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Graphics
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Graphics (from Ancient Greek γραφικός (التصميم) 'pertaining to drawing, painting, writing, etc.') are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture, in typesetting and the graphic arts, and in educational and recreational software. Images that are generated by a computer are called computer graphics.
Examples are photographs, drawings, line art, mathematical graphs, line graphs, charts, diagrams, typography, numbers, symbols, geometric designs, maps, engineering drawings, or other images. Graphics often combine text, illustration, and color. Graphic design may consist of the deliberate selection, creation, or arrangement of typography alone, as in a brochure, flyer, poster, web site, or book without any other element. The objective can be clarity or effective communication, association with other cultural elements, or merely the creation of a distinctive style.
Graphics can be functional or artistic. The latter can be a recorded version, such as a photograph, or an interpretation by a scientist to highlight essential features, or an artist, in which case the distinction with imaginary graphics may become blurred. It can also be used for architecture.
History
[edit]The earliest graphics known to anthropologists studying prehistoric periods are cave paintings and markings on boulders, bone, ivory, and antlers, which were created during the Upper Palaeolithic period from 40,000 to 10,000 B.C. or earlier. Many of these were found to record astronomical, seasonal, and chronological details. Some of the earliest graphics and drawings are known to the modern world, from almost 6,00 years ago, are that of engraved stone tablets and ceramic cylinder seals, marking the beginning of the historical periods and the keeping of records for accounting and inventory purposes. Records from Egypt predate these and papyrus was used by the Egyptians as a material on which to plan the building of pyramids; they also used slabs of limestone and wood. From 600 to 250 BC, the Greeks played a major role in geometry. They used graphics to represent their mathematical theories such as the Circle Theorem and the Pythagorean theorem.
In art, "graphics" is often used to distinguish work in a monotone and made up of lines, as opposed to painting.
Drawing
[edit] | This section may be confusing or unclear to readers. (January 2025) |
Drawing generally involves making marks on a surface by applying pressure from a tool or moving a tool across a surface. In which a tool is always used as if there were no tools it would be art. Graphical drawing is an instrumental guided drawing.
Printmaking
[edit]Woodblock printing, including images is first seen in China after paper was invented (about A.D. 105). In the West, the main techniques have been woodcut, engraving and etching, but there are many others.
Etching
[edit]Etching is an intaglio method of printmaking in which the image is incised into the surface of a metal plate using an acid. The acid eats the metal, leaving behind roughened areas, or, if the surface exposed to the acid is very thin, burning a line into the plate. The use of the process in printmaking is believed to have been invented by Daniel Hopfer (c. 1470–1536) of Augsburg, Germany, who decorated armour in this way.
Etching is also used in the manufacturing of printed circuit boards and semiconductor devices.
Line art
[edit]Line art is a rather non-specific term sometimes used for any image that consists of distinct straight and curved lines placed against a (usually plain) background, without gradations in shade (darkness) or hue (color) to represent two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects. Line art is usually monochromatic, although lines may be of different colors.
Illustration
[edit]
An illustration is a visual representation such as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that stresses the subject more than form. The aim of an illustration is to elucidate or decorate a story, poem or piece of textual information (such as a newspaper article), traditionally by providing a visual representation of something described in the text. The editorial cartoon, also known as a political cartoon, is an illustration containing a political or social message.
Illustrations can be used to display a wide range of subject matter and serve a variety of functions, such as:
- giving faces to characters in a story
- displaying a number of examples of an item described in an academic textbook (e.g. A Typology)
- visualizing step-wise sets of instructions in a technical manual
- communicating subtle thematic tone in a narrative
- linking brands to the ideas of human expression, individuality, and creativity
- making a reader laugh or smile
- for fun (to make laugh) funny
Graphs
[edit]A graph or chart is a graphic that represents tabular or numeric data. Charts are often used to make it easier to understand large quantities of data and the relationships between different parts of the data.
Diagrams
[edit]A diagram is a simplified and structured visual representation of concepts, ideas, constructions, relations, statistical data, etc., used to visualize and clarify the topic.
Symbols
[edit]A symbol, in its basic sense, is a representation of a concept or quantity; i.e., an idea, object, concept, quality, etc. In more psychological and philosophical terms, all concepts are symbolic in nature, and representations for these concepts are simply token artifacts that are allegorical to (but do not directly codify) a symbolic meaning, or symbolism.
Maps
[edit]A map is a simplified depiction of a space, a navigational aid which highlights relations between objects within that space. Usually, a map is a two-dimensional, geometrically accurate representation of a three-dimensional space.
One of the first 'modern' maps was made by Waldseemüller.
Photography
[edit]
One difference between photography and other forms of graphics is that a photographer, in principle, just records a single moment in reality, with seemingly no interpretation. However, a photographer can choose the field of view and angle, and may also use other techniques, such as various lenses to choose the view or filters to change the colors. In recent times, digital photography has opened the way to an infinite number of fast, but strong, manipulations. Even in the early days of photography, there was controversy over photographs of enacted scenes that were presented as 'real life' (especially in war photography, where it can be very difficult to record the original events). Shifting the viewer's eyes ever so slightly with simple pinpricks in the negative could have a dramatic effect.
The choice of the field of view can have a strong effect, effectively 'censoring out' other parts of the scene, accomplished by cropping them out or simply not including them in the photograph. This even touches on the philosophical question of what reality is. The human brain processes information based on previous experience, making us see what we want to see or what we were taught to see. Photography does the same, although the photographer interprets the scene for their viewer.
Engineering drawings
[edit]
An engineering drawing is a type of drawing and is technical in nature, used to fully and clearly define requirements for engineered items. It is usually created in accordance with standardized conventions for layout, nomenclature, interpretation, appearance (such as typefaces and line styles), size, etc.
Computer graphics
[edit]There are two types of computer graphics: raster graphics, where each pixel is separately defined (as in a digital photograph), and vector graphics, where mathematical formulas are used to draw lines and shapes, which are then interpreted at the viewer's end to produce the graphic. Using vectors results in infinitely sharp graphics and often smaller files, but, when complex, like vectors take time to render and may have larger file sizes than a raster equivalent.
In 1950, the first computer-driven display was attached to MIT's Whirlwind I computer to generate simple pictures. This was followed by MIT's TX-0 and TX-2, interactive computing which increased interest in computer graphics during the late 1950s. In 1962, Ivan Sutherland invented Sketchpad, an innovative program that influenced alternative forms of interaction with computers.
In the mid-1960s, large computer graphics research projects were begun at MIT, General Motors, Bell Labs, and Lockheed Corporation. Douglas T. Ross of MIT developed an advanced compiler language for graphics programming. S.A.Coons, also at MIT, and J. C. Ferguson at Boeing, began work in sculptured surfaces. GM developed their DAC-1 system, and other companies, such as Douglas, Lockheed, and McDonnell, also made significant developments. In 1968, ray tracing was first described by Arthur Appel of the IBM Research Center, Yorktown Heights, N.Y.[1]
During the late 1970s, home computers became more powerful, capable of drawing both basic and complex shapes and designs. In the 1980s, artists and graphic designers began to see the personal computer as a serious design tool, one that could save time and draw more accurately than other methods.
3D computer graphics began being used in video games in the 1970s with Spasim for the PLATO system in 1974 and FS1 Flight Simulator in 1979. Atari, Inc.'s Battlezone (1980) exposed 3D graphics to a wide audience. Other wireframe and flat-shaded 3D games appeared throughout the 1980s. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992) was one of the first major video games with texture-mapped polygons.
Computer systems dating from the 1980s and onwards often use a graphical user interface (GUI) to present data and information with symbols, icons, and pictures, rather than text. 3D computer graphics and creation tools became more accessible to video game and film developers in the late 1980s with SGI computers, which were later used to create some of the first fully computer-generated short films at Pixar.
3D graphics became more popular in the 1990s in video games, multimedia, and animation. In 1995, Toy Story, the first full-length computer-generated animation film, was released in cinemas. Since then, computer graphics have become more accurate and detailed, due to more advanced computers and better 3D modeling software applications, such as Maya, 3D Studio Max, and Cinema 4D. Consumer-level 3D graphics acceleration hardware became common in IBM PC compatibles near the end of the decade.
Another use of computer graphics is screensavers, originally intended to prevent the layout of much-used GUIs from 'burning into' the computer screen. They have since evolved into true pieces of art, their practical purpose obsolete; modern screens are not susceptible to such artifacts.
Web graphics
[edit]In the 1990s, Internet speeds increased, and web browsers capable of viewing images were released, the first being Mosaic. Websites began to use the GIF format to display small graphics, such as banners, advertisements, and navigation buttons, on web pages. Modern web browsers can now display JPEG, PNG and increasingly, SVG images in addition to GIFs on web pages. SVG, and to some extent VML, support in some modern web browsers have made it possible to display vector graphics that are clear at any size. Plugins expand the web browser functions to display animated, interactive and 3-D graphics contained within file formats such as SWF and X3D.
Modern web graphics can be made with software such as Adobe Photoshop, the GIMP, or Corel Paint Shop Pro. Users of Microsoft Windows have MS Paint, which many find to be lacking in features. This is because MS Paint is a drawing package and not a graphics package.
Numerous platforms and websites have been created to cater to web graphics artists and to host their communities. A growing number of people use create internet forum signatures—generally, appearing after a user's post—and other digital artwork, such as photo manipulations and large graphics. With computer games' developers creating their own communities around their products, many more websites are being developed to offer graphics for the fans and to enable them to show their appreciation of such games in their own gaming profiles.
Uses
[edit]Graphics are visual elements often used to point readers and viewers to particular information. They are also used to supplement text in an effort to aid readers in their understanding of a particular concept or make the concept more clear or interesting. Popular magazines, such as Time, Wired and Newsweek, usually contain graphic material in abundance to attract readers, unlike the majority of scholarly journals. In computing, they are used to create a graphical interface for the user; and graphics are one of the five key elements of multimedia technology. Graphics are among the primary ways of advertising the sale of goods or services.
Business
[edit]Graphics are commonly used in business and economics to create financial charts and tables. The term business graphics came into use in the late 1970s, when personal computers became capable of drawing graphs and charts instead of using a tabular format. Business graphics can be used to highlight changes over time.
Advertising
[edit]Advertising is one of the most profitable uses of graphics; artists often do advertising work or take advertising potential into account when creating art, to increase the chances of selling the artwork.
Political
[edit]The use of graphics for overtly political purposes—cartoons, graffiti, poster art, flag design, etc.—is a centuries-old practice which thrives today in every part of the world. The Northern Irish murals are one such example. A more recent example is Shepard Fairey's 2008 U.S. presidential election Barack Obama "Hope" poster. It was first published on the web, but soon found its way onto streets throughout the United States.[2]
Education
[edit]Graphics are heavily used in textbooks, especially those concerning subjects such as geography, science, and mathematics, in order to illustrate theories and concepts, such as the human anatomy. Diagrams are also used to label photographs and pictures.
Educational animation is an important emerging field of graphics. Animated graphics have obvious advantages over static graphics when explaining subject matter that changes over time.
The Oxford Illustrated Dictionary uses graphics and technical illustrations to make reading material more interesting and easier to understand. In an encyclopedia, graphics are used to illustrate concepts and show examples of the particular topic being discussed.
In order for a graphic to function effectively as an educational aid, the learner must be able to interpret it successfully. This interpretative capacity is one aspect of graphicacy.
Film and animation
[edit]Computer graphics are often used in the majority of new feature films, especially those with a large budget. Films that heavily use computer graphics include The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, the Harry Potter films, Spider-Man and War of the Worlds.
Graphics education
[edit]The majority of schools, colleges, and universities around the world educate students on the subject of graphic design and art.
The subject is taught in a broad variety of ways, each course teaching its own distinctive balance of craft skills and intellectual response to the client's needs.
Some graphics courses prioritize traditional craft skills—drawing, printmaking, and typography—over modern craft skills. Other courses may place an emphasis on teaching digital craft skills. Still, other courses may downplay the crafts entirely, concentrating on training students to generate novel intellectual responses that engage with the brief. Despite these apparent differences in training and curriculum, the staff and students on any of these courses will generally consider themselves to be graphic designers.
The typical pedagogy of a graphic design (or graphic communication, visual communication, graphic arts or any number of synonymous course titles) will be broadly based on the teaching models developed in the Bauhaus school in Germany or Vkhutemas in Russia. The teaching model will tend to expose students to a variety of craft skills (currently everything from drawing to motion capture), combined with an effort to engage the student with the world of visual culture.
Noted graphic designers
[edit]Aldus Manutius designed the first italic type style which is often used in desktop publishing and graphic design. April Greiman is known for her influential poster design. Paul Rand is well known as a design pioneer for designing many popular corporate logos, including the logo for IBM, NeXT and UPS. William Caslon, during the mid-18th century, designed many typefaces, including ITC Founder's Caslon, ITC Founder's Caslon Ornaments, Caslon Graphique, ITC Caslon No. 224, Caslon Old Face and Big Caslon.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Appel, Arthur (1968). "Some techniques for shading machine renderings of solids". Proceedings of the April 30--May 2, 1968, spring joint computer conference on - AFIPS '68 (Spring). p. 37. doi:10.1145/1468075.1468082. S2CID 207171023.
- ^ Heller, Steven and Chwast, Seymour (2011). Graphic Style: From Victorian to New Century. Abrams.
External links
[edit]
Graphics
View on Grokipediafrom Grokipedia
Graphics are visual images or designs created by hand or with digital tools on surfaces such as paper, canvas, screens, or stone to inform, illustrate concepts, or entertain.[1] This interdisciplinary field encompasses techniques for representing three-dimensional objects and data in two dimensions, drawing from geometry, art, and technology to achieve accurate and effective communication.[2]
Originating in prehistoric cave paintings and evolving through ancient hieroglyphs and Renaissance innovations like linear perspective, graphics advanced markedly with the 15th-century invention of the printing press, which enabled mass reproduction of illustrations.[3] In engineering and design, key developments include orthographic projections for technical drawings, allowing precise multiview representations essential for manufacturing and construction.[4] The 20th century introduced computer graphics, revolutionizing the field by enabling algorithmic manipulation of images for applications in simulation, animation, and data visualization.[5]
Notable achievements include the standardization of vector and raster formats for scalable and pixel-based imagery, respectively, underpinning modern digital media, while controversies arise from manipulated graphics in propaganda and deepfakes, underscoring the need for verifiable visual integrity.[6] Graphics thus serve critical roles across education, where diagrams enhance comprehension, and entertainment, powering cinematic effects and interactive interfaces.[7][8]
Fundamentals
Definition and Scope
Graphics, commonly referred to as the graphic arts, comprise the fine and applied visual disciplines centered on representation, decoration, and the production of writing or printing on flat surfaces such as paper or canvas. This domain emphasizes two-dimensional forms of expression, distinguishing it from sculptural or volumetric arts by its planar orientation and focus on reproducible imagery.[9] The scope of graphics delineates a spectrum of techniques and applications, from manual sketching and illustrative drawing to mechanical reproduction via printmaking, encompassing both artistic creation and functional visual communication. It integrates elements of composition, line, color, and form to convey ideas, narratives, or data, serving purposes in fine art, commercial design, technical documentation, and cultural documentation. While traditionally rooted in analog methods, the field's boundaries have expanded with technological advancements, yet retain a core emphasis on visual hierarchy, spatial arrangement, and reproducible media as foundational to human visual culture.[10][11]Classifications and Types
Graphics are classified by purpose, representational method, and medium, encompassing artistic, technical, informational, and commercial applications. Pictorial graphics provide realistic depictions of subjects through drawings, paintings, or photographs, emphasizing visual likeness to real objects or scenes.[12] Schematic graphics, in contrast, employ symbols, lines, and abstract forms to illustrate relationships, processes, or structures, prioritizing clarity over realism, as seen in diagrams and flowcharts.[13] In technical drawing, common types include orthographic projections, which render multiple planar views (front, top, side) to specify precise dimensions without distortion; isometric projections, offering a pseudo-three-dimensional view with 120-degree angles between axes for equal scaling; and perspective projections, simulating human vision with converging lines for depth.[14][15] These methods ensure accurate communication in engineering and architecture, with orthographic views standardized since the 18th century for mechanical design.[16] Digital graphics divide into raster and vector formats. Raster graphics comprise pixel grids, where each pixel holds color data, enabling detailed photorealism but degrading upon enlargement due to fixed resolution, as in JPEG files limited to 72-300 DPI for print.[17][18] Vector graphics define shapes via mathematical paths and anchors, supporting lossless scaling, ideal for logos and icons, with formats like SVG rendering efficiently across devices since their introduction in 1999.[19] Informational graphics, used for data visualization, include bar charts for comparisons, line graphs for trends over time, and pie charts for proportional distributions, each selected based on data type to avoid misinterpretation, as bar charts distort least for categorical data.[12] These types trace to 18th-century innovations like William Playfair's 1786 charts, enhancing empirical analysis.[12]Historical Evolution
Prehistoric and Ancient Origins
The earliest known graphical representations appear in the form of abstract ochre engravings and crosshatched patterns on ochre plaques from Blombos Cave in South Africa, dated to between 75,000 and 100,000 years ago, indicating early symbolic behavior among anatomically modern humans.[20] These marks precede more figurative art and suggest nascent capabilities for visual notation, though their exact purpose—possibly ritualistic or communicative—remains interpretive based on archaeological context rather than direct evidence. Representational cave art emerged during the Upper Paleolithic, with the oldest dated example being a warty pig depiction in Leang Tedongnge cave on Sulawesi, Indonesia, minimum age of 45,500 years, featuring hand stencils and animal figures that demonstrate advanced pigment application and narrative potential.[21] In Europe, Aurignacian culture sites from around 40,000 years ago include engraved bones and ivory figurines, such as the Lion Man of Hohlenstein-Stadel (dated to approximately 38,000 BCE), blending human and animal forms in three-dimensional graphics.[22] Later examples, like the multilayered animal paintings in Chauvet Cave, France (circa 30,000–28,000 BCE), used charcoal and ochre for dynamic compositions, evidencing repeated use of spaces for graphical accumulation over millennia.[23] In ancient Mesopotamia, proto-graphical systems arose around 6000 years ago through incised symbols on clay cylinder seals used in trade and administration, serving as precursors to formal writing by standardizing visual motifs for ownership and exchange.[24] These evolved into cuneiform script by circa 3200 BCE, initially pictographic impressions on clay tablets representing commodities and quantities, marking a causal shift from tokens to systematic graphical recording driven by economic complexity.[25] Parallel developments occurred in ancient Egypt, where hieroglyphic writing—combining logographic, ideographic, and phonetic elements—emerged by the Early Dynastic Period around 3150 BCE, as seen in tomb inscriptions and palettes like the Narmer Palette, which integrated symbolic imagery for historical and ritual narrative.[26] These systems prioritized monumental durability on stone and papyrus, reflecting graphical innovations tied to state bureaucracy and cosmology, distinct from Mesopotamian clay-based methods due to environmental and material differences.[27] In both regions, such graphics facilitated causal realism in representation, encoding verifiable transactions and events beyond purely decorative intent.Classical to Medieval Developments
In ancient Greece, early graphical techniques emerged in the context of theater and painting, with Agatharchus credited in the mid-5th century BCE as the first to systematically apply perspective to scenography, using convergent lines to simulate spatial depth on flat stage backdrops for tragedies by Aeschylus. This innovation, described by later sources like Vitruvius, represented an empirical approach to illusionism rather than a mathematical system, influencing subsequent Hellenistic artists who incorporated foreshortening, shading, and color gradients to convey volume and recession in vase paintings and murals.[28][29] Roman graphics built on these foundations through practical applications in architecture and decoration. Vitruvius, in De Architectura composed around 15 BCE, outlined principles of proportion, symmetry, and optical adjustments for structures like temples and theaters, emphasizing empirical observation over drawn schematics, though his text implies the use of sketches for design communication. Wall frescoes of the Second Pompeian Style, dating to the late 1st century BCE—such as those in the Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale—demonstrated advanced convergent and oblique projections to render architectural illusions, achieving localized vanishing points for orthogonals that exceeded the linear consistency of some later Renaissance works.[30][31] In the medieval era, graphical production centered on manuscript illumination in monastic workshops, where drawings functioned as textual aids, scientific diagrams, and preparatory models for larger artworks, typically rendered in iron-gall ink with washes or gouache on parchment or vellum using pens, compasses, and rulers for precision. Techniques evolved to include pricked outlines for transferring designs and grisaille modeling for tonal depth, as evidenced in the Utrecht Psalter (c. 830–840 CE) with its 166 detailed ink illustrations of biblical scenes.[32] Architectural graphics saw notable progress by the 12th century, transitioning from ad hoc sketches to formalized plans and elevations; Richard of Saint Victor's In visionem Ezechielis (c. 1173) contains the earliest surviving integration of these views across multiple structures, depicting Ezekiel's temple to clarify visionary descriptions and link scriptural geometry to contemporary building practices. This cloister-based innovation, preserved in manuscripts like Paris BnF ms Lat. 14516, supported the planning of Gothic cathedrals by enabling scalable visualizations, though full working drawings remained rare until later centuries.[33]Renaissance and Early Modern Advances
![Leonardo da Vinci - presumed self-portrait - WGA12798.jpg][float-right] The Renaissance marked a pivotal shift in graphical representation through the systematic development of linear perspective, enabling more accurate depictions of three-dimensional space on two-dimensional surfaces. Filippo Brunelleschi demonstrated empirical methods for perspective around 1415 using a mirror and painted panels of Florentine buildings, establishing vanishing points based on optical projection.[30] Leon Battista Alberti formalized these principles in his 1435 treatise De Pictura, describing a mathematical system where parallel lines converge at a single vanishing point on the horizon, proportional to the viewer's eye level, which influenced artists across Europe in constructing realistic scenes.[34] Leonardo da Vinci advanced graphical techniques with over 7,000 surviving pages of technical drawings from circa 1480 to 1519, including detailed anatomical dissections begun around 1485 and engineering sketches that integrated observation with proportional geometry, as seen in the Vitruvian Man of 1490, which illustrated ideal human proportions derived from Vitruvius.[35] These works emphasized empirical accuracy over stylization, using cross-hatching for shading and exploded views for mechanical components, laying groundwork for modern technical illustration.[36] In Northern Europe, Albrecht Dürer refined engraving and woodcut techniques in the early 16th century, achieving unprecedented precision in line work and tonal variation; his Meisterstiche series of 1513–1514, including Melencolia I, employed fine burin strokes to render complex geometries and textures, bridging art and mathematics.[37] The invention of the movable-type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440 facilitated widespread reproduction of such graphics, with woodblock illustrations integrated into texts by the late 15th century, democratizing access to visual knowledge despite initial limitations in reproducing fine details.[38][39] Early modern scientific graphics progressed with Andreas Vesalius's De humani corporis fabrica in 1543, featuring 14 large-scale anatomical plates by Jan van Calcar that depicted dissected figures in dynamic landscapes with accurate musculature and skeletal structures, surpassing prior schematic diagrams through direct cadaver observation and woodcut printing for clarity.[40] These illustrations, produced via collaborative artist-anatomist workflows, established standards for evidence-based visual documentation in medicine, influencing fields like cartography and engineering by prioritizing measurable realism over symbolic abstraction.[41]Industrial and Modern Analog Era
The Industrial Revolution, commencing in Britain around 1760 and spreading globally, transformed graphics through mechanized production and standardization. Steam-powered cylinder presses, patented by Friedrich Koenig in 1810, enabled continuous printing at speeds up to 1,100 sheets per hour, far surpassing hand-operated methods and allowing mass circulation of illustrated newspapers and books.[42] This mechanization lowered costs and spurred demand for graphic content in advertising and technical documentation.[43] Lithography, invented in 1796 by German playwright Alois Senefelder, marked a pivotal advance by permitting direct reproduction of drawings made with greasy ink on limestone, eliminating labor-intensive engraving.[44] Initially used for music scores and maps, it expanded in the 19th century to fine art prints and commercial posters, with chromolithography—employing multiple stones for color layers—emerging around 1837 to produce vibrant, multi-color illustrations economically.[45] In technical fields, the era fostered standardized engineering graphics; orthographic projections, including first-angle conventions prevalent in Europe, became essential for precise machine part representations, supporting interchangeable manufacturing principles introduced by engineers like Henry Maudslay in the early 1800s.[46] The late 19th century saw wood engraving and photoengraving dominate periodical illustration, with boxwood blocks enabling detailed engravings for magazines like Harper's Weekly.[47] The halftone process, conceptualized by William Fox Talbot in 1852 but commercialized in the 1880s—first in newspapers by Stephen H. Horgan in 1880—revolutionized image reproduction by breaking photographs into dot patterns via screens, integrating realistic tones into letterpress printing without manual interpretation.[48] This facilitated the "golden age" of illustration, featuring artists like Thomas Nast for political cartoons, amplifying graphics' role in public discourse.[49] Into the 20th century, offset lithography, developed by Ira Washington Rubel in 1904, transferred inked images from plate to rubber blanket to paper, accommodating irregular surfaces and yielding sharper results for high-volume runs, dominant in book and magazine production until the 1970s.[50] Blueprints, invented by John Herschel in 1842 and refined via cyanotype processes, standardized architectural and engineering reproductions, with ozalid diazo methods in the 1920s offering faster, positive copies.[51] These analog techniques emphasized precision and scalability, underpinning industrial design, propaganda posters during World Wars, and commercial art deco graphics, while professional draftsmen employed tools like T-squares and French curves for manual precision before computerized aids.[52]Digital Revolution and Contemporary Milestones
The digital revolution in graphics transformed visual representation from analog media to computationally generated and manipulated forms, enabling scalable, interactive, and photorealistic outputs through hardware and software innovations starting in the mid-20th century. Early breakthroughs focused on interactive manipulation, with Ivan Sutherland's Sketchpad system, completed in 1963 as part of his MIT PhD thesis, introducing the first computer-based graphical user interface for drawing and editing geometric objects using a light pen on a vector display.[53] This allowed users to define constraints, replicate elements, and perform recursive operations, laying foundational principles for modern computer-aided design (CAD) and interactive graphics.[54] Subsequent advancements in the 1980s bridged computation and output fidelity. Adobe's PostScript, developed from 1982 to 1984 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke, established a device-independent page description language that standardized vector-based printing, enabling high-quality, resolution-independent reproduction of digital graphics across printers and displays.[55] Concurrently, Pixar's RenderMan, originating from work at Lucasfilm starting in 1981 and released in 1988, pioneered photorealistic rendering through the Reyes algorithm, shading languages, and techniques like stochastic antialiasing and ray tracing for global illumination, which produced the first CGI short film Tin Toy and influenced feature-length animation.[56] The Apple Macintosh, launched on January 24, 1984, democratized bitmap graphics and graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for personal computing, integrating a 512x342 monochrome display with software like MacPaint for pixel-level editing, which accelerated adoption in design and illustration workflows despite initial hardware limitations.[57] The 1990s marked the rise of accessible digital tools and web integration. NVIDIA's GeForce 256, released in 1999, introduced the first graphics processing unit (GPU), combining transform and lighting engines on a single chip to accelerate 3D rendering for consumer applications, shifting graphics computation from CPUs to specialized hardware.[58] That same year, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) proposed Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) as an XML-based standard for resolution-independent vector images, enabling dynamic, scriptable graphics in browsers without proprietary plugins.[59] Contemporary milestones since the 2000s emphasize real-time performance and realism. Hardware-accelerated ray tracing, computationally intensive for simulating light paths, became viable for interactive use with NVIDIA's RTX platform announced in 2018, incorporating dedicated tensor cores and RT cores in GPUs like the GeForce RTX 20 series to enable real-time reflections, shadows, and global illumination in games and simulations.[60] These developments, building on earlier software ray tracing from Turner Whitted's 1980 illumination model, have integrated with programmable shaders and AI denoising to achieve photorealistic outputs at interactive frame rates, influencing fields from entertainment to scientific visualization.[61] By the 2020s, hybrid rendering pipelines combining rasterization with ray tracing and machine learning upscaling (e.g., DLSS) have further optimized efficiency, allowing complex scenes with billions of polygons to render in real time on consumer hardware.[60]Techniques and Methods
Manual Drawing and Illustration
Manual drawing and illustration encompass hand-executed methods for producing visual representations, relying on physical media such as pencils, inks, and paper to depict forms, ideas, and technical details with precision.[62] These techniques prioritize direct hand-eye coordination to translate observation into two-dimensional forms, foundational to fields like engineering, architecture, and artistic communication before digital alternatives.[63] Core methods begin with basic sketching, where loose lines establish proportions and outlines, often following a three-step process: defining initial forms with simple shapes, subdividing or modifying those forms, and refining with details and shading.[64] Line work techniques include contour drawing for edges and gesture lines for dynamic flow, essential for capturing structure without initial shading.[65] Shading imparts volume and depth through varied approaches suited to media; in pencil, graduated tones arise from layered strokes varying pressure, while ink employs hatching—parallel lines—cross-hatching for denser tones, stippling via dots, or scribbling for textured effects.[66] These methods simulate light and shadow empirically, with hatching density controlling value from light to dark, as denser intersections yield greater opacity.[67] Perspective techniques enable realistic spatial depiction, starting with one-point perspective where parallel lines converge to a single vanishing point on the horizon line, ideal for interiors or roads.[68] Two-point perspective extends this for angular views like buildings, using two vanishing points to guide orthogonal lines, while three-point adds vertical convergence for dramatic angles such as skyscrapers.[69] Manual execution demands measuring alignments with tools like rulers or freehand estimation, grounding illustrations in geometric principles traceable to Renaissance developments.[70] In technical illustration, orthographic projections—such as first-angle—project views from multiple planes onto paper, ensuring accurate multi-view representations for manufacturing or assembly.[62] Botanical or scientific illustrations integrate precise line work with subtle shading to document specimens objectively, as in detailed plant renderings emphasizing structure over stylization.[71] These manual processes, though labor-intensive, foster intuitive understanding of form and proportion, persisting in education for honing observational acuity despite digital prevalence.[72]Printmaking Processes
Printmaking processes encompass techniques for producing multiple identical or closely similar images from a prepared matrix, such as a woodblock, metal plate, stone, or screen, by applying ink and transferring it under pressure or via other means to a substrate like paper. These methods emerged as essential for reproducing graphics, including illustrations, diagrams, and symbolic representations, enabling the mass dissemination of visual information beyond unique drawings.[73][74] The core principle relies on differential ink adhesion: raised areas, incised grooves, chemical affinities, or stenciled openings determine where ink transfers, with mechanical pressure or manual application facilitating the impression.[75] Relief printing, the earliest systematic process, involves carving away non-image areas from a block, leaving raised surfaces to hold ink, which is then pressed onto paper. Woodcut, a primary relief variant, originated in China around 220 AD for printing text and simple images on paper and silk, with evidence of diamond-shaped texts from that era. In Europe, woodcuts appeared by the early 15th century for playing cards and religious icons, integrating with movable type for illustrated books after Johannes Gutenberg's press innovations circa 1450, allowing affordable graphic reproduction in volumes like the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493). Linocut, a 20th-century adaptation using linoleum for easier carving, followed similar mechanics but yielded finer lines unsuitable for fine book graphics until modern refinements.[76][77][78] Intaglio processes reverse relief by incising image areas into a plate, where grooves retain ink after wiping the surface clean, requiring high pressure for transfer. Engraving, using a burin to cut metal plates, developed in Europe by the 1430s for detailed book illustrations and maps, surpassing woodcuts in precision for scientific graphics like anatomical diagrams. Etching, employing acid to corrode lines drawn with resist on a plate, gained prominence in the 16th century, with early examples by Daniel Hopfer around 1510; Rembrandt's etchings from 1625 onward demonstrated its capacity for tonal depth in reproductive prints. These techniques dominated fine graphics reproduction until the 19th century, as intaglio's durability supported editions of hundreds, though labor-intensive preparation limited scalability compared to relief.[79][73][74] Planographic printing, particularly lithography, operates on flat surfaces where image and non-image areas coexist without relief or recession, relying on the immiscibility of oil-based ink and water. Invented in 1798 by Alois Senefelder in Germany, it used Bavarian limestone slabs drawn with greasy crayon, wetted to repel ink from blank areas, enabling direct reproduction of drawings for posters and book graphics. By the 1820s, lithography facilitated large-scale illustration in publications, with Senefelder's process producing up to 1,000 impressions per stone before re-grinding, revolutionizing graphic dissemination for maps and periodicals.[80][73] Stencil or screen printing employs a porous mesh stretched over a frame, with a stencil blocking non-image areas to allow ink passage via squeegee. Tracing to China's Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD) for simple motifs, it evolved into modern serigraphy in the early 20th century, with Andy Warhol's 1960s works exemplifying its use for bold, colorful graphics in posters. In reproductive contexts, its versatility supported multi-color overlays without matrix carving, though less precise for intricate diagrams until photographic stencils in the mid-20th century enhanced resolution for commercial graphics.[74][75] Collectively, these processes transitioned graphics from manuscript rarity to printed ubiquity, with relief and intaglio enabling the illustrated incunabula of the 15th century—over 300 such volumes by 1500—while lithography scaled to industrial demands, underpinning causal chains from artisanal matrices to widespread visual literacy.[77][73] Limitations, such as relief's coarse lines and intaglio's cost, drove iterative refinements, but all prioritized verifiable fidelity to original designs over interpretive variation.[81]Photographic and Analog Reproduction
The advent of photography in the early 19th century provided a mechanical method for capturing visual details with unprecedented accuracy, fundamentally altering graphic reproduction from manual engraving to photomechanical processes. Louis Daguerre's daguerreotype, publicly announced on January 7, 1839, yielded detailed positive images on polished silver plates exposed via iodine and mercury vapors, though each was unique and non-reproducible without further adaptation.[82] William Henry Fox Talbot's calotype process, patented in 1841, introduced paper negatives sensitized with silver iodide, enabling the production of multiple positive prints from a single exposure and laying the groundwork for scalable duplication in graphics.[83] Photomechanical techniques emerged to integrate photographic images into mass printing. The halftone process, which decomposes continuous-tone photographs into variable-sized dots using a ruled glass screen placed before the camera lens during exposure, facilitated their reproduction via letterpress alongside text. Developed through experiments in the 1860s and refined for commercial viability by the 1880s, halftones supplanted wood engravings by automating tonal rendering, as dots of varying density simulated grayscales when viewed from a distance or under magnification.[84][85] This method dominated illustrated newspapers and books from around 1900, with plain one-impression halftones printed directly from relief plates until offset advancements.[86] Analog reproduction extended to intaglio and planographic methods reliant on photographic intermediates. Photogravure, using gelatin tissue to etch intaglio plates from continuous-tone negatives, produced deep-etched copper cylinders for high-fidelity rotary printing of graphics in periodicals, achieving resolutions superior to halftones but at higher cost.[87] Collotype, a gelatin-based planographic process exposing bichromated plates to light through a continuous-tone positive, yielded fine-screenless reproductions for art books, though limited to short runs due to plate fragility. Offset lithography, from the early 20th century, employed photographic film negatives to expose aluminum plates, transferring ink indirectly via rubber blankets for versatile graphic duplication in volumes exceeding thousands.[88] These techniques underpinned reprographics, where blueprints and technical drawings were contact-printed from film positives onto sensitized paper using ammonia diazo processes, standard in engineering until the 1980s.[89] Screen printing and flexography, analog stencil-based methods, adapted photographic emulsions on mesh screens for reproducing bold graphics on diverse substrates like textiles and packaging, with photopolymer screens introduced in the mid-20th century enhancing precision over hand-cut stencils. Rotogravure, etching cells of varying depth on cylinders from photographic positives, excelled in long-run color graphics for magazines, maintaining dominance into the late 20th century for its tonal range.[88] These processes, grounded in chemical and optical causality rather than digital sampling, preserved analog fidelity but required darkroom calibration to mitigate distortions from lens aberrations or emulsion variability, influencing graphic design workflows until phototypesetting's decline in the 1990s.[87]Diagramming, Graphing, and Symbolic Representation
Diagramming techniques utilize lines, shapes, and standardized symbols to depict processes, hierarchies, or relationships, facilitating clearer communication of complex information than textual descriptions alone. Flowcharts, which map sequential steps in workflows or algorithms using boxes for actions and arrows for flow, originated in industrial engineering; Frank and Lillian Gilbreth introduced the method to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1921 to optimize motion studies and production efficiency.[90] Precedence diagramming, an early variant for project scheduling, emerged in the late 1950s through engineering research on dependency networks, predating widespread computer adoption.[91] These manual techniques relied on drafting tools like rulers and templates, with symbols drawn freehand or stenciled to ensure consistency, as seen in technical fields from manufacturing to early computing programming.[92] Graphing methods transform quantitative data into visual forms to reveal patterns, trends, or comparisons, often employing axes for scales and geometric elements for values. William Playfair, a Scottish engineer, pioneered modern statistical graphing in 1786 with the line graph, bar chart, and area chart in The Commercial and Political Atlas, using them to illustrate economic time series like exports and imports from 1700 to 1782, thereby enabling intuitive comprehension of temporal changes.[93] He extended this in 1801 with the pie chart (or sector chart) in Statistical Breviary, dividing circles proportionally to represent shares, such as government revenue sources, though early versions prioritized aesthetic appeal over precision.[94] Techniques involved plotting points manually on gridded paper, scaling axes logarithmically when needed for wide ranges, and shading or coloring regions; these analog methods persisted until digital tools automated scaling and error reduction in the mid-20th century.[95] Symbolic representation in graphics assigns conventional icons or marks to abstract concepts, leveraging visual shorthand for rapid interpretation across languages or expertise levels. Rooted in semiotics, where signs link a signifier (e.g., an arrow icon) to a signified idea (e.g., direction), this approach dates to prehistoric cave art but formalized in technical drawing through standardized symbols like electrical schematics or process flow icons.[96][97] In engineering, process flow diagrams employ over 180 symbols for equipment, valves, and streams, ensuring unambiguous depiction of industrial systems; these were codified in standards like those from the American National Standards Institute by the 1950s.[98] Pictorial symbols, such as those in isotype systems developed by Otto Neurath in the 1920s, used simplified icons for statistical data, influencing modern infographics by prioritizing universal recognizability over realism.[99] Manual creation involved tracing archetypes or using symbol libraries, with efficacy depending on cultural consensus to avoid misinterpretation.Technological Foundations
Traditional Tools and Media
Traditional tools for graphics included manual marking instruments such as pencils, pens, inks, and brushes, alongside precision aids like compasses and T-squares. Graphite for pencils was identified in pure form in Borrowdale, England, in 1564, enabling early sticks encased in wood or wrapped in string for sketching and drafting. Mass production of wooden pencils originated in Nuremberg, Germany, circa 1662, with refinements in quality by firms like Faber-Castell from 1761. The modern graded pencil core, mixing graphite powder with clay and firing it, was developed in 1795 by French inventor Nicolas-Jacques Conté to circumvent British graphite export restrictions during the Napoleonic Wars.[100][101][102] Quill pens, cut from bird feathers like those of geese or swans, gained prominence in Europe from the 7th century onward, superseding reed pens for finer lines in manuscripts and illustrations. These were typically used with iron-gall ink, produced from oak galls, ferrous sulfate, and gum arabic, which prevailed from the 5th to the 19th centuries for its dark, permanent marks despite tendencies to corrode paper over time. Brushes, derived from ancient Chinese hair or fiber bundles attached to bamboo handles dating to the Neolithic period around 2000 BC, supported fluid ink applications in East Asian graphics and later Western watercolor techniques.[103][104] Drafting instruments facilitated accurate technical representations; straightedges and rulers, traceable to ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian scales from circa 2000 BC, ensured linear precision. Compasses, adapted from dividers for inking, supported geometric constructions as codified by Euclid around 300 BC, drawing circles, arcs, and transferring measurements. The T-square, featuring a perpendicular head on a long blade for guiding horizontal lines along drafting board edges, entered documented use by 1775 and standardized mechanical drawing practices through the industrial era.[105][106] Media for these tools ranged from ancient substrates to refined sheets. Papyrus, formed by pressing and drying Cyperus papyrus plant strips, served Egyptian graphics from approximately 3000 BC until the 10th century AD. Vellum, a fine parchment from calfskin (distinguished from coarser sheep or goat versions), emerged around 200 BC in Pergamon as a papyrus alternative, prized for durability in illuminated manuscripts. Paper, initially crude from plant fibers, was systematically produced in China by Cai Lun in 105 AD using mulberry bark, hemp rags, and fishnets, revolutionizing graphic dissemination after spreading westward via Arab traders by the 8th century and reaching Europe by 1150.[107][108][109][110]Computer Graphics Emergence
The emergence of computer graphics coincided with the development of digital computing in the mid-20th century, initially driven by military needs for real-time data visualization. In the 1950s, the U.S. Air Force's SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) system, developed by IBM and MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, integrated large-scale computers with cathode-ray tube (CRT) displays to present radar tracks as vector-drawn blips and trajectories for operator decision-making.[111] Deployed across 24 direction centers by the early 1960s, SAGE processed data from hundreds of radars and enabled operators to manipulate graphical overlays, such as designating intercept paths, marking the first widespread use of computing-generated visual interfaces for human interaction.[112] This vacuum-tube-based system, operational from 1958 onward, laid groundwork for graphical output by demonstrating the feasibility of refreshing dynamic displays at rates sufficient for perceived continuity, though limited to simple line primitives due to hardware constraints.[111] Academic advancements accelerated the field in the early 1960s, shifting from display-only systems to interactive creation tools. Ivan Sutherland's 1963 Sketchpad program, implemented on MIT's TX-2 transistorized computer, introduced recursive object hierarchies, constraint-based editing, and light-pen input for drawing and modifying vector graphics directly on a CRT screen.[113] Users could create complex diagrams—such as mechanical linkages or architectural plans—with features like copying, scaling, and automatic satisfaction of geometric constraints, all computed in real time without manual recalculation.[53] Sketchpad's innovations, detailed in Sutherland's PhD thesis, established core principles of graphical user interfaces, including direct manipulation and symbolic representation, influencing subsequent systems despite its reliance on expensive, custom hardware.[113] By the late 1960s, computer graphics expanded beyond vector methods toward raster techniques, enabling filled areas and shaded images. Early raster displays emerged in research labs, with Bell Laboratories developing scanned CRT systems for generating bitmap-like frames as early as 1965, though practical frame buffers awaited cost reductions in memory.[114] These developments, coupled with applications in computer-aided design (e.g., IBM's DAC-1 system from 1963, which plotted automotive designs), transitioned graphics from niche defense tools to engineering aids, fostering algorithms for hidden-line removal and basic shading.[115] The field's formalization followed, with organizations like the ACM's Special Interest Group on Graphics (SIGGRAPH) forming in 1969 to standardize practices amid growing computational power.[114]Software, Hardware, and Rendering Advances
The emergence of standardized graphics APIs facilitated cross-platform development and hardware abstraction in computer graphics software. OpenGL 1.0, released in June 1992 by Silicon Graphics and the Khronos Group, provided a cross-platform interface for 2D and 3D rendering, succeeding proprietary systems and enabling programmable pipelines in later versions.[116] Microsoft's DirectX 1.0, launched in September 1995, integrated multimedia APIs including Direct3D for Windows-centric 3D acceleration, evolving through versions to support shader models and hardware tessellation by DirectX 11 in 2009.[117] The Vulkan API, released on February 16, 2016, by the Khronos Group, introduced low-overhead, explicit control over GPU resources, reducing driver overhead compared to OpenGL and enabling better multi-threading for high-performance applications like real-time rendering.[118] Hardware advances centered on the graphics processing unit (GPU), shifting from fixed-function pipelines to massively parallel architectures. NVIDIA's GeForce 256, released on October 11, 1999, was the first GPU, integrating transform and lighting engines with 23 million transistors to handle vertex processing independently of the CPU.[119] Subsequent innovations included programmable shaders in GPUs like NVIDIA's GeForce 3 (2001) and ATI's Radeon 8500 (2001), allowing custom effects via vertex and pixel shaders. Modern GPUs, such as NVIDIA's RTX series announced August 20, 2018, incorporated dedicated tensor cores and ray-tracing cores (RT cores) for hardware-accelerated ray intersection tests, achieving real-time ray tracing at 60 frames per second in games like Battlefield V.[120] By 2024, GPUs featured over 100 billion transistors in architectures like NVIDIA's Blackwell, supporting AI-driven denoising for path-traced rendering.[121] Rendering techniques progressed from rasterization-dominant methods to physically accurate simulations. Early real-time rendering relied on scan-line rasterization, optimized in the 1970s for hidden surface removal and texture mapping, as in the Utah teapot model rendered in 1975.[122] Offline ray tracing, tracing light rays backward from the camera as conceptualized in 1968, gained traction in the 1980s with implementations like Cook's distributed ray tracing (1984) for global illumination effects including soft shadows and caustics.[123] Physically based rendering (PBR) emerged in the 1980s, emphasizing energy conservation and microfacet models like Torrance-Sparrow (1967, implemented 1981), enabling realistic material interactions under varying lighting.[124] Recent advances integrate hybrid rasterization with real-time ray tracing and AI-accelerated denoising, as in NVIDIA's DLSS (2018 onward), reducing path-tracing noise by up to 10x while maintaining fidelity in dynamic scenes.[120]Web, Interactive, and Mobile Graphics
Web graphics refer to visual elements rendered in web browsers, evolving from static raster images to scalable vector formats and dynamic rendering. The Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format, standardized by the ISO in 1996, improved upon GIF and JPEG by offering lossless compression and support for transparency, becoming a staple for web imagery due to its patent-free status. Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), proposed by the W3C in 1999 as an XML-based format for resolution-independent vector images, enabled precise scaling without quality loss, with SVG 1.0 reaching recommendation status in 2003. SVG's integration into HTML via the<img> or <object> tags, and later inline embedding, facilitated animations and styling through CSS and JavaScript, addressing limitations of pixel-based formats on varying display sizes.
Interactive graphics extend web capabilities by responding to user inputs like mouse hovers, clicks, or touches, leveraging browser APIs for real-time manipulation. The HTML5 <canvas> element, introduced in the WHATWG HTML Living Standard around 2008 and formalized in HTML5, provides a bitmap canvas for imperative drawing via JavaScript, enabling custom 2D graphics and animations without plugins. For data-driven interactivity, D3.js, a JavaScript library released in 2011 by Mike Bostock, manipulates the Document Object Model (DOM) to bind data to SVG or HTML elements, powering complex visualizations like force-directed graphs and geographic maps.[125] WebGL, a Khronos Group standard ratified in 2011 and based on OpenGL ES 2.0, brings hardware-accelerated 3D rendering to the web via JavaScript, supporting shaders for effects like lighting and textures, with over 99% browser compatibility by 2020.
Mobile graphics adapt web and interactive techniques for handheld devices, prioritizing performance on limited resources like battery and CPU. OpenGL ES, developed by the Khronos Group with version 1.0 released in 2003 for embedded systems, underpins mobile 3D rendering in platforms like Android and iOS, with ES 2.0 in 2007 introducing programmable shaders for advanced effects. Responsive design principles, articulated by Ethan Marcotte in 2010, extend to graphics through media queries in CSS3 (standardized 2012) and responsive images via the <picture> element in HTML5, allowing adaptive loading based on screen density and orientation to optimize bandwidth and rendering speed. Frameworks like React Native and Flutter, emerging post-2015, integrate WebGL-like rendering with native mobile APIs, enabling cross-platform interactive experiences while handling touch gestures and device sensors for immersive applications such as augmented reality overlays. These advancements have driven mobile graphics from static icons to fluid animations, with GPU acceleration reducing latency to under 16ms per frame for 60Hz displays.