Term

Definition

Background

Any features of an artwork which appear behind a figure, or in the event no figure is present (such as a landscape or cityscape) the entirety of the artwork.

Cell Shading

A specific style of adding highlights and shadows to an artwork which comes from animation “Cells” which were clear plastic sheets onto which an animation frame was painted. Cell shading is generally characterized by having a hard edge to the shadow and highlight layers of the artwork to give a semblance of depth to characters, and these shadows and highlights are generally simplified single colors so that areas like Skin would be 3 values of the same color. For Ash Something Art, Cell Shading does not include ambient lighting, however due to the digital age “Soft Brush” cell shading is also possible to give a more realistic look for the same amount of effort.

Character

Refers to an original or custom-designed unique figure with a specific set of identifying features and (potentially) personality, voice etc.

Commission

Any single-artwork project ordered by you from Ash Something Art. Commissions are done entirely to your specifications and can be more or less anything you want drawn. Ash predominantly works with characters and figures so pricing is centered around that, however if you want environments or anything else you can email him to request an off-menu commission.

Creature

Refers to any living animal or monster, and includes real creatures as well as fantasy creatures; also includes humans or humanoid monsters/races such as Orcs and elves, werewolves, aliens, as well as cyborgs and robots (though they are not technically living).

Design

The process or Service of creating a thing from the ground up and making the decisions about each specific identifying factor of that things which includes but is not limited to: Hairstyle, line art style, color selection, age, height, weight, font selection, skin and hair color, outfit or clothing style, etc. This term is broad and generally connected with something else such as “Character Design” “Logo design” etc but for Ash Something Art it is the process of not just drawing A Thing™ but deciding exactly what that thing looks like according to parameters you have chosen, and implementing those things to the best of their ability.

Digital Art

Any art created with digital programs made to create art such as Adobe Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, and so on. The final result of digital art is usually a digital computer file (jpeg, .psd, and so on) or a printed version of the artwork, but due to being done on the computer there is no physical “Original” of the art unlike with traditional art. The “Original” is generally considered to be the “Source File” such as a .PSD or Photoshop Document.

Drawing

An umbrella term for artwork GENERALLY created with a focus on line or created with “Dry Media”, which can include any art or graphic that is drawn instead of painted. Sketches are drawing, line art are drawings, cartoon characters are drawings. While some of these rules aren’t ironclad (Drawing with pen is “wet media” but still drawing due to the focus on line; But drawing with charcoal is still drawing despite being focused on value over line, because it’s a “dry media”). Drawing also refers to the process of creating a drawing.

Figure

Refers to the Body of a person/character/creature/being in an artwork. “Multiple Figures” would mean you are requesting more than one creature/person in an artwork. Half Body Figure would mean you are requesting art of a person from the mid-thigh up.

Flat Color

The base colors of an artwork before lighting, shading, highlights, or any other details are added to it. For simpler cartoon style drawings this may mean that a character has a single color for skin, another for hair, another for their shirt- without gradients or variation. For more detailed styles like comic styles, a flat color stage might include color variation on areas like skin, to show spots that are more red or lighter areas of clothes to show where the clothes are sun-bleached, but it still does not include lighting, shadows or highlights.

Foreground

Any features of an artwork which appear in front of a figure or mid-ground

Full Body

A drawing or artwork featuring the entirety of a character. For Ash Something Art, this will include zoomed in or cropped dynamic poses that show anything below the mid-thigh, even if no feet are shown.

Graphic

A graphic is any asset or image that is made for print or display so that it stands out against whatever it’s being printed or displayed on, and is considered a standalone piece. Generally made with a transparent background to be able to used in print or added onto other things so that the original pattern/color of that thing shows through it. For example a “T-Shirt Graphic” is the image made to be printed on the shirt. A Sticker Graphic is an image specifically meant to be printed as a sticker. Graphic Design refers to the design and creation of this types of images. A Logo is a graphic made to represent a business which often features their name and potentially their slogan. A “Logo Graphic” specifically refers to the IMAGE portion of a logo without text (or potentially a version of the text that just features the initials of the full business name) when the logo is being designed, but can also refer to a full graphic including an image and text as made to be printed on shirts or added to letterhead and so forth. A “Graphic” as the word is used in the term “Graphic Design” can also refer to a poster or advertisement made for print or display that includes both an image and text arranged in an artistic way, as well as a variety of other things.

Half Body

A drawing or artwork featuring the upper-half of a character/figure’s body, generally counted from around the hips or just below the crotch. For Ash Something Art this can be mid-thigh up, and a portrait will be considered Half Body if it shows both hands.

Landscape

A) An artwork which features a scene from nature such as a view of mountains, or a field of grass/wheat, a waterfall, a desert etc. Landscapes do not generally have figures or buildings in them. Alternate forms of landscapes include: Seascapes, Mountainscapes, Desertscapes, Cloudscapes or skyscapes. These additional terms are not generally used by most people, and are usually only used to clarify the exact type of landscape.
B) An orientation of an artwork in which the vertical length of the canvas is shorter than the horizontal length is wide. For example a 5″ tall and 10″ wide canvas would be a Landscape oriented canvas.

Line Art

The step after a Sketch, in which the sketch is drawn over using clean and refined lines to solidify the desired details of a drawing. Generally black or grey lines over a white (or lighter grey) background, although the line art can be colored or tinted, and it can also be black over grey or a darker color over a lighter color, as the case is needed. Some line art may also include a “fill” color for a figure that differs from the background to add a bit of contrast.

Mid-ground

Any features of an artwork which appear in-between a background and foreground- generally the central focus point of an artwork which has the most clarity of details.

Painting

An umbrella term for artwork generally created with a paintbrush and wet media such as oil paints, acrylics, gouache, watercolor or inkwash. Digital painting is technically drawing, but done in a way that mimics the final look of painting, using digital tools that are more focused on color and blending than they are on line. Painting also refers to the process of creating a painting.

Portrait

A) A drawing or artwork featuring the head, which may also include the neck, shoulders, and chest. For Ash Something Art, this also allows one hand.
B) An orientation of an artwork in which the vertical length of the canvas is longer than the horizontal length is wide. For example a 10″ tall and 5″ wide canvas would be a Portrait oriented canvas.

Render

Seen in terms like “Well rendered” “Fully rendered” and so forth, to “Render” in an artist sense refers to the process of making something look like that thing. However, as it pertains to 2D art and illustration it is specifically the step of rendering the details of a thing- and not just adding shadows and highlights but making it look like the thing. This means making skin look like skin, metal look like metal, cloth look like cloth, as well as making the light from the sun look like it’s casting light on a figure, or the light reflecting off of water cast light off a figure. “Fully Rendered” works with Ash Something Art are generally works that have an incredibly high level of detail compared to other detail tiers, although the core separation between Rendering and Cell Shading is that while Cell Shading has 3 Values, Rendered works will have a minimum of 2 shadow and 2 light values, variation of colors in the mid-tones as well as am ambient light layer, and a reflected light layer (For a total of around 10 separate values on each segment of “Flat Color”- These pieces may also have textures or pattern added to them to show thing like wood grain, scuffs and scratches in metal, as well as the weave patterns of clothing- depending on the style the art is requested in.

Sketch

A drawing which is done quickly and used to block out the rough shapes, values or details of an artwork and which is used either as a planning stage of an artwork OR as practice aimed at increasing the amount of things or variations on a thing which an artist can draw. For Ash Something Art, a Sketch should never be considered a finished artwork, and if you commission a sketch you are commissioning a loose and rough planning-phase drawing, often done either in pencil or ballpoint pen, or using digital brushes made to mimic pencil.

Source File

The origin file for a digital artwork in which the artwork was created. Source Files tend to be program specific, such as a .PSD file for Photoshop, an .AI file for Adobe Illustrator, a .CSP file for Clips Studio Paint, and so on and so forth. Source files are considered to be the digital equivalent of an “Original” traditional art piece- a term which refers to the actual paint-and-canvas (or pen and paper) copy of the work, as opposed to printed copies of the original. Source files tend to contain all of the layers, filters, and so on, that went into the creation of the work, unlike digital image files like .jpegs or .pngs, which have only a single “layer”

Speedpaint

A term that has lately been misconstrued a lot in the art world as people have begun to confuse it with the term “Timelapse,” a Speedpaint is essentially a full-color sketch done with paint (or whatever digital tool) using color to block shapes and values instead of line. Speedpaintings tend to have a more impressionist style or feeling to them with little focus on blending and realistic rendering.

Timelapse

A sped up video of something to show the long-term progression of something in a much shorter time. In Art, a Timelapse would refer to a video showing the drawing process (which may take hours to do) condensed into a few minutes; A timelapse generally shows the full art process although some only show segments or are focused on specific details that went into the art.

Traditional Art/Trad Art

Any artwork created with traditional art supplies instead of digital media; Canvas and paints, charcoal and paper, etc