Blog topic
Art articles
Perspective, light and shadow, colour contrast, composition, printmaking, mosaics, and the movements from Impressionism to Surrealism. The practical pieces explain a technique well enough to try it; the history pieces explain what a movement was reacting against.
34 explainers, newest first. Each one ends with real questions from the unit that teaches it, so you can read the explanation and then check whether it stuck.
These are the readable companion to the Art track, which holds 18 units and 2,320 practice questions. If you are starting the subject rather than looking something up, the study guide is the better place to begin.
What Is Art Nouveau? Whiplash Lines, Iron Lilies and the Style of 1900
Art Nouveau was the first modern style, a movement of the 1890s and 1900s that took its lines from plants. Its rise, and why it ended.
September 15, 20264 min readWhat Was the Bauhaus? The School That Designed the Modern World
The Bauhaus was a German art school that ran for fourteen years and set the look of modern buildings, furniture, type and objects. What it taught.
September 15, 20265 min readWhat Is Abstract Art? Painting That Stopped Pretending to Be a Window
Abstract art does not depict recognisable things. Where it came from around 1910, what its makers thought they were doing.
September 14, 20265 min readWhat Is Baroque Art? Drama, Light and Persuasion in the Seventeenth Century
Baroque art is the theatrical style of the 1600s: strong light, movement, emotion and scale. Where it came from, why the Church wanted it, and who made it.
September 14, 20264 min readWhat Is Gothic Architecture? Pointed Arches, Flying Buttresses and Walls of Light
Gothic is the style of the great medieval cathedrals, built from about 1140 to 1500. The three inventions behind it, and why its walls could be made of glass.
September 14, 20264 min readHow Was Photography Invented? From the Camera Obscura to the Sensor
Photography needed a way to fix the image a lens had projected for centuries. The chemists who found it in the 1830s, the rival processes, and the sensor.
September 14, 20265 min readWhat Is Sculpture? Carving, Modelling, Casting and Assembling in Three Dimensions
Sculpture is art that occupies space rather than picturing it. The four ways of making it, the materials each suits, and how the form left the human figure.
September 14, 20264 min readWhat Is Pointillism? How Tiny Dots Build Colour and Light
Learn how artists used small dots of separate colour, optical mixing, and careful placement to create luminous paintings from a distance.
August 17, 20266 min readWhat Is Impressionism? Light, Colour, and a New Way of Painting
Learn how artists used visible brushwork, changing light, modern scenes, and fresh colour to transform nineteenth-century painting.
August 17, 20265 min readWhat Is Watercolour Painting? How Transparent Paint and Water Work Together
Learn how transparent pigment, water, paper, washes, layering, and preserved highlights create the medium's distinctive look.
August 17, 20265 min readWhat Is Acrylic Painting? How Fast-Drying Paint Works
Learn what acrylic painting is, how acrylic paint behaves with water and mediums, and how layering, drying time, and surface choice shape the final artwork.
August 17, 20265 min readWhat Is Foreshortening? How Artists Show Depth
Learn how artists shorten forms that point toward the viewer to create believable depth, volume, and perspective in art.
August 14, 20265 min readWhat Is Contour Drawing? A Simple Guide to Seeing Edges
Learn how artists use outlines, slow observation, and line variation to study shape, proportion, and form more carefully.
August 14, 20265 min readWhat Is Colour Theory? A Simple Guide for Artists
Learn how hue, value, saturation, colour relationships, and contrast help artists organise palettes and guide attention.
August 14, 20266 min readWhat Is Hatching in Drawing? How Lines Create Tone and Form
Learn how repeated lines create tone, texture, depth, and form, plus how cross-hatching changes the darkness of a sketch.
August 14, 20266 min readWhat Is Impasto? How Thick Paint Creates Texture and Light
Learn how artists use thick layers of paint, visible brushstrokes, palette knives, texture, and light to make a surface feel active.
August 14, 20266 min readWhat Is Cubism? How Artists Broke Objects into New Viewpoints
Learn how artists used geometric forms, multiple viewpoints, limited colour, and collage to rethink how a picture can show space.
August 14, 20266 min readWhat Is Surrealism? Dreams, Chance, and Unexpected Art
Learn how artists used dreams, chance, strange combinations, and the unconscious to challenge ordinary ways of seeing reality.
August 14, 20266 min readWhat Is Chiaroscuro? How Artists Use Light and Dark
Learn how strong contrasts of light and dark create volume, focus, mood, depth, and drama in drawing, painting, and visual art.
August 13, 20265 min readHow Portrait Artists Use Proportion
Portrait artists use proportion to organise the relationships between facial features and the head. Careful observation matters more than memorising one perfect formula because real faces vary.
August 8, 20265 min readHow Gesture Drawing Captures Movement
Gesture drawing uses quick, simple marks to capture the action, balance and direction of a subject. It helps you see the whole pose before getting lost in outlines and details.
August 8, 20265 min readHow Firing Transforms Clay into Ceramic
Clay begins as a soft material shaped with water, but firing causes permanent physical and chemical changes. Preparation, temperature and glaze all affect the strength and surface of the finished ceramic.
August 5, 20265 min readHow Stained Glass Shapes Light and Colour
Stained glass combines coloured pieces, painted details and structural lead lines. Light passing through the surface changes how colour, pattern and storytelling are experienced.
August 5, 20265 min readHow Pattern and Repetition Shape an Artwork
Pattern repeats visual elements, while repetition can create rhythm, unity and emphasis. Artists also break patterns to direct attention or introduce tension.
August 4, 20265 min readHow Mosaics Build Images from Small Pieces
Mosaics create images by arranging many small pieces of coloured material. Shape, spacing, direction and distance determine whether you notice individual pieces or a complete design.
July 29, 20265 min readHow Negative Space Shapes an Artwork
Negative space is the area around and between subjects in an artwork. Artists use it to clarify shapes, balance compositions and direct attention.
July 29, 20265 min readHow Fresco Painting Bonds Colour to Plaster
True fresco applies pigments to fresh wet plaster so colour becomes part of the wall as it dries. The method rewards careful planning because each section must be completed before the surface sets.
July 29, 20265 min readHow Composition Guides Your Eye Through an Artwork
Composition is the arrangement of visual elements within an artwork. Artists use placement, contrast, scale and movement to help you notice some areas before others.
July 26, 20265 min readHow Texture Changes the Way an Artwork Feels
Texture can be physically present on a surface or visually suggested through marks and colour. Artists use it to create contrast, mood, realism and attention.
July 26, 20265 min readHow Printmaking Creates Repeatable Images
Printmaking transfers ink from a prepared surface onto paper or another material. Different methods use raised areas, carved lines, flat surfaces or stencils to create images that can be printed more than once.
July 26, 20265 min readHow Linear Perspective Creates Depth
Linear perspective lets artists make a flat surface feel deep. Horizon lines, vanishing points and shrinking shapes work together to guide your eye into the picture.
July 24, 20265 min readHow Artists Create Depth on a Flat Surface
A canvas is flat, yet artists can make roads recede, rooms open, and mountains feel distant. Perspective uses size, line, overlap, colour, and detail to build that illusion.
July 24, 20265 min readHow Light and Shadow Make Forms Look Solid
Artists use value, highlights and cast shadows to turn flat shapes into believable forms. Learning to see the light source is more useful than memorising random patches of dark.
July 24, 20265 min readHow Complementary Colours Create Strong Contrast
Colours opposite each other on a colour wheel can make one another look more intense. Artists use these pairs to guide attention, create energy and balance a composition.
July 24, 20265 min read