do you want to know how to improve your art and design skills or how to analyze a
work of art like a true critic the secret to this is the visual elements there are
seven of them line shape pattern tone form texture and color today we're going to focus
on texture when we think about texture we normally think about our sense of touch and
3D objects or sculptures but understanding texture fully can also help us to improve
our drawing skills and our painting skills in this video I'll be discussing texture in
works of art and I'll show you a few different ways you can create texture in your own work
Texture is the tactile quality of the surface of a work of art or put more simply texture means
how something feels we experience texture in two ways visually through our sense of
sight which is what you're doing right now or physically through our sense of touch
visual texture is the illusion of texture the photorealist painters of the late 1900s and early
2000s were the best at creating this illusion for example in this painting by ralph goings
and yes it really is a painting we can see the really sticky looking texture of that doughnut
but if we were to touch it we would feel just the smooth surface of that painting to create
the illusion of texture we can use a mixture of the other visual elements like line shape
and tone though tone is often the most important on the creating texture physical texture is the
actual physical surface of an artwork or design it describes the tactile feeling you would get
if you were to run your hand over that artwork physical texture is a very important part of
sculpture and sculptors think a lot about how to engage the viewers sense of touch even if
the audience isn't actually allowed to touch their artwork in real life for example if you
were to run your hand over this sculpture by Antony Gormley you would feel the cold hard and
rough texture of that rusty metal many artists use physical texture in painting to show their
technique or to express emotion British artist Frank Auerbach has created many heavily textured
artworks that show his long and arduous process through thick layers of oil paints applying thick
areas of paint on a canvas like this is known as impasto this thick paint creates a visual
effect that allows you to see the individual brushstrokes of that artist as news Frank Auerbach
is quite an extreme example of this technique though many artists use it in lesser ways
in a slightly less extreme example I've been working on this landscape painting recently
and I've been experimenting with impasto in the clouds to create some contrast between the sky
and the smooth hills below it's not quite finished yet if we zoom in here on these
clouds we can see the brush marks left from when I was painting less this adds a sense
of direction and also that element of texture that we're looking at now this might not always
be the most appropriate way to paint it might not always be what you're aiming for but it
is another way you can experiment with texture in your work over the next week try practicing
these different types of texture get creative and see what other textures you can create it's
important to remember you should expect to make a few mistakes don't be disheartened
but do your best to learn from those mistakes if you've enjoyed this video make sure you
let me know by giving me a thumbs up don't forget to subscribe and thanks for listening