is polished flat with emery or something to that effect before it is used. The chief component in th

Platemaking solution desensitizes the non-plotting areas when producing a lithograph with a metal plate. It is a mixture of phosphoric acid and glacial acetic acid added to a gum Arabic solution and is also called gum etch solution. Lithographic p

Platemaking ink used in lithography is made of pigment and linseed oil and used in lithograph printing plates. Platemaking ink reinforces the lipophilicity in parts that have been drawn with crayon and tusche and also protects those parts from the

Resensitizing solution is used to adjust the sensitivity of lithographic plates to grease. The process differs for metal plates and stone plates. The surface of metal plates begins to oxidize as soon as it is roughened and therefore the solution i

A pure color is the color with the greatest saturation in each hue. Colors can broadly be divided into achromatic colors such as white, grey and black, and chromatic colors, which are colors with hues, such as red, yellow and blue. Pure colors of

Shaku is a unit of length in the traditional Japanese system of measurement known as shakkanho. Shakkanho was established under the Weights and Measures Act of 1891. Under this law, "shaku" was defined as the unit of length, "sho" as the unit of volu

A mordant is a liquid which corrodes metal used in indirect intaglio techniques (etching) to form grooves on the plate. Common substances used include aqueous ferric chloride and aqueous nitric acid solutions. An aqueous ferric chloride solution i

Copper plate is a plate of copper pressed out for use in copperplate (intaglio) printing. In days gone by, iron plate was used for intaglio printing but copper came to be used from around the late 1400's when artists such as Dürer were actively pr

Mi-Teintes is a line of paper produced by the French paper manufacturer, Canson, in an extensive range of colors. It is mainly used for pastels and watercolors, drafting and designs, architectural perspective drawings, and paper crafts. It is an a

hin-torinoko (new torinoko) paper is a Western paper made with machines imitating the texture of torinoko paper. Because it is made of wood pulp and can be mass produced, it is relatively inexpensive and is often used for test printing woodblocks and

Paper clay is generally made of pulp mixed with glue and water, and is cheap and easy to obtain. A key feature of this product is that it hardens and becomes lighter when dried. (This is the main difference between paper clay and oil clay. Oil clay d

Ganpishi is a thin, semi-transparent Japanese paper often used in wood engraving and copper plate printing. It is mainly made of bast fibers from a ganpi tree (Diplomorpha sikokiana), a plant of the Thymelaeaceae family. Ganpishi paper has a smoot

Cheesecloth is a loosely-woven, gauze-like fabric used in copper plate printing to wipe off excess ink from the plate surface. In the past, it was chiefly made of hemp but nowadays, it is usually made of rayon and other artificial fabric or cotton. C

Liquid ground is a liquid used in copper plate printing to make the surface of the plate corrosion proof. Applying ground shields the non-image sections and protects the plate surface from corrosion. When performing line etching and other etching

Watson paper is a high quality watercolor paper produced in Japan and characterized by its relatively hard sizing, moderate roughness and thickness, and water resistance. It is stronger than drawing paper, less prone to abrasion from the use of erase

Velin Arches is a printmaking paper which is used widely around the world and is mainly suitable for lithography and copper plate printing. It was developed specially for printing use by Arjo Wiggins of France and is made of 100% cotton pulp. Comp

Plate oil refers to burnt linseed oil which, in copper plate printing, is blended with pigment to make printing ink or to adjust the ink's viscosity. It is included in copper plate printing ink as a medium to fix the pigment on to the plate surfac

Fabriano watercolor paper is watercolor paper produced by Fabriano of Italy such as Extra White, Fabriano Classico and Classico 5. It is an ideal paper for working with transparent watercolor, gouache, acrylic, ink and other water-based coloring mate

Fabriano Rosaspina is a printmaking paper produced by the Fabriano paper mill in Italy, a time-honored paper manufacturer of Europe established in 1283, and is suitable for lithography, copper plate printing and screen printing. It is an acid-free

Waste cloth is used when producing paintings and prints to clean the tools and to make plates. The cloths used are often just rags and pieces of old clothes, and can be made of various fabrics depending on what they are used for, but preferably, t

Arches watercolor paper is a product of the French company, Arjo Wiggins, made from 100% cotton pulp via a semi-mechanical process that is relatively similar to that of handmade paper. It is suited for use with water-based coloring materials such as

Art paper is a type of coated paper with a specially treated surface (coated with an agent containing China clay and viscosifier, and subjected to high pressure) for enhanced smoothness and whiteness, with an elegant white tone and gloss that facilit

BFK Rives is a printmaking paper which is used widely around the world and is mainly suitable for lithography and copper plate printing. It is sometimes used as a back mounting paper when printing woodcuts on ganpishi paper. This product was devel

A hue circle (also called color wheel or color circle) is a chart of hues around a circle and a method for organizing colors systematically. Differing wavelengths of light are perceived as a continuous spectrum of colors in the following sequence: re

The three colors that can be combined to create all other colors are called the three primary colors. Most colors can be made by blending several colors together but there are a few that cannot be produced through mixing. These are called primary col

Subtractive mixture or subtractive color mixture is the phenomenon in which lightness is reduced with the mix of object colors. Color can be divided into light source color, which is the color of the light itself, and object color, which is the co

Blotting paper is highly water absorbent because it has not been sized (treated to prevent ink from smudging) whatsoever. When printing with copper plates and woodblocks (mainly using water-based ink), the paper needs to be moistened first but if the

In addition to washi and boards, Japanese paintings are also painted on silk canvases known as eginu which are silk fabric intricately woven with uniform thread density, mainly used for pictures mounted on hanging scrolls. The wooden frame which is u

Resin powder is a light yellow powder used on a lithograph plate to hold the ink or coloring material and to protect the lines on the image from the acid of the platemaking solution. It is made of residual resin (resine in French) left over after dis

A print cleaner is a petroleum based solvent used in various situations but mainly for cleaning when making prints. It is used in the process of making lithographs, as a painting oil medium, for cleaning oil-based ink, and for removing ground in copp

Transfer technique (or trace technique), is a type of monotype printing method. Ink or oil paint is spread evenly with a roller on a resin or glass plate and paper is then placed over the top. By applying pressure from the back of the paper by, for i

A dosa sizing brush is a brush that is used to apply dosa (sizing) when preparing for and working on a Japanese painting. It is mainly used for sizing washi and silk canvas so that the ink does not run, and for gilding with gold or silver leaf. Th

Talcum powder is a white or light gray powder used on a lithograph plate to make the ink or coloring material hold and to protect the lines on the image from the acid of the platemaking solution. It is a fine powder produced by pulverizing talc (h

Etchant is an acidic compound solution used in lithograph printing to prevent thickness in drawing lines and ink smudges and to improve the moisture retention of the surface. It is used by adding a moderate amount to a dampening solution (the amou

Gum Arabic is a natural resin which is used as a raw material for the gum Arabic solution used in lithography and in printmaking solutions. It is also used as a binder in watercolor paint. Gum Arabic is produced by drying a resin mainly containing

Hertz (Hz) is a unit of frequency and is used to indicate the frequency of sound waves and electromagnetic waves, etc. A single wave or vibration cycle in one second is represented as 1Hz. This unit is often used in connection with computers to in

The term yoshi refers to paper that was introduced or imported from the West, as opposed to washi which refers to paper made domestically in Japan. Yoshi is also a general term for machine-made paper. The majority of drawing paper, Kent paper, waterc

Washi, is a generic term for paper that has been used extensively in Japan from long ago as an integral part of life. It is made from distinct raw materials and developed through unique techniques. Even today, various types of hand-made washi are pro

Hydrated alum is one of the additives in the dosa solution used for sizing washi and silk canvas supports, etc. in Japanese painting. Hydrated alum is a material that has long been used in a number of applications including dyeing and the eliminat

Watercolor paint is a water-soluble paint made by mixing mainly pigment with gum arabic and other substances to enable it to adhere to the support element. There are transparent and opaque (gouache) types with different covering capacities. Watercolo

Imitation Japanese vellum (mozoshi) is a large-size sheet of paper. Because of its smooth surface, pencils and crayons, etc. travel well over it and it is ideal for drawing or sketching. It is thin and there is little difference in the texture of

Graph paper is writing paper with equally spaced horizontal and vertical lines printed in a grid. General types are comprised of 1 mm squares (each side of the square grid being 1 mm) or 5 mm squares, and some have bold grid lines every 10 mm. The gr

Flat brushes have a slightly wide, flat base and a tip made of quality sheep wool trimmed in a straight line. They are used to lay down a flat wash over a relatively wide area. They come in various widths, ranging from size 0 (approx. 0.5 cm) to a

Nenshi is a piece of paper coated with mud pigment or charcoal powder, etc. used in Japanese painting to transfer a rough sketch to the final work. It is also used in lithography to copy a design from the matte film to the plate. Japanese painting

Croquis books are thin sheets of paper with smooth surfaces bound into booklets and mostly used for Croquis, Esquisse (preliminary sketches) and sketching ideas. The paper is generally high-quality writing paper and non-wood pulp paper (made from

Carbon paper comprises colorant mixed and kneaded with oil and wax and laid over thin paper (carbonizing base paper). It is used for copying text and diagrams. It is generally used for copying office documents and forms, etc. but when creating block

Hues are tints such as red, yellow, green and blue that define color and are one of its three attributes (hue, value and intensity). Tints vary in different light wavelengths. Light is an electromagnetic wave. If it is of a wavelength in the spect

Iwa-enogu is Japanese paint made from particles of pulverized rock, mainly minerals. The particles have a similar coarseness to sand and feature a lusterless matt feeling. The paint itself has no adhesive properties, but by adding glue, it sticks to

Many canvases and wood panels, etc. used for art generally have specified dimensions annotated by a numeric designator. Those used in Japan today were originally based on French specifications expressed using the Japanese measurement units shaku and

When the word, "dot", is used in relation to computer images and data input/output devices, "dot" can be assumed to indicate the smallest element in designating precision. The unit, dpi (dots per inch), for example, is used for the resolution of b

A gel medium is an acrylic resin with water soluble properties. It is used in a variety of works to bring out the luster and add volume to acrylic paint, adjust the transparency, etc., fix collages and produce texture. The main ingredient of gel m

Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), or DVD-Video as it is known, is an optical recording medium capable of recording videos over an extended period. Its media composition, geometry and data recording and reading methods are basically the same as those o

The compression method in which the original data can be restored from the compressed data is called lossless compression. It would be meaningless to compress and reduce the size of text and program data if data is lost in the process. That is why lo

A computer handles various data such as text, image, audio and video in files. The specific way in which data is stored in a file is called the file format. All data processed on a computer are binary data that can be expressed in 0s and 1s. In ot

A pixel is the smallest element in the composition of bitmap data. It is an abbreviation of the word, picture element, and the word for it in Japanese is gaso. Digitized bitmap data images read by scanner or from digital camera photographs are typ

TIFF is the abbreviation for Tagged Image File Format and is a bitmap data file format. It carries the extension, .tif. Using codes called tags to recognize data content enables information related to images to be stored in files. It is compatible

PSD is a bitmap data file format and is the native file format to the graphics editing software, Adobe Photoshop. It carries the extension, .psd. It is also known as the Photoshop format. Adobe Photoshop is a multifunctional graphics processing so

CD-Rewritable (CD-RW) is a rewritable medium which uses a metal phase transitioning material in the recording layer (specified in Orange Book Part III) and records information by converting the crystalline state of the material to a non-crystalline (

CD-Recordable (CD-R) (specified in Orange Book Part II) is a recordable medium that uses organic dyes such as azo, cyanine and phthalocyanine on the recording layer and records information by degradation and dissipation of the dye with heat from a la

When a computer processes information, it usually does so by expressing that information in 0s and 1s (binary digit expression). The smallest unit of that information (a single digit of binary data) is called a bit. This is the shortened version of t

Drawing ink is produced by using pigment as a colorant mixed with a fixative such as glue in soot. It is known for its resistance to water and light and for its strong fixing properties. It is mainly used in the preparation of blueprints that are to

Pen ink is the ink used for general writing purposes. The most commonly known types today are the long used blue-black ink as well as the pigment-based carbon black ink and water-soluble dye colored ink, both of which were developed to overcome the s

Solvent, mainly made of organic ingredients, is used as a thinner to adjust the concentration of paper cement. It can also be used to peel off pieces of paper that have been pasted together with paper cement. Solvent is sold in cans but it is usef

DVD-R (DVD-Recordable) is a recordable medium with an organic dye in its recording layer which does not allow data to be rewritten or deleted once it is written on the disc. DVD-RW (DVD-Rewritable), on the other hand, is a rewritable medium with a me

At the dawn of the history of the computer, paper punch tape and cards were used as recording media but today, methods such as magnetic, optical, optical magnetic and semiconductor recording are used in the materials and devices for recording informa

A floppy disk is a removable, rewritable magnetic recording medium comprising a disk-shaped polymer sheet coated with magnetic material on the front and back, encased in a jacket. It is sometimes also referred to as a flexible disk. In the 1970s,

Bitmap data and raster data is the format for displaying images as a cluster of pixels. Images are digitized when photographed by a digital camera or scanned. Sampling and quantizing are required for digitizing analog content. Sampling is the brea

When converting analog sound into digital data, it needs to go through a sampling and quantizing analog - digital (A-D) conversion process. The digitization of sound in this way is known as PCM (Pulse Code Modulation). WAVE is one of the principal

PNG, short for Portable Network Graphics, is a bitmap data file format. The file extension for it is ".png". PNG is a lossless compression file format for use on networks supporting 8-bit and 24-bit colors with the ability to achieve image transpare

DVD-RAM (DVD-Random Access Memory) is a rewritable medium which uses a metal phase transitioning material in the recording layer, has hardware defect management and identical specifications to magnetic recording media. Consequently, data can be delet

DVD+R (DVD Recordable) is a recordable medium with an organic dye in its recording layer which does not allow data to be rewritten or deleted once it is written on the disc. DVD+RW (DVD Rewritable), on the other hand, is a rewritable medium with a me

Generally, the term CD refers to a CD-DA (Compact Disc Digital Audio), but it is also a general term for an optical disc with a diameter of either 80mm or 120mm and a capacity of up to 700MB. CD-ROM, Photo CD, CD-R, and CD-RW are some of the logos an

If data is deleted to reduce the size during compression, that data cannot be restored. This type of compression method in which the original data cannot be restored from the compressed data is referred to as lossy compression. Because image, audio a

Kyū (級) is a unit of measurement used to express the size of characters in photocomposition that is particular to Japan; it is equal to 0.25mm. It can also be written as “Q,” an abbreviation that is derived from the origin of its name, “quarter,” as

Vector graphics data describe shapes in a multidimensional space as coordinates and functions of shape attributes. They are primarily used in applications of the “draw” variety (e.g., Illustrator from Adobe Systems and the open source software Inksca

Among the different types of semiconductor memory recordable media, flash memory is the general name for a group of products including CompactFlash, SD memory cards (including mini and micro), USB data storage drives, which are made up of EEPROM (Ele

An inch (in.) is a unit of measurement used to express length or distance in the imperial system. Other units in this system include feet (ft.) and yards (yd.), which also express length or distance, and pounds (lb.), which express weight. 1 yard =

A Magneto-Optical Disc (MO) is a removable, rewritable storage medium, which comes in both 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch sizes. The 3.5-inch size is the more commonly used size with personal computers. The discs come in six different sizes of storage capaci

When making a sketch or pictorial composition, an artist uses an easel to hold the support medium, carton, or other similar object in place at a comfortable height. Although there are many types of easels designed for different sizes of support me

PDF (Portable Document Format) is a file format for electronic documents. PDF files use the “.pdf” filename extension.

Originally released in 1993 by Adobe Systems, Inc., the PDF format is now standardized under t

Washi is a style of paper that was developed in Japan after being brought over from China in ancient times. Washi size is generally determined by the sizes of the “sukisu” and “keta” tools used to strain the paper. As individual strainers make mod

Oil paint, mostly made by kneading together pigment and drying oil that sets the pigment in place, features a distinctive luster and transparency that only oil can create, a degree of plasticity that enables expressive touch and piling, and a gradual

A wood panel is a veneer plywood-based support medium reinforced with squared timber and used in all types of painting, including oil. In pencil sketches, watercolors, nihonga, and other formats that use paper for their support media, stretching damp

Brush-cleaning fluid is a solution made from refined oil and used to clean oil paint brushes. To use brush-cleaning fluid, pour enough of the fluid into your container (a brush-cleaning container) to submerge the heads of the brushes in the fluid. Wh

Full-sheet size corresponds to the largest size of any of the various standard sheets of paper. In Japan, the main sizes used for photocopying and book publication are the JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) and the ISO (International Organization for

Made from paper mulberry, kōzoshi is a strong yet light and supple type of handmade Japanese paper. The paper has many different uses—from applications in painting as a support and lining paper of Japanese-style paintings (nihonga) and paper for wood

Charcoal paper is used with drawing materials that do not fix to surfaces well, particularly charcoal. Made with regular striped indentations on its surface, charcoal paper fixes color (such as charcoal) effectively, enabling a rich range of drawing

Inksticks are created from the soot of burned oil or burned pinewood, which is then bound with glue, hardened by kneading, and dried. The block is then rubbed together with water in an ink stone to produce liquid ink. As the saying has it, sumi ni go

A printing block is a wooden board that artists use as a plate material when creating woodblock prints. There are two basic types of printing blocks: a cross-grain type, cut vertically to go with the fiber of the wood, and an end-grain type, cut i

Copperplate ink is an oil-based ink used in intaglio printing (ōhan), which can be made by mixing the paint with extender pigments such as aluminum hydroxide and burnt linseed or plate oil (as mediums), then knead them together. Copperplate ink co

Torinoko paper—literally “hen’s egg” paper—is a hand-made washi of a lustrous, smooth, and intricate texture whose chief ingredient is gampi (diplomorpha sikokiana). It is used as a support medium in Japanese art, block-print paper in woodcut printin

The line-drawing brush (senbyō fude) does precisely what its name suggests: it draws thin lines. Artists can select brushes made from the furs of different animal species or fashioned with different tip shapes depending on the type of lines they want

Watercolor paper is a general term for any exclusive paper used in drawings that employ water-based paints such as transparent or non-transparent watercolors. Because the expressions of watercolor paintings are created by the manner in which the w

Drawing paper is very versatile and one of the most common surfaces used for pencil and pen drawings, watercolor, and crafts. Drawing paper has a fine to medium surface texture with moderate stiffness that gives it a unique quality of feel. Paperm

Kent paper is paper that derives its name from the Kent region in England. In most cases it is made entirely from chemical pulp. It is very smooth, has a moderate amount of elasticity and thickness, and is well-suited for many drawing materials and w

A canvas is a medium for oil painting made of cloth woven from the fibers such as flax, the top surface of which has been treated. The word can also refer to such a cloth after it has been attached to a wooden rectangle (a stretched canvas). Compa

Hahnemuhle, made by the German paper manufacturer Hahnemuhle FineArt, Inc. (founded in 1584), is a form of print paper suitable for copperplate and other intaglio applications. A neutralized paper derived from cotton pulp (100%), Hahnemuhle is adequa

Tracing paper is a translucent type of paper made by refining and processing pulp, the main raw material in paper, to a high degree. It is also called tōshashi or torepe in Japanese. The translucent quality of the paper lends the medium well to tr

Made of fine polystyrene foam bubbles, styrene board is used to model architecture and interior spaces and other presentations or displays. It is lightweight and can be cut and processed easily with a cutter. Styrene boards come either with or withou

A sketchbook contains drawing or watercolor paper bound like the pages of a notebook between front and back covers made of cardboard. The sketchbook is portable and has paper that resists tears, making it ideal for sketching outdoors. The bound paper

PM pads are a type of paper often used in design layout work. Its thickness is comparable to that of copy paper. The name "PM pad" comes from "pastel marker," but the paper is used with a wide variety of writing instruments and drawing materials. Bec

Essential oils, including turpentine and mineral spirits, are used as solvents when making one's own varnish, because of their efficacy in adjusting the viscosity and thickness of oil-based paints, accelerating drying, diluting drying oils, and disso

Drying oils, including linseed oil and poppy oil, are used in painting in order to adjust the thickness of the paints, improve their stretchability, increase the fixativity of the paints to the surface, and give oil paints their characteristic luster

Art solutions (extracted oils) are supplementary paint solutions used when painting with oil-based paints. They are able to enhance the expressiveness of paints and to produce various effects. There are a variety of solutions used for various purp

Linseed oil is used in painting to increase the fixing strength of oil paints, adjust their thickness and viscosity, and to enhance luster. It is also blended into paints as the fixing ingredient (medium) to affix the pigment to the surface of the pa

The printing ink used for lithographs is made by combining linseed oil with pigments. There is another type of printing ink, a fast-drying type made from resin that is used in offset printing, but it is best not to use this ink by itself when prin

Illustration boards are surfaces made by giving paper for different purposes with specific usage such as watercolor paper or color paper a backing made of thick paper (cardboard or posterboard). In addition to being a medium for illustrations and ren

Aluminum Litho plates are metallic (aluminum) plates that are used for lithograph prints; when one roughens one face in order to turn it into a surface for printing. Although stones were originally used for lithographic prints, a number of problem

Acrylic paints are a type of water-soluble paint that uses the acrylic polymers invented in the twentieth century. They were originally developed for the painting of murals. The paint is composed of the same pigments and binders used by oil paints, c

JPEG is one compression method for bitmap image data files. (Originally it was an acronym of the Joint Photographic Experts Group, which developed the compression format.) The human eye is more sensitive to changes in brightness than in hue, and t

GIF, an abbreviation of Graphics Interchange Format, is one format for bitmap image data files. Its extension is “.gif.” This file format, which utilizes the LZW data compression technique, supports 8-bit (256 color) indexed color. Because it only

The B-series standard, which ranges from B0-B10, is based on a 1.5㎡ sheet (B0, or full B sheet) with each successive size defined as half of the preceding size, dividing the sheet in the middle of the longer side. The ratio of the length of the short

The A-series standard, which ranges from A0-A10, is based on a 1㎡ sheet (A0, full A sheet) with each successive size defined as half of the preceding size, dividing the sheet in the middle of the longer side. The ratio of the length of the short side

Stretcher frames are the rectangular wooden frames upon which canvases, primarily those used as the surfaces for oil paintings, are stretched. They are also known as canvas frames. The fundamental structure of a stretcher frame is made up of wood