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-Research methods for printing patterns, including characteristics, features

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An abbreviated list of the most common forms of printmaking techniques, prints, and the world of fine art collecting.

Please see the Art Dictionary and Resources & Links for more information.

Printmaking Techniques

An Overview of Original Prints

Lithography (Planographic Printing)

Intaglio Printing

Relief Printing

Screenprinting
The Print

The image obtained from any printing element. Originally, this was either a metal plate, engraved in intaglio, or a wood block (or metal plate) cut in relief. From the beginning of the nineteenth century, lithographic stones were included, and today screen-printing ads are a further type of printing element. An impression taken planographically from a painted surface may also be termed a print (see: monotype). BACK TO TOP

Print methodology

In the past, a rigid distinction was observed between prints obtained by manual processes and reproductions obtained by photomechanical methods (see: photographic processes). This distinction has less value today, because reproductions have been incorporated into artists' original prints and are therefore not solely produced, as originally intended, for mass production. BACK TO TOP

"Original" print

A print is termed "original" if the artist of the design has worked on the printing element himself, as opposed to reproductive and interpretative prints which involve the use of an intermediary person to reproduce the design onto the printing element. Original prints are often only produced in small numbers; they may be numbered and signed by the artist. These distinctions between reproductions (which occasionally may also be signed and numbered) and original prints are, however, generalized.

In practice the frontiers are more imprecise, particularly in commercial printing. It must be noted that some people have a much more rigorous definition of an original print than others, e. g. of a photo-mechanically produced original print of which only a very small number of impressions, numeration and a certificate of authenticity will make it qualify. BACK TO TOP

Print techniques in combination

Techniques may be, and often have been, combined: etching with drypoint, etching with aquatint, engraving with etching, woodcut with wood engraving, even etching with chiaroscuro woodcut. There are, in addition, many dozens of other techniques used, typically in combination with these basic ones, and many variations of the basic techniques. Artists are artists, not technicians - no true artist will hesitate to use any technique that gives him or her the desired result. A brief list of the basic techniques of printmaking is listed below. Many others exist. BACK TO TOP

Lithography (Planographic Printing)

In planographic printing, as opposed to intaglio and relief processes, there is no difference in level between the inked surface and the non-inked surface. The following sections detail variations of lithographic prints.

Artists who use print lithography include Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. BACK TO TOP

Lithograph

The design is drawn or painted on the polished, or grained, flat surface of a stone, usually Bavarian limestone, with a greasy crayon or ink. The design is chemically fixed on the stone with a weak solution of acid and gum Arabic. In printing, the stone is flooded with water which is absorbed everywhere except where repelled by the greasy ink. Oil-based printer's ink is then rolled on the stone, which is repelled in turn by the water-soaked areas and accepted only by the drawn design. A piece of paper is laid on the stone and it is run through the press with light pressure, the final print showing neither a raised nor embossed quality but lying entirely on the surface of the paper. The design may be divided among several stones, properly registered, to produce, through multiple printings, a lithograph in more than one color. A transfer lithograph (French, autographie) employs the same technique, but the design is drawn on special transfer paper and is later mechanically transferred to the stone. A zincograph is the same technique, but employing a zinc plate rather than a stone. BACK TO TOP

Collotype

Offset lithography or offset or photo-mechanical print

Cliché-verre (glass print)

Chine Collé

Areas of thin colored tissue / rice paper mounted (collage or Collé) on or glued to the surface of a print. Frequently combined with etching or lithography this process, the ink of the plate glues the thin paper to the substrate as the print is run through the press. BACK TO TOP

Intaglio Printing

A printing process in which the image is incised or etched into a metal plate using a variety of techniques and tools. Ink is applied to the recessed areas of the printing plate by wiping, dabbing, or a combination of both. The paper receives the ink from the incised marks and not from the top surface of the plate, although thin films of ink may be left on the surface to produce a variety of tonal effects. For intaglio printing, the paper is dampened so that under printing pressure it will be squeezed into all the inked recesses of the plate and around it (leaving a PLATE MARK if the plate is smaller than the paper).

One of the distinguishing characteristics of this type of printing is that the dried ink impression stands up from the paper in very slight relief, perceptible by touching with the fingers or by close inspection.

In all intaglio prints, except mezzotint, the design is produced from ink in lines or areas below the surface of the plate. The smooth surface is wiped of ink before printing. Considerable pressure is used in the press to force the ink out of the lines and areas and, to an extent, to force the paper into them, so the final printed image will appear to be slightly raised above the surface of the un-inked paper.

Artists who use intaglio include Rembrandt, Brueghel the Elder, Pablo Picasso, and Joan Miró. BACK TO TOP

Engraving

Drypoint

Etching

Soft-ground etching

Aquatint

Carborundum

Mezzotint

Photogravure

Sometimes known as heliogravure (particularly hand photogravure), this technique is one of the most important methods of industrial printing (the others being letterpress and offset lithography). It is an intaglio process which can be divided into two procedures: (1) Hand photogravure, a derivation of the aquatint in its method of obtaining tone. After sensitizing a copper plate and exposing it to light to form the image, resin or bitumen grain was scattered over it. The procedure continued as for a normal aquatint plate. This technique subsequently developed into a totally photomechanical process: (2) Machine photogravure, in which the tone is supplied by a cross-line screen. It was discovered that the plate could be bent into the form of a cylinder, a development which allowed very fast printing speeds (rotogravure). The technique is used more for magazines and catalogues than for print-making itself. BACK TO TOP

Relief Printing

A printing process in which the impression is created by the uncarved areas or the unprepared surface of the PRINTING ELEMENT, which has been inked with a ROLLER, BRAYER, or other tool. The cut, or incised, areas do not usually print, since they are recessed and are rarely inked. Nonetheless, during a run paper is often pushed into these sunken areas, creating an embossed effect. The recessed areas do print when the printing element is inked in the same manner as an etching plate, with the surface wiped dean, leaving ink in the recesses. WOODCUT and LINOCUT are usually used for relief printing.

In all relief techniques it is the surface of the block that is inked and printed and, given perfect printing, all lines or surfaces will be equally dark. Moderate pressure in the press will emboss the paper to an extent, so the inked design will lie slightly below the uninked surface of the paper.

Artists who use intaglio include Albrecht Dürer, Wassily Kandinsky, and Pablo Picasso. BACK TO TOP

Woodcut

Chiaroscuro Woodcut

Wood Engraving

Linocut or linoleum cut

Monotype

A design is drawn in ink or paint on any smooth surface. While the ink or paint is still wet, a piece of paper is laid on top of it and pressure applied, either with a press or by hand. The process, by its name, is meant to produce a single impression, but there is sometimes enough damp ink left on the plate surface to make a second, weaker, impression. BACK TO TOP

Screenprinting

The principle of screenprinting, or silkscreening, consists in applying stencils to a screen (constructed of silk or of some synthetic or metallic material), in such a way that when ink is applied it is prevented from passing through some parts while penetrating the rest of the screen, thereby printing an image on paper placed underneath. The screen is stretched across a frame and attached to a base in such a manner that it can readily move up and down, so that paper can be easily placed and removed as required. For each impression, the paper is placed against registration tabs to ensure that the printing is done in the correct position. The ink is poured over the masking at one end of the screen and when this has been lowered into position, the ink is scraped across the screen with the aid of a squeegee.

The most important part of the process is the preparation of the screen. Stencils may be applied in a variety of ways, including the use of filling-in liquid, varnish or plastic film. A drawing can be made directly on the surface with a special ink which is removed in readiness for printing after the rest of the screen has been blocked out. A photographic stencil is made by initially sensitizing the screen.

Andy Warhol screen prints are very collectible. BACK TO TOP

Stencil (Pochoir)

Stencils are an essential part of screenprinting: they are attached to or incorporated with the screen to ensure that the ink passes through in the correct places. They can be made in many different forms, e. g. as a simple masking or covering stencil; as a "wash-out" stencil, which involves drawing the design on the screen in a greasy substance, then covering the whole screen with filler or gum, and finally dissolving the greasy image in turns, thereby forming a 1. positive stencil; or as a photo-stencil, whereby photographic images are incorporated into the screen. 2. Stencils are also used for coloring prints by hand. Stencils of the areas to be colored are cut out in zinc or aluminum; the colors are dabbed on with a large brush (known as a pompon in French); they may be juxtaposed or superimposed over each other. The method was much used in the coloring of maps, topographical prints and devotional woodcuts. It is still used today for book illustration and on greeting cards.

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Printmaking Techniques, Defined and Explained in Plain English

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An abbreviated list of the most common forms of printmaking techniques, prints, and the world of fine art collecting. Please see the Art Dictionary and Resources & Links for more information. Printmaking Techniques An Overview of Original Prints Lithography (Planographic Printing) Intaglio Printing Relief Printing Screenprinting The image obtained from any printing element.

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Technology, Research and Critical Thinking

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Technology, Research and Critical Thinking

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-What techniques might we use to develop patterns? In which contexts, for which purposes?
-Relate methods to function, need, and goal.
-Compare and evaluate appropriate method according to personal project.

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Drawing on Illustrator

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Adobe Illustrator Basics: Pen Tool Tutorial

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Patternmaking

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How to Create Seamless Patterns in Illustrator

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How to Use the Pattern Tool in Adobe Illustrator

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Making meaning and sharing ideas through art

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Making meaning and sharing ideas through art

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Not only do I believe we are all capable of creating art - I believe we are all capable of creating good art. And that's the beauty of art. Art can be anything. As lame as it sounds, beauty is everywhere; and although everybody wields a unique perspective, this is exactly what makes art so bountiful.

But art's abundance may sometimes act as a road block. While it does inspire and provoke thought, there exists an extraordinary challenge to be original. Because of this, art and the pressure to create good art can overwhelm and distract.

Many people I've met in my adult life seem to have an irrational fear of creating something new and truly being original. I believe this is a result of that pressure, that overwhelming challenge of digging deep and producing something nobody's ever seen, heard, smelled, touched, or tasted before. Because what if it sucks?

The EMP Museum in Seattle features a giant tree of instruments, comprised of guitars, keyboards, etc. previously played by famous musicians.

When I experience art I appreciate, I wonder what it is that makes it valuable. From where does that value originate? What makes this specific article or song or film resonate with me or any other person for that matter?

I ponder these same questions when I create art, but with a little more inward focus. What makes something I create valuable to me? - and - Does that value increase if my art affects other people in the same way? Or is my lone appreciation enough to make it significant?

I wonder this because, while there is plenty of art around us, there is a lot of art that remains private - or in this social and digital age, unshared.

I like to "judge" my own creations based on two criteria: a.) How does this help me? and b.) How does this help others?

Art is often an outward expression of our emotions, but it's not limited to that. Creating art allows us to express our thoughts, fears, and desires - to almost literally throw our personalities onto a canvas or into a guitar riff. So, in the most basic sense of my first criterion, that is how it helps me (or whoever the creator may be). Art provides us an outlet for our inflated sadness, our temporary anger, our wishful thinking, our newfound happiness.

But good art eclipses whatever it means to the artist. Good art does a service for others, and while it may not mean the same thing or carry the same value for everyone, it not only serves as an outlet for the creator's expression but for the audience's as well. Good art provides us an outlet for our feelings and our genius. Good art resonates.

So, when an artist creates something important to him/herself and keeps it private, does it devalue that piece of art? I've created a lot of things over the years that are valuable to me, but I've hesitated to share some of them for whatever reason. Maybe it's time I reconsider.

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Not only do I believe we are all capable of creating art - I believe we are all capable of creating good art. And that's the beauty of art. Art can be anything. As lame as it sounds, beauty is everywhere; and although everybody wields a unique perspective, this is exactly what makes art so bountiful.

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Questioning the use of patterns and the meaning they share. Developing, display and present meaningful patterns through linoleum printmaking.

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One of the most sumptuously colored textiles used for clothing is Ghanaian kente cloth, made by Asante and Ewe weavers using specially designed looms. Kente was probably introduced from the western Sudan during the 16th century, when heavy, elaborate, labor-intensive versions of this fabric were designed for wealthy tribal chiefs and simpler designs became available for the general citizenry. Kente is woven in four-inch (9.5 cm) narrow strips that are sewn together. A characteristic Asante kente has geometric shapes woven in bright colors along the entire length of the strip, while Ewe kente often displays a tweed effect by plying together different colored threads in many of the warps. Ewe kente may also incorporate pictorial symbols.

The visual effects of kente cloth are analogous to Western painting's sharp division between flat shapes of pure colors ( simultaneous contrast) found in works by Piet Mondrian, Bridget Riley, or Jim Lambie compared with the interaction of small areas of colors in details paintings by Monet or in Seurat's La Grande Jatte.

Originally, kente cloth was black and white, but dyes were developed from different plants and a range of colors evolved. Blue was obtained from the indigo plant, red from dried cam wood, brown from Indian tamarind, and green from boiled spinach leaves. With increased trade, imported silks and cottons were unraveled to extend the color range. Colors convey mood, dark shades being associated with grief and used for mourning ceremonies, while lighter shades are associated with happiness. The symbolic significance of kente is located in the motifs (the elephant signifies kingship, the scorpion bitterness). The colors of the Ghanaian national flag - red, yellow, green and black - are popular in modern cloths.

Kente cloth is characterized by sharply defined shapes created by the technique of loom weaving. It is easier to weave geometric than organic shapes, so rectangles, diamonds, zigzags, and squares are predominant. Colors and tones interact along their straight edges, creating optical vibrations as the eye attempts to accommodate constantly changing visual stimuli. Although weavers do not consciously apply the scientific color theory established by the color wheel, they tend to work with abrupt contrasts of tone and hue.

In the hand-woven Asante (Ashante) ceremonial cloth (left), the colors remind Ghanaians of their national identity, but within the cloth they create a dynamic sense of spatial movement. The orange-yellow squares advance and - as the lightest tone - the yellow shimmers against the dark blacks, while red and green zigzag shapes compete with one another. The predominance of angled shapes creates staccato rhythms, making the cloth suitable for use in ceremonies distinguished by repetitive drumbeats and vigorous dancing. A restful pattern would be completely misplaced in performances that build to dramatic crescendos. When worn by rulers, the brilliant cloths attract visual attention, sustaining the concept of authority. The yellow-gold within the cloth is invariably repeated in the gold regalia carried by the ruler.

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One of the most sumptuously colored textiles used for clothing is Ghanaian kente cloth, made by Asante and Ewe weavers using specially designed looms. Kente was probably introduced from the western Sudan during the 16th century, when heavy, elaborate, labor-intensive versions of this fabric were designed for wealthy tribal chiefs and simpler designs became available for the general citizenry.

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Pūawaitanga o te Ringa - Fruits of our busy hands

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-Experiment, test and evaluate various pattern making methods to develop personal style and preferences according to projects, purposes and VCE study design objectives.

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According to student preferences, project and capabilities, they choose and test various types of print making processes and technologies.

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Motif (single) and all-over (repeated).

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Ways to repeat a motif.

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As creatives, we love working with print and patterns-and designing patterns for use in fashion and home decor fabrics offers glorious opportunity for expanding your marketable skillset and establishing a new creative hobby.

Print and digital designers can utilize the same tools, such as Photoshop and Illustrator, to produce dynamic patterns for fabric that will eventually turn into a beloved, tangible item. To get ideas flowing on the possibilities of patterns, here's an excerpt from the HOW Design University course, Create Your Own Fabric Design with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, that showcases some of the popular pattern repeats.

The block repeat is the simplest style of repeat. It is simply formed by stacking the original repeat in a basic grid:

The block repeat can have an amateur look if used in the wrong situation, but it can look great with simpler, more geometric motifs.

Next up, we have the brick/half-brick repeat. You'll notice that the motifs are arranged like bricks on a house - they are in a horizontal row, and then the next row is offset to create a staggered look. The terms half-brick and brick can be used interchangeably unless the offset of the later rows is not exactly half of the preceding row's motifs. In that case, you would just use brick.

Here's a simple example of a half-brick repeat:

Brick/half-brick repeats are used very often in fabric design. The motifs can be exclusive of each other (as shown above) or have some overlap when they are organized. An overlap can be achieved in Photoshop or Illustrator.

The drop or half-drop repeat is very similar to the brick/half-brick, but the motifs are offset vertically instead of horizontally, like so:

As with the brick/half-brick, the terms drop and half-drop can be used interchangeably unless the offset isn't 50% of the original motif. You will most often see 50% offsets, but smaller or larger ones certainly aren't unheard of.

Drop/half-drop repeats are another very common type of repeat in fabric and surface design.

The diamond repeat is also used quite frequently in fabric and surface design. It is exactly as it sounds - a repeat of diamond shapes. The motifs can be as simple as one diamond put into half-drop or half-brick repeat (with some overlap), or each diamond can be a combination of smaller motifs, as shown here:

The ogee repeat is similar to the diamond repeat in shape - but the ogee is more rounded on two sides with the other two sides coming to points. As with the diamond repeat, it can be a simple repeat of ogee shapes in a half-drop or half-brick arrangement, or it can be more complex with overlaps and combinations of smaller motifs.

Here is a very simple version of an ogee repeat (half-brick with overlap):
Patterns in design is a riveting study. Enthrall yourself with how common symbols resonate at a gut level with the book, Decoding Design eBook: Understanding and Using Symbols in Visual Communication. Readers will find deconstructions of famous logos and examples of a variety of different designs that effectively use symbols, patterns and shapes to convey greater meaning.
The toss/random repeat utilizes a random arrangement of various motifs to create a very organic, non-linear design. It is very popular for floral patterns and more. Elements of the design are "tossed" onto the fabric, like so:

The next few repeats aren't usually listed in a discussion of repeat types, but I want to give you a sort of mental checklist to go through when you're brainstorming the different types of patterns you might want to incorporate into a collection.

The stripe repeat is a simple idea that can have a more complex and interesting execution. It could be simple stripes in a single color or a palette, but it can also be single motifs that create stripes for a totally different look, as shown here:

In other words, don't let a term like "stripe" limit your imagination. A stripe repeat doesn't have to be simple lines!

Similar in it's simplicity to the stripe repeat, the dot repeat is as it sounds - an arrangement of dots! BUT, dots don't have to be dots. They can be other small motifs arranged with a bit of space between them to emulate dots, like this:
Read about the history of checkerboard pattern . In this article, Judy Stewart dives into the history and the significance behind the pattern. It's a fascinating read.
(In fact, Michael Miller has a fabric line that includes a dot repeat made up of...wait for it...pug poop!)

Really just a variation of a stripe repeat, plaid/check/gingham repeats can be used to beef up a collection and provide variety to your designs. Here is a very simple example of a plaid/check pattern:
Learn more about designing fabric patterns in the course, Create Your Own Fabric Design with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. In this course, instructor Lauren Dahl shows how to make a pattern out of your drawing, how to clean up your artwork using Photoshop and Illustrator, how to make use of on-demand fabric printing, and how to submit your pattern to fabric manufacturers.
A quick perusal of any fabric manufacturer's portfolio will show you that pattern types are often not so clean cut. Most pattern designers use combinations of two or more of the repeat types shown above to create single designs. Or, they might layer a toss layout over a plaid for a more interesting and complex look.

I encourage you to play around with all the repeats and create your own combinations!

There are probably an infinite number of repeat types...you could argue there are triangle repeats and hexagon repeats (like diamond/ogee repeats) and many others. Essentially, however, all repeats are iterations of the brick, block or drop repeats.

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Designing Fabric: 9 Common Patterns, Deconstructed

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As creatives, we love working with print and patterns-and designing patterns for use in fashion and home decor fabrics offers glorious opportunity for expanding your marketable skillset and establishing a new creative hobby. Print and digital designers can utilize the same tools, such as Photoshop and Illustrator, to p

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-Students explore and research technologies in pattern making.
-They evaluate manufacture methods according to need.
-They develop a piece (artwork or product, see VCE program) including a pattern making process.

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Observe and discuss patterns in movements or created by movement, including patterns that may not be palpable, visible in light and water shifts.
What mediums and tools might we use?

Consider:
-Various scales of patterns (see planetary movements...).
-Patterns in reflection of light, water and glass.
-Embodied movements.

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Action painting and dripping techniques through controlled body movement.

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Art Movements > Abstract Expressionism > Gestural Abstract Expressionism
Gestural Abstract Expressionism*
In 1948, the key formal concepts of Gestural Painting (of whom Pollock, De Kooning,
Kline and Gottblieb were the main protagonists) was formulated thus by Greenberg :

'The all-over, "decentralized", "polyphonic" picture relies on a surface knit together of
identical or closely similar elements which repeat themselves without marked variation
from one edge of the picture to the other. It is a kind of picture that dispenses,
apparently, with beginning, middle, end.'

and

'The "all-over" painter weaves his work of art into a tight mesh whose scheme of unity
is recapitulated at every meshing point. The fact that the variations upon equivalence
introduced by a painter like Pollock are sometimes so unobtrusive that at first glance
we might see in the result not equivalence, but an hallucinatory uniformity, only
enhances the result.'

According to Sandler, the all-over painting formally broke with European
Modernism in the following respect:

'In contrast to the synthetic Cubist image, whose distinct planes seem deliberately
pieced together, balanced and contained within the picture limits, the mass image,
composed of open and mobile painterly marks, appears to be impulsive and dynamic,
and to expand beyond the framing edges.'

Seeing Gestural Abstract Expressionism only, however, as the next, logical step in the
formal development of Modernism, can lead to a disregard of the vitally important content
of the art."' Almost all the Abstract Expressionists declared, at some stage or another, the
importance of content. Note, for instance, the following statement by De Kooning:

"Painting isn't just the visual thing that reaches your retina --- it's what is behind it and
in it."

Since Abstract Expressionism completely did away with representational imagery,
and because it became a deliberate statement of the artists not to title their works,
the issue of content is not an easy one. The Abstract Expressionists were generally
loath to leave any specific clues about the meaning of their paintings. Probably the most
significant clue, however, lies in the artists' own jocular suggestions regarding possible
names for their art at a conference held in April 1950 at the Manhattan Art School. The
names they came up with were "direct", "concrete" and "self-evident".

The basic theory behind Gestural Abstract Expressionism (taken to somewhat extreme
conclusions by Harold Rosenberg)' is that the artists' current emotional reality is directly
expressed on canvas via free, untrammelled, automatic gesture. According to Motherwell,
content for him was the expression of "reality as felt". The painting
would therefore serve as a metaphor, or sign, of the artists' temperament.

The expressionist philosopy of artmaking was initially expounded by Hofmann, who
conceived of the artwork as a process of interaction with the medium and not as a means to a
predetermined end. For Pollock, and the other gesture painters, the notion of process
became as important as the formal resolution of the final art piece. It was in the process of
interaction with the canvas and the medium that the intensity of the creative act could be
revealed. The gesture painters chose not to preconceive meanings or subjects for their art:
the process itself of painting was regarded as an intense, unpremeditated expression of their
creative experience.

The "in-the-moment" nature of gestural painting did not mean, however, that the artist
completely surrendered himself to an undisciplined, arbitrary slinging of paint. Pollock, in
an interview with William Wright, stated the deliberation of his drip technique as follows:

' With experience it seems to be possible to control the flow of the paint to a great extent
[and] ... I don't use the accident - "cause I deny the accident". '

William Rubin warns against the perception of the gestural painter as a cowboy
orgiastically flinging paint and surrendering decision to mindless kinetic activity. According
to him, Pollock painted with great spontaneity during the actual, physical execution of the
picture, in order to

"... circumvent the operation of ... pictorial inhibitions which derive from habit,
expectation and immersion in tradition, and to reach ... into areas of unconscious
experience. "

Yet Pollock did subsequently apply conscious control to endow the picture with order
and coherence. Rubin points out that Pollock was also at work during the
hours that he stared at the unfinished canvas, and that this meditative phase of his painting
was as important as when he painted "seismographically in response to immediate
inspiration".

Thus Gestural Expressionism combined aesthetic deliberation (required for the formal
resolution of pictorial elements) with the spontaneity and "automatic psychic content" of
free gesture.

* Drawn from notes compiled by L van Robbroeck for the University of South Africa

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Abstract Expressionism Art Movement - Gestural Abstract Expressionism

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Art Movements > Abstract Expressionism > Gestural Abstract Expressionism Gestural Abstract Expressionism* In 1948, the key formal concepts of Gestural Painting (of whom Pollock, De Kooning, Kline and Gottblieb were the main protagonists) was formulated thus by Greenberg : 'The all-over, "decentralized", "polyphonic" picture relies on a surface knit together of identical or closely similar elements which repeat themselves without marked variation from one edge of the picture to the other.

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Light Painting Photography | For the promotion and progression of Light Painting Art and Artist.

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Photography comes from the Greek words phos ("light"), and graphis ("stylus", "paintbrush") or graphí, together they mean "drawing with light". Light Painting Photography can be broken down into 3 general categories. The first is Light Drawing this is where the light source can be seen by the camera, during a long exposure the artist uses this light source to draw or create a design within the frame. The second category is Kinetic Light Painting, for this light painting technique the lights in the scene generally remain stationary while the camera itself is moved about during a long exposure to create color and design within the frame. The third category is Light Painting, this is where the artist uses handheld light sources to selectively illuminate parts of a scene during a long exposure photograph. The history below identifies many of the pioneers of Light Painting Photography. If you know of someone who should be included on the list and is not, please send us an email.

Étienne-Jules Marey and Georges Demeny: Light Painting 1889

Étienne-Jules Marey and Georges Demeny first met when Demeny enrolled in a physiology course being taught by Marey. The soon became close associates. Together they established a programme of research which was to lead to the creation of the 'Station Physiologique', which opened in 1882 in the Bois de Boulogne. Marey and Demeny developed several photographic techniques to study the movements of everything from humans to horses.

In 1889 Demeny attached incandescent bulbs to the joints of an assistant and created the first known light painting photograph "Pathological Walk From in Front".

Etienne-Jules Marey was also the first to write using long exposure photography as seen in this image below. We can consider this the first light writing even though Marey did not use a light source to draw the text instead he used a white ball on the end of a black stick against a black background utilizing the reflected light off the white surface of the ball to leave the traces in the image. Possibly also the first use of reflected light and movement used to create a image!

Frank Gilbreth: Light Painting Photography, 1914

In the year 1914 Frank Gilbreth, along with his wife Lillian Moller Gilbreth, used small lights and the open shutter of a camera to track the motion of manufacturing and clerical workers. The Gilbreth's did not create these light painting photographs as an artistic endeavor; they instead were studying what they called "work simplification". The Gilbreth's were working on developing ways to increase employee output and simplify their jobs. You can view the original Gilbreth films HERE.

Vilho Setälä: Light Painting Photography 1928

Finnish photographic pioneer Vilho Setälä began experimenting with photography at the age of 14 with a 9×12 film camera. In 1927 Vilho acquired a new "cinematic film camera" and began to explore the field of "creative photography" these explorations led to the image you see here know as "Electric Chandelier" from 1928. Electric Chandelier could be the first Kinetic Light Painting, that meaning the light in the scene stays stationary and the camera is moved to create the design during a long exposure. Setälä continued his creative explorations and eventually opened his own photo studio in Helsinki in 1932 where he worked as a professional photographer until 1945. Vilho also helped German camera maker Leica develop lenses after "defining the exact effect of the lens aperture on the sharpness range of the image and engraved the depth of field scale on the Leica camera."

Man Ray: Light Painting Photography, 1935

The first artist to explore the technique of light painting was Man Ray. Man Ray was best known for his avant-garde photography. He worked in several different media, and thought of himself as a painter above all else. Man Ray's contribution to light painting photography came in his series "Space Writing". In 1935 Man Ray set up a camera to produce a self-portrait. He opened the shutter of his camera and used a small penlight to create a series of swirls and lines in the air. Random circles and swirls are all these photographs were thought to be until in 2009, a photographer by the name of Ellen Carey, held a mirror up to the work and discovered the seemingly random light drawing was actually Man Ray's signature.

Wynn Bullock: Light Abstractions Late 1930's

In the late 1930's Photographer Wynn Bullock was working on his series called Light Abstractions. This was a series in which Wynn used reflected, transmitted, and refracted light as the subject matter of his images. Below is the first know image of a light painted spirograph.

Gjon Mili: Light Painting Photography, 1930-1940's

Next on the list of light painters is Gjon Mili. Gjon Mili was born in Albania and came to the United States in 1923. Gjon was trained as an engineer and was a self-taught photographer. In the mid 1930's Mili, working with Harold Eugene Edgerton from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), pioneered photoflash photography. Gjon used stroboscopic light to capture the motion of everything from dancers to jugglers in a single exposure. His photoflash techniques are still very much used today in light painting photography. Mili used this technique to study the motion of dancers, musicians, and figure skaters.

Mili's creation of photoflash photography work was just his first gift to the light painting world. In the 1940's Gjon attached small lights to the boots of ice skaters he then opened the shutter of his camera and created what would be the inspiration for some of the most famous light painting images ever created.

In 1949, while on assignment for Life Magazine, Gjon Mili was sent to photograph Pablo Picasso at his home in the South of France. While there Mili showed Picasso some of his light painting photographs of the figure skaters. Pablo was immediately inspired, Picasso took a penlight and began to draw in the air. Mili set up his camera and captured the images. This brief meeting yielded what would become known as Pablo Picasso's Light Drawings. Of all of these Drawing the most famous is known as "Picasso Draws a Centaur".

Picasso Draws a Centaur

Everything is Illuminated

Henri Matisse: Light Painting Photography 1949

This is the only known image of Henri Matisse creating a light painting, Like Picasso, Henri Matisse was also introduced to the light drawing art form by Gjon Mili.

Barbara Morgan: Light Painting Photography, 1940

Barbara Brooks Johnson was born on July 8, 1900, in the USA. She graduated from UCLA in 1923 where she studied figurative drawing and painting. In 1925 Barbara married Willard D. Morgan, a writer that illustrated his own articles with his photographs. Barbara began to assist Willard with his photography shoots, however she continued to paint only seeing photography as a way to document, not an artistic medium. In 1935 with two small children she was searching for a way to be a mother and an artist. While photographing a Sudan fertility icon and an Ivory Coast totemic mask, Barbara discovered that she could make these ritual sculptures seem either menacing or benign, simply by control of lighting. This was her gateway into seeing photography as an artistic medium. She then learned how to process in the darkroom and began photographing dancers. In 1940 in her continuing quest to do more with photography, Morgan "began to feel the pervasive, vibratory character of light energy as a partner of the physical and spiritual energy of the dance, and as the prime mover of the photographic process. "Suddenly, I decided to pay my respects to light, and create a rhythmical light design for the book tailpiece." She created gestural light drawings with an open shuttered camera in her darkened studio.

Jack Delano: Light Painting Photography, 1943

In 1943 Jack Delano a photographer for the Farm Security Administration used a slow shutter light painting technique to capture to motion of railroad workers and railroad cars while snapping photographs of the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad.

Andreas Feininger: Light Painting Photography, 1949

In February 1949 another Life Magazine photographer created some light painting photographs. In 1939 photographer, Andreas Feininger, immigrated to the United States. In 1943 he joined the staff of Life Magazine and in 1949 Andreas was on assignment in Anacostia, Maryland, Feininger set his camera up on a tripod, opened the shutter and produced light painting photographs of helicopters taking off and landing.

David Potts: Kinetic Light Painting

Kinetic Light Painting also known as Camera Painting is the process of moving the camera itself to create a design within the frame during a long exposure photograph, the lights in the scene generally stay stationary (although they don't have to). David Potts was widely recognized for his black and white documentary style photography when he began creating his colorful works. David said "Very simple. I wanted to explore what the available colour films would do." These works slightly predate the elegant colourist compositions of legendary fellow LIFE photographers such as Ernst Haas. In his 1953 image Potts transforms the familiar London landmark into a swirling mandala of colour. "I had a Linhof 5×4 view camera I had bought from Max Dupain with a [film] back that rotated 360 degrees. I simply wanted to see what using the camera's movements - turning the film around - would do [to Piccadilly Circus] during a long exposure." (source)

George Mathieu: 1957

George Mathieu is a French painter who gained an International reputation in the 1950's as a Abstract Expressionist. In 1957 George was in Tokyo Japan and used light painting to create this cover shot for a Japanese magazine.

David Lebe: Light Drawings, 1976

In 1969 photographer David Lebe began experimenting with pinhole cameras. It was this experimentation that lead to his revelation that a photograph didn't have to just capture an instant in time but that it could capture a whole event. In 1976 David was looking for an escape from his small cluttered Philadelphia apartment, so he turned out the lights. In the dark David was able to image the larger spaces he wished for. He opened the shutter of his camera and began work on the first of his light drawing series. These first images were self portraits where David used small pin lights to outline his own body.

Eric Staller: Light Painting Photography, 1976

Eric Staller could be called the father of light graffiti or light drawing in its present day form. Staller was born in 1947 in New York. He studied architecture at the University of Michigan and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1971. Towards the end of his time at UOM Eric started to create sculpture and pieces of performance art. From 1976 to 1980 Staller roamed the dark streets of New York City creating light painting photographs.

Eric's "Light Drawings" series could be the very first Light Art Performance Photographs ever created. It could be argued that Man Ray's "Space Writing" series were the first light art performance pieces but there is no doubt that Staller's images such as Light Tubes, Happy Street, and Technicolor Torsos all evoke elements of performance art. Eric's "Light Drawings" series is one of the most influential series on light painters today.

Dean Chamberlain: Light Painting Photography, 1977

Dean Chamberlain is the father of light painting photography in its present day form. He is the first artist to dedicate his entire body of work to the light painting art form. Dean was taking classes at Rochester Institute of Technology when he made his discover of light painting in the spring of 1977 when he created his first ever light painting "Polyethylene Bags on Chaise Lounge"

Dean was in his third year of college, he was experimenting and struggling to find his calling. Dean says he felt like his classmates were "blowing him out of the water" with their work. That was until Dean developed one special role of film. The instant that Dean saw his first light painting image he knew he had found what he was looking for. From that moment on Dean has only made light painting images. He may be the first person that actually called what he was doing "Light Painting".

Susan Hillbrand: Light Painting Photography, 1977

Susan Hillbrand began light painting in 1977. She was in a photo class at California State University, Northridge (where she graduated with a BFA in 2-D Art) when her instructor Jerry McMillian assigned the task of creating an unusual self portrait. Susan was throwing around some ideas when her husband suggested "you should try outlining your body with light" that statement sparked the idea of Susan's first "Penlight" and what would become a lifelong passion.

Jacques Pugin: Light Painting Photography, 1979

Landscape photographer Jacques Pugin was born in Bulle, Switzerland and moved to Zurich to become a photographer in 1972. In 1979 he began work on his light painting series "Graffiti greffés". Jacques continued working on his light paintings until 1982. "Graffiti greffés" was broadly exhibited and published on an international level. Pugin's light painting work was so well received he was awarded the Federal Grant of Applied Arts for three consecutive years.

Jozef Sedlák: Light Painting Photography, 1980

Photographer Jozef Sedlák was born in 1958 in Bratislava, Slovakia. Sedlák began his light painting work in 1980 with his series "Kurz sebapoznania". Kurz sebapoznania translated into english means "Rate-Self Knowledge". He is one of a group of artist working with staged photography who, in the 1980's, represented Slovakia on the international scene.

Vicki DaSilva: Light Painting Photography, 1980

Vicki DaSilva started creating her Light Painting Photographs in 1980 while she was attending college. Her work was heavily influenced by Joan Jonas and Richard Serra; artists that she worked with in her early years. Vicki has the honor of holding several light painting titles. She is the first female light painting artist and the first light painter to create "Text Light Graffiti". In 1986 Vicki was on a light painting trip to Paris where she met her husband Antonio DaSilva. Antonio was an electrician and she was searching for a way to use fluorescent bulbs in her work, they began light painting together in 1988. This was also the year (1988) when Vicki began attaching the fluorescent lights to a pulley track system. She is known for her light graffiti work as well as her elaborate installation based light paintings. Vicki also creates handheld traces and designs that she calls "Light Graffiti". Vicki lives in Pennsylvania and continues to create light painting photographs.

Mike Mandel: Light Painting Photography, 1980

Directly inspired by the Chronocyclegraphs of the Gilbreth's and molded by his fathers efforts to "Make Good Time" Mike Mandel set out on a 10 year journey starting in 1980 creating efficiency studies or everyday life. Mike's images "were made as a satire, examining daily life tasks that didn't need to be analyzed for efficiency's sake". Click here to read the LPP interview with Mike Mandel.

Kamil Varga: Light Painting Photography, 1983

Kamil Varga calls his light painting photography " Luminographie" and he describes it as "drawing with light on photosensitive material". He began light painting or "Luminographie" in 1983 when he created one of his first image "Paths of Light".

Kamil has created a large amount of work spanning several decades. His Light Painting images are focused on the human form. Kamil says this of his choice of mediums "Luminografie is great that you do not need a studio, you can practice quietly at home. Just a room where there is complete darkness."

John Hesketh: Light Painting Photography, 1985

In 1985 Artist John Hesketh took his camera into his back yard and began work on his first light painting series "Homelife". The subject matter of this series were objects in his everyday home life. John says this about the series " Before I was working with this work I was interested in how black and white records of red, green and blue made a full color image. While an image was separated I would draw paint scratch each black and white record before reassembling them on color film using the RGB filters. Making colors using a black crayon or paint was intense, educational, but very time consuming, 3 to 6 months an image. I also felt graphic instead of photographic. One night I took the camera and filters that I had been using to reassemble my drawings onto film, outside into my backyard and pointed it at this statue and cactus. The next day I saw this film and the road ahead." John uses color filters in his work where he will separate one color from entering into the camera while he is light painting. Hesketh lives in Anaheim California and continues to explore his light painting process with his latest light painting series "Los Angeles".

Tokihiro Sato: Light Painting Photography, 1988

Tokihiro Sato was born in 1957 in Sakata, Yamagata Japan. His Light Painting series Photo-Respiration is his most well known work. Photo-Respiration consists of two subsets, Breathing Light and Breathing Shadows. Sato shoots with an 8×10 camera and his exposures can last up to three hours. He was trained as a sculpture but found that photography better suited his desires. Tokihiro received his Masters degree from Tokyo National University. His light painting photographs are held throughout the world in public and private museums including the Guggenheim in New York and Museum of Modern Art in Saitama, Japan. He is currently a professor at the Tokyo University of the Arts and continues to work on his light painting imagery.

This is an evolving timeline of the history of light painting photography. If you know of any other artist that should be included in this light painting timeline please contact us. For a list of the artist currently pushing the limits of light painting photography please review the featured artist section of the site here.

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Light Painting History | Light Painting Photography

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Photography comes from the Greek words phos ("light"), and graphis ("stylus", "paintbrush") or graphí, together they mean "drawing with light". Light Painting Photography can be broken down into 3 general categories. The first is Light Drawing this is where the light source can be seen by the camera, during a long exposure the artist uses this light source to draw or create a design within the frame.

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If you think about it, it's funny to talk about movement when discussing photography. Photography is all about stopping motion, capturing split seconds in time. At the core, photography is about recording reality at 1/1000 of a second. Yet, is it this very thing that pushes us to show action? How can we create movement in a still image?

Before we can talk about showing movement, we need to understand the basics of how we freeze time to being with. If the photographer wants to stop or freeze a moment, they use a fast shutter speed and an electronic strobe (a flash) to accomplish this. The super fast shutter slices through time and stops the motion mid-flight. The strobe does the same thing. The best way to explain how the strobe works - and the reason I used the antiquated term strobe - was to drive home a point. If you've ever been to a nightclub with a strobe light, you notice how time seems to stop in small chunks as the strobe flashes. The camera's strobe does the same thing, and the film or sensor records this moment.

But for our purpose here, we want to accomplish the opposite. We want to show movement - to somehow elongate time. We can accomplish this in at least three different ways. Let look at them.

Long Exposure

Long exposure is the most obvious, but few people really use it effectively. When you want to show action, use a slower shutter speed. In the photo above, you see a man walking out of a green door. On the door and the walls are clues. We see a sign that says Musjid, meaning mosque. We can also see papers in a Persian or Indian styled arch. All these are clues to what is happening. But I wanted to show the man moving through the doorway. The problem is, if I shot the frame too slow, he would be so blurred he would look more like a phantom. But at 1/20th of a second, we cannot only see he is a man, but we can also see he is wearing Indian clothing and a prayer cap, giving us clues to where the photo was taken. Without a tripod, shots like this can be difficult to capture. For this shot, I leaned the camera against a wall to steady it.

Another way to show movement with a long shutter speed is to use a tripod and set your camera's shutter speed to something closer to 20 to 30 seconds. If you are in a crowded location, some people will inevitably remain stationary while others move. Anything motionless - like a building, a street sign, markings on the street or certain people - will be in focus while life seems to be passing them by. It's a fun and creative technique that capitalizes on the slow shutter value to show movement. It can also serve to emphasize how crowded a location is.

Panning

Another technique that a photographer can use to show movement is panning. Panning is a simple yet effective technique that delivers the opposite effect of the long exposure technique above. While panning, a photographer sets the shutter to a slower speed - anywhere between 1/15th to 1/30th of a second - and moves the camera at the same speed as the subject. By doing this, the subject will appear more in focus and the background will be blurred. Panning gives a different point of view (POV) than the long exposure technique. It makes the viewer feel as if they are moving along with the subject and the world is rushing by them. Done effectively, the photographer can achieve some stunning effects.

You can also play with around with the panning technique and get different effects. For instance, panning from a moving vehicle will give you a much different feel than standing stationary.

Panning while moving at the same speed as your subject will give you a different feel than panning a stationary object from a moving vehicle.

For more tips on effective panning techniques, check out Gavin Gough's blog.

Rear Curtain Sync

The last technique to consider is a mix of both long exposure and panning, with the addition of flash.

To start with, you need to understand a shutter is not one curtain, but two. One curtain opens up from the bottom to expose the sensor, and then another follows in a split second to close or hide the sensor from the exposing light.

Usually when we use a flash, the shutter's first curtain opens, the flash fires, and then the shutter's second curtain closes. The flash is synced to fire right when the first curtain opens, at around 1/180th of a second to about 1/200th of a second on the average camera. After the first curtain opens and the flash fires, the image is recorded and motion is stopped (remember the disco strobe).

However, while the shutter is still open, ambient light is still etching an image on the sensor until the second curtain closes. Let's suppose a ball enters the frame from the right. Just as it enters the frame traveling towards the left, the flash fires and freezes the image on the sensor. But with the shutter still open, the blurred image of the ball crossing the frame is still recording. In the end, the photo looks a ball but with a "trail" of itself reaching out in front of it. Very odd.

But what if you could somehow turn that around and show the ball leaving the frame, with the motion blur trailing behind it, much like an artist might draw motion lines behind a ball in a cartoon? It would look natural and feel right. The good news there is a way to do that simply by changing which curtain the shutter syncs with. It will alter the outcome and give us that "trailing tail." Most advance flashes and camera have an option for something called rear curtain sync or second curtain sync.

Many photographers use a slow shutter sync to bring in more ambient light - this is called dragging the shutter. What we are talking about here is really slow shutter speeds. It is not uncommon to use rear curtain sync with a shutter speed as slow as 1 second. It can give a very dream-like effect that combines the suspension of time with movement.

Play around with these three simple techniques for showing motion, and you will give yourself and your work a creative boost.

Bonus: Learn how to take better photos, try a photography course from NYIP today!

About the Author

Matt Brandon is a Malaysia-based humanitarian and travel photographer who collaborates with NGOs to tell their stories and to train their field staff to do the same. Well known as a photographer and international workshop instructor, Matt's images have been used by clients such as Partner Aid International, NeighborWorks, the BBC, Honda Motor Corporation, Bombadier Transport Corporation, Asian Geographic, KLM Airlines and others. His photographic pursuits have taken him to Egypt, Tibet, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Maldives, Philippines, and Malaysia, to name a few. Matt is also a key member of the International Guild of Visual Peacemakers, on the advisory board for Focus for Humanity, and on the design board for Think Tank Photo, a camera bag manufacturer. Keep up with Matt's photos, travels, and product reviews at www.thedigitaltrekker.com

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3 Techniques for Capturing Motion in Photography

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If you think about it, it's funny to talk about movement when discussing photography. Photography is all about stopping motion, capturing split seconds in time. At the core, photography is about recording reality at 1/1000 of a second. Yet, is it this very thing that pushes us to show action?

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According to students preferences and capabilities, they may experiment creating patterns through various methods: Action painting and dripping; embodied painting; and light or motion photography.

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According to student preferences, project and capabilities, they may experiment creating:
-Embodied practice such as big scale drip and/or body painting.
-Photography and/or film of light and water play.

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Carving, using sharp tools.

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Japanese traditional patterns can be found on kimonos, tenugui hand towels and all manner of other small Japanese items. Learning their names and origins reveals their auspicious meanings and the wishes for happiness that they embody. Here are some of the best-known traditional Japanese patterns.

Uroko (Scales)

The combination of triangles resembles the scales of a snake or fish. Samurai would wear clothing with the pattern as a talisman to protect themselves from harm.

Kōjitsunagi (Interlaced Kō Characters)

This pattern is named for the repeated use of the 工 ( kō) character. The way the interlocking characters seem to stretch into infinity is associated with good fortune, and the design is often used in kimono material.

Asanoha (Hemp Leaves)

Asanoha is a pattern representing hemp leaves. Hemp has strong vitality and grows vigorously without the need for a lot of care, so this pattern was often used on babies' and children's kimonos with the hope that they would grow up big and strong.

Yabane / Yagasuri (Arrow Feathers)

This design is based on hawk, eagle, and other bird feathers used in arrows. With their symbolism of aiming for a target, arrows have long been used as an auspicious pattern. And because, once shot, arrows do not return, in the Edo period (1603-1868) brides were given kimonos featuring this yabane pattern for good luck to ensure they would not need to return to their original family home.

In the late 1970s, Benio, the main character of Haikara-San: Here Comes Miss Modern, a manga for teenage girls, wore this type of kimono while at school, and this led to its pairing with maroon hakama, a type of divided skirt, becoming a popular combination at graduation ceremonies.

Same Komon (Shark Skin)

This pattern is so named because its overlapping arcs of small dots resemble shark skin. It was used by the Kishū Tokugawa family, to which Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshimune (1684-1751) belonged.

Seigaiha (Blue Ocean Waves)

This pattern represents fan-shaped waves of the open sea. The name originates from the gagaku ancient court dance called Seigaiha, in which the dancers wear costumes with this pattern. There is a scene in The Tale of Genji where Genji dances the Seigaiha.

Shippō (Seven Treasures)

Circles overlapping in quarters resemble petals and each center forms a shining star. This pattern is regarded as auspicious for the prosperity of descendants, good relationships, and for bringing harmony.

Kikkō (Tortoiseshell)

This is an auspicious pattern derived from the shape of the tortoiseshell (hexagon), which represents longevity. Simple tessellation of hexagons leads to a wide number of variations, including Kikkō hanabishi, where the center of the hexagons form flowers, and Bishamon kikkō, created by joining three hexagons together.

Ichimatsu (Checkered)

This pattern has different colored squares arranged alternately and is similar to a gingham pattern. While it has been a common woven pattern since ancient times, it became known as Ichimatsu in the eighteenth century as the kabuki actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu liked to use it on his costume hakama. It features in the logos for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Tachiwaki / Tatewaki (Rising Steam)

Two curving lines represent steam gently rising. This was often used as a pattern on kimonos for people of high status in the Heian period (794-1185). Changes to the way the lines curve create variations such as Kumo tatewaku (cloud) and Sasa tatewaku (bamboo).

Karakusa (Winding Plant)

This pattern was introduced into Japan via the Silk Road; the vines stretching in all directions symbolize longevity and prosperity. For some reason, however, it has become well known as the pattern of the furoshiki cloth that robbers used to carry off stolen goods. It suggests that whichever house they broke into, the pattern was so popular that there was always a furoshiki with the pattern there.

Kanoko (Fawn)

This pattern gets its name because it looks like the spotted back of a fawn. It is created by hand using a tie-dyeing technique and is very labour-intensive, so a kimono with an all-over kanoko pattern is considered a luxury item.

Hishi (Diamond)

This is a pattern where geometrical shapes are created when two parallel lines intersect and can be found even on pottery from the ancient Jōmon period. Some of the many variations include Waribishi featuring four diamonds combined to form one and Hanabishi where flower petals have been shaped into diamonds.

Mameshibori (Pea Tie-dye)

This was the most popular pattern on hand towels in the Edo period. Mame is a play on words, meaning both peas or beans, as well as sturdy and healthy, so represents the hope of staying in sound health. Most mameshibori patterns these days are created using stencil dyeing or printing techniques, so the dots are regular. However, as the name shibori indicates, this pattern was originally handmade using a tie-dyeing technique, meaning the dots were once a more irregular shape.
(Translated from Japanese.)

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Japanese traditional patterns can be found on kimonos, tenugui hand towels and all manner of other small Japanese items. Learning their names and origins reveals their auspicious meanings and the wishes for happiness that they embody. Here are some of the best-known traditional Japanese patterns.

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Analysing hidden patterns in our environments, throughout history, geography and cultures.

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A principle of art and the universe itself, a pattern is an element (or set of elements) that is repeated in a piece of work or an associated set of works. Artists use patterns as decoration, as a technique of composition, or as an entire piece of artwork. Patterns are diverse and useful as a tool that grabs a viewer's attention, whether it be subtle or very apparent.

What are Patterns?

Patterns are innate parts of art that attract and mesmerize the viewer. The ability to recognize patterns is a baseline skill of humans and identifying patterns in paintings is a practice that tends to have a soothing psychological effect on the viewer.

Pattern recognition is a fundamental function of the human brain-in fact of all animals, and it can apply to visual images but also sound and smell. It allows us to take in and quickly understand our environments. Pattern recognition is what allows us to do everything from recognizing individuals and their emotional states to solving jigsaw puzzles to sensing when a storm is due. As a result, patterns in art satisfy and intrigue us, whether those patterns are clearly identifiable, such as Andy Warhol's repeated images of Marilyn Monroe, or must be parsed out, as in Jackson Pollack's seemingly random splatters.

How Artists Use Patterns

Patterns can help set the rhythm of a piece of art. When we think of patterns, images of checkerboards, bricks, and floral wallpaper come to mind. Yet patterns go far beyond that: a pattern doesn't always have to be an identical repetition of an element.

Patterns have been used since some of the first art was created in ancient times. We see it in a pride of lions on the walls of 20,000-year-old Lascaux Cave, and on the cord-markings in the first pottery made 10,000 years ago. Patterns have regularly adorned architecture throughout the ages. Many artists over the centuries added pattern embellishments to their work, whether strictly as decoration or to signify a known object, such as a woven basket.

"Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern."-Alfred North Whitehead (British Philosopher and Mathematician, 1861-1947)

Forms of Patterns

In art, patterns can come in many forms. An artist may use color to signify a pattern, repeating a single or select palette of colors throughout a work. They can also use lines to form patterns such as in Op Art. Patterns can also be shapes, whether geometric (as in mosaics and tessellations) or natural (floral patterns), that are found in art.

Patterns can also be seen in an entire series of work. Andy Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Can" (1962) is an example of a series that, when displayed together as intended, creates a distinct pattern.

Artists tend to follow patterns in their entire body of work as well. The techniques, media, approaches, and subjects they choose can show a pattern across a lifetime of work and it often defines their signature style. In this sense, pattern becomes a part of the process of an artist's actions, a behavioral pattern, so to speak.

Natural Patterns

Patterns are found everywhere in nature, from the leaves on a tree to the microscopic structure of those leaves. Shells and rocks have patterns, animals and flowers have patterns, even the human body follows a pattern and includes countless patterns within it.

In nature, patterns are not set to a standard of rules. Sure, we can identify patterns, but they are not necessarily uniform. Snowflakes nearly always have six sides, but each separate snowflake has a pattern that is different from every other snowflake.

A natural pattern can also be broken up by a single irregularity or be found outside of the context of an exact replication. For instance, a species of tree may have a pattern to its branches but that doesn't mean every branch grows from a designated spot. Natural patterns are organic in design.

Man-Made Patterns

Man-made patterns, on the other hand, tend to strive for perfection. A checkerboard is easily recognizable as a series of contrasting squares drawn with straight lines. If a line is out of place or one square is red rather than black or white, this challenges our perception of that well-known pattern.

Humans also attempt to replicate nature within man-made patterns. Floral patterns are a perfect example because we are taking a natural object and turning it into a repeating pattern with some variation. The flowers and vines do not have to be replicated exactly. The emphasis comes from the general repetition and placement of the elements within the overall design.

Irregular Patterns in Art

Our minds tend to recognize and enjoy patterns, but what happens when that pattern is broken? The effect can be disturbing and it will certainly catch our attention because it is unexpected. Artists understand this, so you will often catch them throwing irregularities into patterns.

For example, the work of M.C. Escher plays off our desire for patterns and that is why it is so captivating. In one of his most famous works, "Day and Night" (1938), we see the checkerboard morph into flying white birds. Yet, if you look closely, the tessellation reverses itself with blackbirds flying in the opposite direction.

Escher distracts us from this by using the familiarity of the checkerboard pattern along with the landscape below. At first, we know that something isn't quite right and that's why we keep looking at it. In the end, the pattern of the birds mimics the patterns of the checkerboard.

The illusion would not work if it did not rely on an uncertainty of pattern. The result is a piece with high impact that is memorable to all who view it.

Sources and Further Reading

Briggs, John. "Fractals: The Patterns of Chaos: a New Aesthetic of Art, Science, and Nature." New York: Touchstone, 1992.

Leoneschi, Francesca and Silvia Lazzaris. "Patterns in Art: A Closer Look at the Old Masters." Abbeville Press, 2019

Mattson, Mark P. "Superior Pattern Processing Is the Essence of the Evolved Human Brain." Frontiers in Neuroscience 8 (2014): 265-65. Print.

Norman, Jane. "Patterns East and West: Introduction to Pattern in Art for Teachers with Slides and Materials." Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986.

Phillips, David. "Patterns in Pictures for Art and Science." Leonardo 24.1 (1991): 31-39. Print.

Shen, Xi, Alexei A. Efros, and Mathieu Aubry. "Discovering Visual Patterns in Art Collections with Spatially-Consistent Feature Learning." Proceedings IEEE Conf. on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR). arXiv:1903.02678v2, 2019. Print.

Swan, Liz Stillwaggon. "Deep Naturalism: Patterns in Art and Mind." The Journal of Mind and Behavior 34.2 (2013): 105-20. Print.

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A principle of art and the universe itself, a pattern is an element (or set of elements) that is repeated in a piece of work or an associated set of works. Artists use patterns as decoration, as a technique of composition, or as an entire piece of artwork.

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Below you will find a variety of microscopy images ranging from insects to artistic diatoms. Most of these images have been contributed to this gallery by microscopy enthusiasts. Each category has an entire gallery, so go ahead and click on the image title to learn more! You may want to read this article on image size and resolution. If you have captured some images under the microscope and would like to share them please email microbus!

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Microscopy Image Gallery | Microbus Microscope Educational Website

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Below you will find a variety of microscopy images ranging from insects to artistic diatoms. Most of these images have been contributed to this gallery by microscopy enthusiasts. Each category has an entire gallery, so go ahead and click on the image title to learn more!

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Do you need some examples of images at different magnifications under a microscope?

The different images below were taken with two different types of microscopes. The images of Paulownia wood, hair, and frog's blood were captured with a high power compound microscope using a Nikon camera adapter. The compound microscope typically has three or four magnifications - 40x, 100x, 400x, and sometimes 1000x.

At 40x magnification you will be able to see 5mm.

At 100x magnification you will be able to see 2mm.

At 400x magnification you will be able to see 0.45mm, or 450 microns.

At 1000x magnification you will be able to see 0.180mm, or 180 microns.

The images taken of the sunflower with the moth pupa were taken with a low power or stereo microscope. A stereo microscope is a good instrument for viewing insects, coins, leaves, or anything you might hold in the palm of your hand, but need to see more detail on the item. The images of the moth were taken using an OIympus camera using a digital SLR camera adapter.

Paulownia Wood Under a Compound Microscope

Paulownia Wood c.s. (cross section)
under a compound microscope

20x Magnification

Paulownia Wood c.s.
under a compound microscope

40x Magnification

Paulownia Wood c.s.
under a compound microscope

100x Magnification

Paulownia Wood c.s.
under a compound microscope

200x Magnification

These images are provided courtesy of Robert Lavigne. Paulownia are deciduous trees native to much of China. The Paulownia fortunei tree is a fast-growing tree that is often grown commercially for production of hardwood timber. More information on Paulownia Wood can be found here.

Human Hair Under a Compound Microscope

Human Hair under a Compound Microscope

100x Magnification

Human Hair under a Compound Microscope

400x Magnification

Human Hair under a Compound Microscope

400x Magnification

Frog's Blood Under a Compound Microscope

Frog's Blood under a Compound Microscope
(Biological Microscope model MT5000)

Image captured using the Lumenera Infinity 1-3 Camera

400x Magnification

Frog's Blood under a Compound Microscope
(Biological Microscope model MT5000)

Image captured with a Nikon Coolipix 3mp Camera

1000x Magnification

Moth Pupa Under a Stereo Microscope

Sunflower with Moth Pupa in the Stem under Stereo Microscope

All images captured using an Olympus SLR camera

10x Magnification

Moth Pupa under Stereo Microscope

30x Magnification

Heath of Moth Pupa under Stereo Microscope

60x Magnification

You may find these similar articles interesting and helpful as well:
Types of Microscopes What is a Compound Microscope?
What is a Stereo Microscope?

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Microscope Images at Various Magnifications

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Do you need some examples of images at different magnifications under a microscope? The different images below were taken with two different types of microscopes. The images of Paulownia wood, hair, and frog's blood were captured with a high power compound microscope using a Nikon camera adapter.

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What are the patterns surrounding us? Where are they, why?
These may be material textures within the industrial and natural worlds.

Consider:
-Various scales (see biology microscope patterns...).
-Industrial and human-made materials.
-Geographical position and contexts, affecting climate, flora, fauna and landforms.
- Patterns in cultures and art history.

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Investigating and creating a range of motifs to develop various types of patterns.

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Linoleum carving and printing understandings.

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Tutorial : Block Printing Basics - Carving the Block

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Drawing digitally motifs and all-over patterns on Illustrator (Adobe Creative Cloud), contextualised within a discipline.

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Australian Aboriginal Art shares stories of the artist's Dreaming. Also known as the Dreamtime, Jukurrpa, and Songlines, Aboriginal Art shares an insight into a rich and strong culture.

Supernatural beings traversed the continent in an intricate web of Dreaming tracks, they created everything. Rainbow Serpents, Lighting men and a whole host of beings created the world of Aboriginal people. Not only did they create the landscape and all that resides within it, but they also laid down the laws of social and religious customs which to this day remain at the core of Aboriginal identity and dictate much of daily life. And despite what you may think the Dreaming does not refer to dreams or unreality, nor is it an ancient history. The Dreaming is all-encompassing as the past, the present, and the future - it is lived. Each Aboriginal artist inherits their Dreaming by decent which luckily for us translates into glorious Aboriginal artworks which support economic independence and are a source of incredible pride for the artists.

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Buy Aboriginal Art Ethically with ART ARK®

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Supernatural beings traversed the continent in an intricate web of Dreaming tracks, they created everything. Rainbow Serpents, Lighting men and a whole host of beings created the world of Aboriginal people.

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Experimenting pattern making through movements of tools, mediums, subject and body.

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(VCAA, 2020)

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Comparing, testing and evaluating pattern making processes and technologies, for research, personal exploration, and project development.

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Natural hand dying and eco-printing with Australian native flora.

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Art and design contexts

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T he Visual Element of Pattern is constructed by repeating or echoing the elements of an artwork to communicate a sense of balance, harmony, contrast, rhythm or movement. There are two basic types of pattern in art: Natural Pattern and Man-Made Pattern. Both natural and man-made patterns can be regular or irregular, organic or geometric, structural or decorative, positive or negative and repeating or random.

Natural Pattern: Pattern in art is often based on the inspiration we get from observing the natural patterns that occur in nature. We can see these in the shape of a leaf and the branches of a tree, the structure of a crystal, the spiral of a shell, the symmetry of a snowflake and the camouflage and signalling patterns on animals, fish and insects.

Man-Made Pattern: Pattern in art is used for both structural and decorative purposes. For example, an artist may plan the basic structure of an artwork by creating a compositional pattern of lines and shapes. Within that composition he/she may develop its visual elements to create a more decorative pattern of color, tone and texture across the work.

Our selection of artworks illustrated below have been chosen because they all use pattern in an inspirational manner. We have analyzed each of these to demonstrate how great artists use this visual element as a creative force in their work.

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T he Visual Element of Pattern is constructed by repeating or echoing the elements of an artwork to communicate a sense of balance, harmony, contrast, rhythm or movement. There are two basic types of pattern in art: Natural Pattern and Man-Made Pattern.

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This timeline is a chronological schema, year 7 to year 12. The content shows progress in transdisciplinary pattern making. Each year level aims to develop pattern knowledge and skills around specific themes and contexts, through the application of painting, drawing or printmaking processes. These levels of study can be delivered independently and associated to broader units, within art or design learning areas.

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Snow flakes are even more amazing from up close.

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BLOCK PRINTING - LINOCUT FLORALS | TIPS AND TRICKS

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Chinese Rubbing

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Mirroring China's Past: The Art of Chinese Rubbings

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Students can create repeated patterns through experimenting with various tools or brushed. It is recommended to avoid pre-drawing a pattern, as the shapes are created from the chosen tool imprint.

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Want to learn how to make and paint with stencils? Looking for a fun way to engage with your creative side, as an adult and especially, as a kid. Want to learn about 7 tips to ensure a flawless painting when using stencils? If so, keep reading. See Stencils and Stencil Maker for more ideas.

You will find this article is divided into two sections:
A. How to Make Your Own Stencils.
B. Essential Tips on How to Paint with Stencils.

A. How to Make Your Own Stencils

Besides being cost-effective, the best part about DIY stencils is that they can be personalized. Customized stencils can be used to give presents, make cards, etc. Not sure where to begin? Don't worry, in this section we'll give you a step-by-step procedure on how to make your own DIY stencils. The first thing you will want to do is gather your supplies.

DIY Stencil Supplies

Blank stencil material - including vinyl, mylar, plastic sheet. (Paper and cardboard are great if you only want to make one or two prints.)

Precision craft knife (e.g., Exacto Knife) or vinyl cutter.

Cutting mat.

Patterns.

Step 1: Find or Create a Design

Before starting, we would suggest that you find a design that you love. Whether you're making a homemade card, intricate patterns for your wall, or designing your own furniture, it is very important to move forward with something you like. If you know how to draw, go ahead and customize your own pattern. For beginners, we suggest fewer curves and edges and more straight lines until you get the hang of it. Some stencil patterns and designs can be found at:

Step 2: Transfer your Design

A. The easiest approach is to simply print out a design you like and tape your design to your stencil blank. If using a transparent stencil blank, you can tape your design either on top of or below the blank. If using a non-transparent stencil blank, then you will have to tape your design on top of the blank.

B. Trace or draw your design directly on the stencil blank with either a sharpie or a fine tip marker. Consider using a ruler for marking straight lines.

Step 3: Cut out your Stencil Design.

Use a precision knife or a vinyl cutter to cut out your design. Make sure the knife is sharp to prevent accidentally ripping the stencil material. An X-Acto knife would be the perfect example since it runs smoothly on the plastic sheet and causes minimal damage. Consider using a ruler for cutting straight lines.

Step 4: Enjoy Your New Stencil

Congratulations - your new stencil is ready for use! Use your new stencil to paint a wall, decorate furniture, or make DIY cards for other people. What's better than designing your own cards and personalizing them for your friends and loved ones? See the next section Essential Tips on Painting with Stencils for sure-fire ways ways to paint with stencils.

B. Essential Tips on How to Paint with Stencils.

Below are some sure-fire tips to help you achieve the best results when stenciling.

Use thicker paint. Thick paint is less likely to flow under the stencil creating bleed through (i.e., paint creeping under the design or letters in your stencil).

Adhere your stencil to the surface before painting so it does not move while you're in the process of painting. For best results apply a spray adhesive on the bottom of your stencil and then press it in place. The spray adhesive will securely hold the stencil in place while also preventing bleed through. When finished painting, the stencil held in place with spray adhesive can easily be removed.

Use a stencil brush or a sponge rather than a paint brush. Unlike a paint brush, a stencil brush is firmly packed with short bristles. Lightly dab the paint onto the stencil. Go up and down with your brush or sponge. If rubbing back and forth like painting, it will likely go under the stencil making a mess.

Apply multiple light coats of paint. If using excessive paint, the paint might flow under the stencil. Let each layer of paint dry before you paint another one on top of it. Easy strokes are the way to go.

Clean your stencil after you're done so that you can use it again whenever you want to!

Keep your stencil on a completely flat surface when painting.

Test your stencil and paint on a practice piece before attempting on the real material.

Conclusion on Stenciling

Stenciling is not just for adults, but for kids too. Stenciling can develop and enhance children's hand-eye coordination. Creating and using stencils not only challenges an individual but also gives them great satisfaction after the job is completed. Besides being a great productive pass time, stenciling can instill artistic qualities in an individual at a very young age. Now that you know how to make stencils and things to avoid or do, just remember to have fun while stenciling!

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How to Make and Paint Stencils (7 Must Try Tips for Amazing Results)

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Want to learn how to make and paint with stencils? Looking for a fun way to engage with your creative side, as an adult and especially, as a kid. Want to learn about 7 tips to ensure a flawless painting when using stencils? If so, keep reading.

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Geometric Printing with the Humble Potato

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According to student preferences, project and capabilities, they may:
-Paint geometrical shapes as motifs to create an all-over pattern.
-Develop motif stencils for an all-over pattern design.
-Develop motif stamps to create a repeated all-over pattern.

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-Students can use and recognise the types of repeats to create patterns.
-They create a range of motifs that can be repeated to create an all-over pattern.
-They compose an all-over pattern, through repetition and juxtaposition of single motifs.

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Maarit Hänninen

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Handmade linocut prints by

Maarit Hänninen

Get €10 off your first order and early access to new prints and special offers.
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Each print in my collection is a result of heartfelt effort, designed with passion, and crafted by hand using hand-carved linocut blocks and an old-school printmaking press. Thank you for visiting, and I hope you enjoy the artistry!

﻿Free worldwide shipping on print orders above €100.

Enjoy €10 off your initial purchase along with early access to new prints and exclusive deals.

Such a gorgeous piece of work - we're so happy to have this. The packaging was so well done it made it to rainy NZ in perfect condition!
We Love it.

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Handmade decorative art prints by Finnish artist and linocut printmaker Maarit Hänninen.

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-Motif: What shape, design, colours, size? What ideas and concepts does this express?

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-Carve out motif in lino to prepare printing process.
-Consider type of paper or materials to print on.
-Develop and experiment pattern composition and placement (single or repeated).

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According to student preferences, project and capabilities, they:
-Develop a motif and/or a pattern, through drawing and linoleum printing.
-They contextualise and present their productions.

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-Students explain the impact of pattern to express meaning.
-They practice linoleum carving and printmaking safely.
-They consider material, composition and context to display their pattern appropriately.
-They can explain and justify their choices to discuss meaning.

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3dottedPenguins - Ali

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Linogravure Gel Printing Digital Pattern Making Monoprinting Stamping Cyanotype

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Sand, light pendulums-Lissajous patterns-part two // Homemade Science with Bruce Yeany

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According to student preferences, project and capabilities, they may experiment:
-Rubbing printmaking, including texture study, evaluation and reproduction.
-Eco-printing with local flora.

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Vanja Paunovic

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Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA). (2020). VCE Study Designs. Visual Arts. https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/Pages/vce-study-designs.aspx

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Apply digital drawing and printmaking tools

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Apply digital drawing and printmaking tools

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-Reproduce a drawn or painted motif on Illustrator with the 'pen' and 'layer' tools.
-Create an all-over pattern (simple/complexe) through various digital methods.

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-They explain the characteristics of a pattern, within this context.
-They research for inspiration in art history, and patterns created by movements across multiple disciplines.
-They create patterns through the use of movements, captured through paint, photography or film.
-They explain what a medium is and reflect on their choices and final production.

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According to student preferences, project and capabilities, they:
-Develop digital illustrations and patterns though various tools and methods.

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Liz Kummer

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Figure, pattern, design, motif, device are comparable when they mean a unit in a decorative composition (as in an ornamented textile or fabric) consisting of a representation of a natural, conventionalized, or geometrical shape or a combination of such representations.

Figure commonly refers to a small, simple unit which is repeated or is one of those repeated over an entire surface. A figure may be one of the outlines associated with geometry (as a triangle, diamond, pentagon, or circle) or such an outline filled in with color, lines, or a representation of another kind; it may, however, be a natural or conventionalized representation of a natural form (as a leaf, flower, or animal).

Pattern may be used in place of figure, but figure is not interchangeable with the more inclusive senses of pattern. The latter term is applicable not only to the simplest repeated unit, or figure, or to a larger repeated unit involving several related figures but also to the whole plan of decoration or adornment. Also, pattern may be used of other things than those which are visible, objective works of art and craftsmanship but which nevertheless can be viewed or studied as having diverse parts or elements brought together so as to present an intelligible and distinctive whole.

Design (see also PLAN ), (see also INTENTION ) emphasizes drawing and arrangement and attention to line and the handling of figures and colors; it often specifically denotes a single unit (figure or pattern) which reveals these qualities.

Motif (see also SUBJECT 2 ) is frequently used in the decorative arts for a figure or a design which stands out not necessarily as the only one but as the leading one which gives the distinctive character of the whole.

Device applies usually to a figure that bears no likeness to anything in nature but is the result of imagination or fancy. Unlike the other terms, it does not exclusively apply to a decorative unit, though it occurs frequently in that application.

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Figure vs Pattern vs Design vs Motif vs Device - What's the difference?

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Figure, pattern, design, motif, device are comparable when they mean a unit in a decorative composition (as in an ornamented textile or fabric) consisting of a representation of a natural, conventionalized, or geometrical shape or a combination of such representations.

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Types of regular and irregular patterns in art and design contexts

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Types of regular and irregular patterns in art and design contexts

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What is a pattern? - Pattern - AQA - GCSE Art and Design Revision - BBC Bitesize

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Learn how a motif can be repeated to create patterns as part of revision for GCSE Art and Design.

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-Students can contextualise pattern making as a process within a range of disciplines.
-They can explain the use for patterns.
-They develop digital illustrations and patterns though Illustrator (ACC).

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-Students record, annotate and reflect on a wide range of observed patterns (art diary process).
-Student reproduce observed textured and/or fauna patterns, through rubbing printing or eco-printing.

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The woman who painted her body for artist Yves Klein

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Elena Palumbo-Mosca talks about why she was happy to cover her body in paint to create artworks for the French artist Yves Klein in 1960.

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Ah, repeats! Choosing a repeat style for a design can be tricky as there are so many factors to consider.

Does it look right? Is it too repetitive? Is the scale too large? Does it look forced?

The questions never end in the quest for the perfect design. Now, lets get to what the 4 types of pattern repeats are!

The 4 types of pattern repeats are:

All are fantastic in their own right and can be used for many different styles of designs. Some are better suited to certain styles than others, depending on the motifs being used and the overall look you're trying to achieve.

Below are images and descriptors on each type of pattern repeat; happy reading!

Full Drop Repeat

A full drop repeat is the most simple of all repeats.

To create a full drop repeat you simply multiply your motif along the same line horizontally and vertically.

Doing this will result in a design similar to the one on the left.

Half Drop Repeat

A half drop repeat is often desired to break up the uniform look that a full drop repeat can often give.

To create a half drop repeat, you step your motif horizontally and then align the top of the second motif to the center of the first motif.

Once this is done, you then duplicate both motifs at the same time along the same horizontal and vertical lines.

Mirror Repeat

A mirror repeat can provide quite an interesting look if done right. Depending on the motif, you can sometimes end up with odd bits that have mirrored, creating a new object and now look a little out of place.

To create a mirror repeat, you duplicate your motif horizontally and then select the 'mirror' option in your design program.

You then duplicate both motifs across the same horizontal line.

Repeat this process vertically and you will have an all over mirrored repeat.

Continuous Repeat

A continuous repeat is possibly the most difficult, though it can be the best looking for any motif.

To create a continuous repeat, you start by designating an area such as a perfect square.

Place your motif so that it overlaps one edge of the square and sits outside of it. You would then duplicate this motif and place it in the exact same position on the opposite side of the square.

Continue this both horizontally and vertically and your square should appear like the image on the left.

Crop your file to the exact size of the square, discarding the elements sitting outside of it.
This will be your repeat tile that will perfectly align when tiled together.

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Ah, repeats! Choosing a repeat style for a design can be tricky as there are so many factors to consider. Does it look right? Is it too repetitive? Is the scale too large? Does it look forced? The questions never end in the quest for the perfect design.