The main difference between drawing and painting is that drawing focuses on lines and shapes, while painting focuses on colour and form.
Drawing and painting are two different visual art forms. Drawing is the art of representing an object or outlining a figure, plan or sketch by means of lines while painting is the practice of applying colour to a solid surface such as a paper or canvas. Sometimes, drawing can be the basis of a painting.
Key Areas Covered
1. What is Drawing
– Definition, Features
2. What is Painting
– Definition, Features, Elements
3. Difference Between Drawing and Painting
– Comparison of Key Differences
Key Terms
Art, Drawing, Painting
What is Drawing
Drawing is the art of representing an object or outlining a figure, plan or sketch by means of lines. A drawing can also refer to a picture made with a pencil, pen, or crayon rather than paint. Drawing uses various instruments like pencils, pen and ink, wax colour pencils, crayons, inked brushes, and charcoal and various surfaces such as paper, cardboard or canvas. Irrespective of the materials used, drawing produces an accurate representation of the visual world upon a plane surface. Even doodles, cartoons, technical drawings seen in fields like fashion design, architecture and interior design are considered as drawings.
Drawing mainly focuses on creating lines and shapes using a pencil, a pen or charcoal. They are usually made in a single colour, unlike paintings. Moreover, realistic drawings involve measurements and scales.
What is Painting
Painting is the practice of applying colour to a solid surface such as a paper or canvas. It is one of the oldest art forms. The colour pigments used in a painting can be in a wet form, like paint, or a dry form, like pastels. Artists can use different mediums for their paintings, such as watercolour, acrylic, oil, fresco, and tempera. The medium is usually applied to the solid surface with the use of a brush; some artists may also use other implements like sponges, knives and airbrushes. Moreover, paintings can be done on many types of surfaces, like paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, walls pottery, leaf, and concrete.
Paintings can be naturalistic and realistic (still life and landscape painting), abstract, narrative, photographic, emotive (as in Expressionism), symbolistic (as in Symbolist art), and/or political in nature (as in Artivism).
There are several basic components of a painting. We call them elements of a painting. These include colour, tone, lines, shapes, textures, and shape. Colour is perhaps the most important element in a painting. It sets the mood; for example, a painting can be warm and inviting, or dark and gloomy according to the colours used. Colours can be further broken into hue, intensity, and value. A good combination of elements results in a good painting.
Difference Between Drawing and Painting
Definition
Drawing is the art of representing an object or outlining a figure, plan or sketch by means of lines while painting is the practice of applying colour to a solid surface such as a paper or canvas.
Focus
Drawing focuses on lines and shapes while painting focuses on colour and form.
Colours
While drawings are usually done on one colour, paintings are made with a multitude of colours.
Media and Instruments
Drawing uses different instruments like pencils, pen and ink, wax colour pencils, crayons, inked brushes, and charcoal whereas paintings use different mediums like watercolour, acrylic, oil, fresco, and tempera.
Conclusion
In brief, drawing and painting are two different visual art forms. The main difference between drawing and painting is that drawing focuses on lines and shapes, while painting focuses on colour and form. Sometimes, drawing can be the basis of a painting.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Drawing hand” By cdaltonrowe (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr
2. “People, man, artist, painting, paint, museum, art, exhibit, frame” (CC0) via Pikist
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