Art Terms Glossary!

Hey guys! So I thought it might be helpful to have a glossary of terms commonly used in the art community, since I've seen cases where people don't necessarily know what some things mean. Especially newer artist or younger folks!

I'm putting it here in the gallery because 13-and-unders can see it, but mods can move it if need be!

If you need to find a specific word, press Ctrl+F on your keyboard to bring up the search box and type it in. If it isn't here, feel free to PM me or comment so I can help and add it!

Art program ⸺ Refers to a digital program that you can install on a computer (but some are available as phone/tablet apps!). Commonly used art programs include Photoshop, GIMP, Paint Tool SAI, Krita, Corel Painter, and Firealpaca. All of them have at least one free version, but SAI only offers a 30-day free trial. They include more complex layouts and tools than Microsoft Paint, and allow artists to create more detailed artwork.

Art trade ⸺ In an art trade, two people will make each other pieces of (usually custom) art instead of buying/selling. The art is usually about equal in value, i.e. a tag for a tag, or one design for another.

Autobuy/AB ⸺ In an auction setting, this is a flat price (usually very high) that the piece of art can be purchased for instead of bidding. To claim the art for this price, you usually have to just post "AB" in the thread before sending the money.

Buy it now/BIN ⸺ Same thing as Autobuy/AB.

Base ⸺ bases are pre-colored or greyscaled (see below) images that can easily be manipulated with an art program and recolored.

Brushes ⸺ premade shapes that are usually saved in a program-specific file format and can be used as brushes to paint and draw in art programs. Many artists use a grass brush to paint grass instead of every strand.
Searching "brushes photoshop/gimp" on deviantArt is a good place to find some!

Bucket fill ⸺ the method of opening a lineart in a simple drawing program such as Microsoft Paint and using the 'bucket fill' tool to color it in. This always results in a white outline around the lines on the inside of the image, and is generally frowned upon because it doesn't look nice.
A solution is to use pixel lineart instead, as it eliminates the white lines.

Commercial use ⸺ a term often used in the descriptions of stock images and lineart on deviantArt. Commercial use means selling. In some cases, you are not allowed to sell the image for any kind of money, even game money. However, many allow you to under special conditions. READ THE RULES before using any resources!

Commission ⸺ the act of buying a (usually custom) piece of art from an artist. Prices may vary, and many people have whether or not they do commissions or what they offer on their profiles! Always check before asking.

Collab ⸺ two or more people working together or contributing to make a piece of art. One person may do the background, and the other does the horses, or one may do sketches and recolors while the other does everything else.

Crediting/credits ⸺ Not the type of money here on EV! Crediting means putting a url, name, or signature on any piece of art containing something that does NOT belong to you. If you use a lineart or a stock image, you must include the original artist's credit on the image. If it's all made by you, EV's rules allow you to not need any credits.

Custom ⸺ a piece of art that is one of a kind. Many people commission an artist for customs, meaning they give a description of what they want and the artist draws it to life.

F2U/Free to use ⸺ lineart or other resources that are able to be used for no cost. However, READ THE RULES of the resource, because many people might not want their art sold, used on other websites, or have their original signatures changed.

File format ⸺ You know the little .png or .jpg after your image's name? This is the file format. For most types of art in the worldwide digital community, including designs and many tags/sigs here, .png is the preferred format to save an image in because it gives the highest quality - .jpg or .jpeg is typically lower, and .gif is used for GIFs or moving picture files. All of these compress the image and get rid of layers.
Art programs often have their own specific formats which allow you to save each individual layer without compressing. These include .psd for Photoshop, .xcf for gimp, and .sai for Paint Tool SAI. They can only be opened with these programs.

Greyscale ⸺ The black-and-white shaded base of an image that can be manipulated and colored to look like any character using layers. BronzeHalo on deviantArt provides some free greyscale tag bases that newer artists can sell on EV for normal dollars.

Highlighter horse ⸺ Horse designs with bright, obnoxious neon colors. Generally frowned upon as they're pretty darn ugly unless it's a small detail or two. If your horse has bright pink hair, neon orange stripes, lime green spots, and bright yellow hooves, chances are it's a highlighter horse. Many artists won't recolor them on tags.

Layers ⸺ Art programs like Photoshop and Gimp have a feature called layers which allow you to create a new "page" on top of another, so you can draw without messing up what's on the previous one. It's literally how an onion works.
Layers should be used when making designs to avoid the bucket fill look.

Lineart ⸺ Lines, usually in the shape of an animal, that can be freely colored in to look however you want if opened in an art program. Most commonly utilized in designing horses and characters.
Search "free horse lineart" on deviantArt to find some you may want to use!

Manip/manipulation ⸺ Using stock photos and cutting, placing, and editing them in a way that a unique image is created. Manipulations typically consist of an image for the sky, one or more for the background and foreground (plus details like trees and rocks, water, etc), and a heavily edited image of a horse as the subject. A tricky art form to master. Tutorials can be found on deviantArt and you can search "stock photos" for some examples.

Minimum increase/MI ⸺ In an auction setting, this refers to the minimum increments bids may go up at a time. If Sally bids 100,000 EVD and the MI is 20,000 EVD, Jack must bid at least 120,000 EVD or higher.

P2U/Pay to use ⸺ Resources that cannot be used freely and must be paid for if you want the full image. Less common or unique, detailed linearts can sometimes be found for sale on deviantArt for a points fee, and some people don't allow the use of their stock unless it's paid for.

Starting Bid/SB ⸺ In an auction setting, this is the lowest minimum price an artist will accept for what is being sold. If a tag recolor is being auctioned for 100k as the SB, you would post "SB" to claim it for that much until you are outbid.

Tablet ⸺ a tool used with a computer via a USB connector for drawing and other artsy things. It consists of a flat, fragile, pressure-sensetive tablet with a defined drawing area and a digitalized pen that interact with each other. They cannot be used without one another. When combined with a program like Photoshop, you can draw just like you would on paper. Tablets can even replace mouse/trackpad use!
They can be purchased from electronics stores or on Amazon.com. Brands like Huion and Monoprice range from $50-$150 depending on the size and model, and the most common and expensive brand, Wacom, are available for $80-$1000. Ask around and do research before choosing which tablet is best for you!


If anyone has any more words or changes that can be made, say so here or PM me!

Last edited on 2016-04-18 at 16:34:42 by ©Zellmeme Supreme

Ooh, great idea and super helpful!

Thank you so much Zell! So useful and amazingly helpful!

Layers are like onions. I died laughing XD
great glossary, I could have used this a while back lol

Lol same Raptorfang