Glossary
A compilation of as many terms that I can find as possible. If I left out anything please do point it out so I can add it in.
A
Abstract: Art that has no real meaning, but consists of flow.
Example
Alpha-Channel: A channel that measures the opacity of each pixel in a layer. Used for managing transparency in an image.
Anti-Alias: Sometimes abbreviated as AA, it is basically smoothing out the lines to prevent the pixellated, grained out look. Often done by the graphics program.
Avatar: A square or vertical rectangle image that appears next to a users posts in forums, and on their profile. Avatars are known for containing an abbreviation of their user name.
B
Blending Mode: A mode that allows you to blend in colors through manipulation, like dodge, multiply and inverting the colors.
Blurring: Blurring an image is similar to smudging it, except that the original pixel location doesn’t change.
Brush: The tool, primarily used for creating smooth edged strokes, that is used for just about everything in art. Brushes vary in shape, size, and purpose. Custom brushes are available by downloading from other sites. Most custom brushes act as "stamps" to imprint a shape or style on the image.
Burn:Burning is used to darken an image or a section of an image and can give the image a charred or burned appearance.
C
C4D (Cinema 4 D): Program that creates 3-D renders know collectively as C4Ds.
Canvas: The working space of your graphics editor.
Character: This terms refers to text, but more specifically, the symbols (letters, numbers, punctuation, ect.) that make up text.
CnC: Comment and Criticise/Critique
Composition: The art of placing components of a piece together to achieve a desired effect.
Crop: Cropping an image is to select a region of the image and cut it out so that the section you chose becomes your canvas.
D
Depth: Refers to the creation of a perspective that has a vanishing point or a definite feel of something fading into the distance.
Background: At the back of an image, normally of a monotone color or of a simple basic landscape. Nothing interesting. Behind the focal.
Foreground: At the front of the image, where it is above everything else. Normally is the focal or above the focal.
Digipainting: Painting done digitally. Usually with a tablet.
Distort: Means to deform or vary the original appearance of something.
Dithering: It is the method of placing pixels of differing colors close together to make it look like a blended one when zoomed out. Used to get more color out of a limited palette or used in pixel art to create texture and depth.
Dodge: Dodging lightens out an area. This tool is used in conjunction with the burn tool to manage and emphasis lighting.
E
Eraser: This tool is used for deleting part of an image or layer to make it completely transparent or “erased”. Must be done with an active alpha channel.
Eyedropper: Tool used to pick out a color from an image
F
Focal: The main focus of an image.
Font: The style of the text.
Frame: A still image, often used in animation or Actionscript.
File Formats: They are as follows:
BMP: File formating supporting 1, 4, 8 or 24-bit color. Native format of Microsoft Paint.
JPG: File format that uses lossy compression to reduce the size of an image. Results in blurred and fuzzy unsharp images on smaller sized images and suggested for bigger sized images to reduce size. Does not support transparency, so DO NOT save your renders as JPG files.
GIF: Graphics Interchange Format. Supports monochromatic transparency and can be animated.
PNG: Commonly used for images as it uses lossless compression, so no detail is lost. Supports transparency.
PSD: Photoshop's native file format. Saves layers and is suggested to save as this format in case of requirement to edit the image.
XCF: GIMP's native file format. Similar to PSD.
PDN: Paint.Net's native file format.
Filter: Filters are used to give an image or a layer of an image a certain appearance. Various filters serve different purposes. Filters replicate the same effect regardless of the content on the canvas, or in other words, create predictable and similar effects. Frowned upon as the main aspect of digital art.
Flow: Term used to say how an image flows. Refers to directional flow. An example is
this, where the flow is obvious from the top left to the bottom right (roughly).
G
Gradient: Gradual change of colors.
Gradient Map: Colours the image using the current gradient selected. Often used for colour adjustment.
Grunge: A messy style.
Example
I
Indexed Color: A GIMP image mode that uses a palette for colors. Only the colours of this palette will be used. This is a useful mode for many form of iconic images and emoticons.
L
Layer: Image buffer that separates part of an image for everything else.
Lighting: A term used to talk about the addition of light into a piece of art to create shadow, depth and give it a more 3D look.
LP(Large Piece): Large Piece, referring to large non signature, non avatar images.
Example.
N
Noise: Adding noise to images give your image the appearance of being on a television (static).
O
Opacity: Refers to how hard it is to see through something. The higher the opacity, the harder to see through.
Outline: A line that surrounds an image. Often used to make text sharper.
P
Path:Term used in GIMP that talks about creation of belzier curves or for rendering. An example is
this, where the lines were drawn with the path tool in GIMP.
Pencil:This tool is similar to the brush, except that the transparent spots on pencils have rough edges surrounding it. Any brushes downloaded will also be available for pencil use.
Pentool:Photoshop equivilant of the path tool in GIMP.
Photomanipulation: Manipulation of a taken photograph in a graphics program.
Pixel: A pixel is a square dot of color that forms everything you see on your computer.
Pixelise: When you pixel-ize an image you make it so that it is pixel art, or a style much similar to it.
Pixel Art: An art style where the image is made painstakingly pixel by pixel. An example is
this.
Plug-in: An add-on(extension) that can be downloaded to perform a specific task in the host application.
R
Render: An image with a transparent/empty background. PNG supports this.
RGB Mode: Color image mode using Red, Green and Blue color channels.
Rule of Thirds: A rule of thumb where if you divide a picture into thirds both horizontally and vertically, the intersections will form the main points of interest.
S
Sharpen: Sharpening an image makes it more crisp and makes it less blurred.
Signature: Often shortened as "sig", a signature is an image that distinguishes a person from others as it is personalised and eyecatching.
Sketch: A rough outline of how a picture would look like. It may also refer to a picture done in the style of a sketch, like
this. May also refer to the filter/plug-in that causes this effect.
Sprite: Small image often done by pixel art.
Smudging: A skill used to blend colors and pictures together. Useful for creating texture in the background.
Example.
Stock: From "Stock Picture". It is an image used to create other images.
Swatch: A custom color palette used in Photoshop. More information
here and
here.
T
Tag: Another word for signature.
Tablet: Hardware which recognises pen strokes and directly translates it into the computer. Digital version of pen and paper.
Texture: Different textures can vary, but textures are generally used at the finish of an image to give it an overall appearance.
Transparency: Refers to how easy something is to see through. The less transparent, the harder to see through.
Typography: An art form that looks at the placement of text and using text instead of brushes and filters to create an art piece.
U
Userbar: A thin rectangle often used to show that someone is part of a certain group.
V
Vector: Usage of mathematical equations to create lines and curves that can be colored. Infinitely scalable. It can also refer to the usage of geometric shapes and lines in a piece of artwork.
W
Watermark: Term used to describe text or logo faintly imprinted onto an image. May or may not be visible.
If you want to make an addition or make any changes, please do make a note
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