• Shakespeare,William • Storytelling
• Theater
August Wilson’s play The Piano Lesson is
about the African American experience in
the United States.
74 Drama BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Drawing
Drawing is a form of art. To make a
drawing, an artist puts lines on paper or
another surface. Most artists start out by
learning to draw. This is because drawing
is the starting point for painting,
sculpture, and other art forms.
Drawing Tools
Artists can choose from many tools for
drawing. Pencils, pens, and pastels are
common drawing tools. Artists’ pencils
come in a wide range of hardness. Softer
pencils make darker marks. Artists’ pens
may have different tips for making wide
or thin lines. Some artists use special
pens that they dip in ink before drawing.
Pastels are chalklike sticks made of
colored powder. Other drawing tools
include charcoal, crayons, and chalk.
Paper is by far the most common surface
for drawing. Paper comes in many colors
and textures. Artists often use smooth
paper for fine drawing.
Many artists today use computers to
create drawings. Special software allows
artists to draw with a mouse or a drawing
pad.
How Artists Draw
Drawings are usually made up of lines.
An artist can put lines together to form
figures, or pictures of things. Artists also
can use lines to stand for borders
between a figure and the space that surrounds
it.
To create shadows, an artist can combine
or cross lines. In a technique called
hatching, an artist draws short, parallel
lines to make light and dark areas. In a
technique called crosshatching, an artist
uses two sets of parallel lines that cross
each other.
Not all drawings are made with just
lines. Artists often fill in parts of their
drawings by rubbing their drawing tools
across the drawing surface. This technique
creates shadows or areas of solid
color. Some artists uses spots and dots to
fill in areas or to create forms.
History
People have been drawing since prehistoric
times. Prehistoric people drew on
cave walls, on rocks, and probably on
sand. Early drawings eventually developed
into writing. Ancient Egyptian
writing, called hieroglyphics, was a system
of picture symbols. Many of the
characters in Chinese writing also were
drawings at first.
The drawing
ink called
India ink is
made from the
soot of burning
wood or
burning oil.
Many artists draw with charcoal. Charcoal
is made from partially burned, or charred,
wood.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Drawing 75
Chinese artists made ink drawings as
early as 3,000 years ago. By about 1,000
years ago the Chinese drew on scrolls, or
long, rolled pieces of paper or silk. Asian
artists generally used brushes instead of
pens to make ink drawings.
Drawing in Europe became a form of
fine art during the Renaissance. The
Renaissance was a time of great culture
that lasted from the 1300s through the
1500s. Artists in Italy—including
Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and
Michelangelo—made many fine drawings.
Da Vinci created drawings of the
human body as well as scientific drawings.
In Germany the artist Albrecht
Durer made detailed pen-and-ink drawings
of religious subjects.
Later European artists made drawings
that showed their opinions. In the 1700s
the English artistWilliam Hogarth
made drawings that made fun of human
mistakes. In the 1800s the Spanish artist
Francisco Goya made drawings that
showed the horrors of war.
In the 1900s many artists made drawings
that looked less realistic than earlier
drawings. They used geometric shapes or
free-flowing lines to represent people
and objects. Some artists made abstract
drawings, or drawings that did not represent
anything. These drawings were
meant to express emotions or ideas. The
Spanish artist Pablo Picasso made some
of the greatest drawings of this period.
Today drawing is still a popular form of
art. But people also use drawing for
many business and entertainment purposes.
Advertisers use drawings to sell
products. Fashion artists and designers
of products use drawings to plan their
work. Illustrators and cartoonists draw
pictures for books, newspapers, and
magazines. In addition, many children
and adults draw just for fun or relaxation.
#More to explore
Arts • Cartoon • Painting • Sculpture
Dred Scott
Decision
In 1857 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
that Congress had no power to ban slavery
in the territories, or areas that were
not yet states. The ruling, called the
Dred Scott decision, increased tensions
between the proslavery South and the
antislavery North.
Many children draw on sidewalks with
chalk. When it rains, the drawings are
washed away.
76 Dred Scott Decision BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Dred Scott was a black slave in Missouri.
In 1834 he was taken to Illinois.
Illinois was a free state, meaning that
slavery was illegal there. Scott later lived
in the territory ofWisconsin, where
slavery was also illegal. When Scott was
taken back to Missouri, he sued for his
freedom. He argued that the time he
had spent in a free state and a free territory
had made him free.
Scott’s court case began in Missouri
and made its way up to the U.S.
Supreme Court. The court ruled against
