Media, Techniques and Processes

How artists make their marks

Every artwork is made from something, using some method. The materials an artist works with are called media, and each medium behaves in its own way. The ways of applying a medium are called techniques, and the ordered steps of making a piece are called processes. Dry media such as pencil and charcoal make marks straight away. Wet media such as paint and ink can be blended while they are still moist. Some media are shaped in three dimensions, like clay, and some are made on a screen using digital tools. The choice of medium, technique and process is part of the art itself: the same idea made in different media becomes a different piece. This module looks at the main kinds of media, how techniques and processes use them, and how to choose a medium to suit what an idea needs.

Words for media and process

Learn these terms before the media are compared. They name what you work with and how you work.

Match each medium to how it behaves

Wet media against dry media

Two large families of media behave very differently, and knowing which you are using changes how you work.

Which medium suits the job?

You want a soft, smoky shadow that fades gently from dark to light. Which medium is best suited?

• Charcoal
• A fine ink pen
• Clay
• A printing block

Let the intention choose the medium

A medium is not just what happens to be to hand: it is a decision. Before you make a mark, ask what the idea needs. Do you want soft blended tone, a bold flat shape, a raised texture you can feel, or a form you can walk around? Each of those points to a different medium and technique. Soft tone points to charcoal or a wash; a crisp edge points to a fine pen or a cut shape; a raised surface points to thick paint or a built material; a form in the round points to clay or another three-dimensional medium. When you plan a piece, name the effect you want first, then pick the medium and technique that give it. Choosing well is a skill the examiner can see in the finished work.

Pick the three-dimensional media

Select every medium that can be shaped in three dimensions.

• Clay
• Wire
• Card, folded and joined
• Watercolour
• Charcoal

Order the printmaking process

A relief print is made by a set process. Put the steps in the order an artist would follow.

• Draw the design onto the block
• Cut away the parts that should stay blank
• Roll ink evenly over the raised surface
• Press clean paper onto the inked block
• Peel the paper back to reveal the print

Complete the media facts

Pencil and charcoal are _____ media. Paint and ink are _____ media. A wash that lets the paper beneath show through is _____. Clay and wire can be shaped in _____ dimensions.

A baker choosing a tool

Think of a baker at a bench. For each job a different tool comes out: a whisk to beat air into a mixture, a knife to cut a clean edge, cupped hands to shape a soft dough. The same ingredients handled with a different tool give a different result, so the tool is part of the recipe, not an afterthought. An artist works the same way. The same idea sketched in charcoal, laid down in a thin paint wash, or built up in clay becomes a different piece each time, because the means of making leaves its own mark. So treat the medium and the technique as choices worth planning, and let the effect you are after decide which you reach for.

Tap the dry drawing media

Tap the TWO media that are dry drawing media.

• pencil
• watercolour
• charcoal
• ink

The media and process run

Answer each one correctly to keep your lives. Choose the best answer.

Choose a medium for each brief

Read each brief and choose the medium or process that fits best.

• A brief asks for soft, smoky shadows across a portrait. Which medium fits best?
• A brief asks for the same small design repeated many times along a border. Which process fits?
• A brief asks for a form you can walk around and view from every side. Which medium fits?

Build a media choice sentence

Choose the word for each gap to complete one point about choosing media.

Explain how media and technique shape a piece

A friend thinks the only thing that matters in art is the idea, and that the materials barely change the result. Using what you have learned, explain how the choice of media, techniques and processes shapes a finished piece.

• Explain what media and materials means
• Explain the difference between wet and dry media
• Explain how a technique changes the mark or surface
• Explain what a process is, using printmaking as an example
• Explain why an artist matches the medium to the creative intention