Art Term

Drawing

Drawing is essentially a technique in which images are depicted on a surface by making lines, though drawings can also contain tonal areas, washes and other non-linear marks

Eva Hesse, ‘Untitled’ 1967
Eva Hesse
Untitled 1967
Tate
© The estate of Eva Hesse, courtesy Hauser & Wirth, Zürich

Ink, pencil, crayon, charcoal and chalk are the most commonly used materials, but drawings can be made with or in combination with paint and any other wet or dry media.

Related materials and techniques

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  • Chalk

    Chalk is a soft powdery white or off-white writing or drawing material in crayon form, generally used on a blackboard ...

  • Leon Kossoff, ‘Self-Portrait. Verso: Untitled (Two Figures)’ 1967

    Charcoal

    Charcoal is a black crumbly drawing material made of carbon and often used for sketching and under-drawing for paintings, although ...

  • Carl Andre, ‘Drawing for ‘The Perfect Painting’’ 1967

    Graphite

    Graphite is a metallic grey writing and drawing material most commonly used in pencil form – though graphite powder is ...

  • Marlene Dumas, ‘Magdalena 1’ 1996

    Ink

    Ink is an ancient writing and drawing medium in liquid or paste form, traditionally black or brown in colour – ...

  • Edgar Degas, ‘Miss Lala at the Cirque Fernando’ 1879

    Pastel

    Pastel is a coloured drawing medium made from pure coloured pigment mixed with a binder to form a stick

  • Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Tracing of a Perspective Construction of a House’ c.1810

    Vanishing point

    The point at which receding parallel lines viewed in perspective appear to converge

  • Joseph Wright of Derby, ‘An Iron Forge’ 1772

    Chiaroscuro

    Chiaroscuro is an Italian term which translates as light-dark, and refers to the balance and pattern of light and shade ...

Selected artists who draw

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Selected artworks in the collection

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Drawing at Tate