Students may use a variety of visual arts media and forms, such as drawing, painting, printmaking, design, craft, sculpture to express their ideas and feelings. Due to the development of new materials and technologies for making shapes, forms and concepts of presentation, new visual arts media and forms such as video art, digital art, web art, installation art, environmental art and conceptual art continue to emerge. Students should be provided with opportunities to enhance their artistic presentation abilities as they experience and explore different materials, techniques and media to produce alternative forms of visual arts. Several common visual arts media and forms and their characteristics are listed in the following for reference.
Drawing
Drawing involves the use of dry, wet and mixed media to render, draw and make marks on surfaces such as paper. Through the manipulation of visual elements such as lines, tone and value, colours, texture and space in drawings, students can visually depict objects by means of observation and/or imagination. Drawing activities can assist students in developing their abilities to look with a critical eye, to generate ideas using imagination, and to organize and present images visually on two-dimensional surfaces. Drawings can be treated as preparatory studies for other major works, as sketches of seen, constructed and imagined images, as illustrations and visual diaries, and as finished artwork.
Painting
Painting mainly deals with colours, visual images and composition for expressing ideas and emotions. To paint is to apply pigments and medium directly on a surface. Apart from the use of brushes, a wide range of mark making tools and techniques such as palette knives, cloth, dripping, pouring, rubbing and collage contribute to the broad and plentiful visual possibilities of this highly versatile medium.
Traditionally, there are differences between Chinese and Western painting with respect to materials, techniques, style of presentation, visual effects,
subject matter and ideas for presentation. Chinese painting basically emphasizes the use of calligraphic lines, ink and brushes, as well as expression of atmosphere and mood. Although some components of Western painting have gradually been incorporated into Chinese painting, the uniqueness of Chinese painting in various aspects enables it to be treated as an independent visual arts form.
Printmaking
Printmaking refers to the graphic art form in which multiple images can be obtained from a matrix plate/surface on which a master design is made and then inked. The form involves the application of a variety of techniques and materials. Printmaking is indirect, repetitive and highly experimental in character. Modern printmaking also includes monoprints which are diverse in styles and techniques. Printmaking has a close relationship with the graphic media and the development of modern image making technology.
Digital Art
The creation of digital art requires appropriate selection and application of software and hardware. Software includes drawing software and programs for design. Hardware includes computers, scanners, printers, photography and video equipment, recording and projecting facilities, etc. The forms of digital art work vary, namely computer art, video, animation and multimedia arts.
Digital art productions can be stored, edited, reused, revised and reverted in digital format and they can even interact with viewers. Therefore digital art is a flexible and convenient tool for artistic creations.
Design
Design focuses on problem-solving techniques. In principle, design involves both the aesthetics and function of the design product. The process of design relies on systematic planning, including clarifying and setting the design problem, assuring the goals and requirements, collecting information, drafting proposals, and reviewing, revising, making and assessing the product.
However, besides producing a design product, the emphasis of learning lies on the development of problem-solving attitude and skills in students.
Sculpture
Sculpture deals with the relationship among materials, form and actual space.
Sculpture conveys ideas and expresses feelings through different kinds of materials, including clay, plaster, rock, wood, metal, plastic, paper and found objects and a variety of form-making methods such as modeling, carving, assembling, casting, constructing and installing. The creation of sculpture is concerned with the relationship between the artwork and the environment, as well as the visual effects projected to the audience from different perspectives.
Crafts
Crafts emphasize the presentation of ideas and feelings through integrating the properties of materials with production techniques. Since most craftwork is for daily use, both its decorative and functional needs have to be considered.
Traditional crafts are mainly produced to meet the needs and aesthetic interests of a particular society; they can reflect the customs, religions and characteristics of craftsmanship of different regions, periods and ethnic groups.
In contrast, contemporary crafts are less functional in nature. In the study of crafts, students may acquire knowledge about traditional and contemporary crafts, and learn to manipulate various materials and production processes so as to stimulate imagination and thought.
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is concerned with lines and space for expression. Calligraphy as written language was initially used to record events and communicate ideas.
Since calligraphy can be artfully and expressively executed it is regarded as an individual visual arts form. Traditionally, Chinese calligraphy outperformed Western calligraphy, which focuses on the presentation of decorative effects.
Chinese calligraphy emphasizes the symbolic meaning of affect, style and personal refinement. It can narrate and sustain feelings. Together with Chinese painting, calligraphy can integrate styles and images for presenting more profound ideas. Students may also use different calligraphic styles to make compositions showing movement and rhythm.
Photography
Photography is a highly communicable visual medium. It utilizes the theory and technology of recording light and shadow in capturing moments of reality in images. Personal thought and feelings can be infused with the use of special effects created by film developing and printing techniques. Photography can also help recall memory and stimulate imagination when the two-dimensional images are mounted in some specially designed frames.
Media Arts
Media Arts is a newly emerged art form. The form is characterized by its creative and innovative ways of using, expanding and integrating traditional arts disciplines in which the visual always plays an important part. This art form is mediated by advanced technology. Some of the media arts also involve interactive communication with the audience. Media arts can be produced in a variety of forms such as web art, interactive installation, performance art, computer graphics, and video art. Since media arts is often a hybrid of various arts disciplines, a wide range of processes and technologies, namely, classical animation, photography, videography, sound recording, digital imaging, graphics, digital sound recording, two- and three-dimensional modeling and multimedia production can be employed in the production of this art form.