ABSTRACTION – A visual representation that may have little resemblance to the real world. Abstraction can occur through a process of simplification or distortion of form in an attempt to communicate an essential aspect of the subject matter or content.*
ACTUAL LINE – An actual line is a line drawn with a tool on a support-- such as a line of charcoal on a piece of paper. Different media (pencil, pen and ink, conte crayon, pastel) create different linear characteristics which affect the emotional and representational qualities of the work.
AFTER IMAGE – A common optical effect in which an additional color seems to appear at the edge of an observed color.
ALIGNMENT – Lining up shapes or forms, usually along edges or centers; allows us to create order, organization, and visual connection between elements.*
ANALOGOUS COLORS – Colors that are closely related in hue(s). They are adjacent on a color wheel, such as red, orange and yellow.
ASYMMETRICAL BALANCE – Balance achieved with dissimilar shapes/forms that have equal visual weight or visual interest; implies activity, motion, modernism.*
ATMOSPHERIC (AERIAL) PERSPECTIVE – The illusion of deep space produced in graphic works by lightening values, softening details and textures, reducing value contrasts, and neutralizing colors in objects as they recede.*