Halftone - Any of a series of intermediate tonal values that can be observed as the planes of a form transition from full light to the edge of the shadow. Also called half-tint or demi-teinte.
Hallmark - A mark put on an article to indicate origin, purity, or genuineness. It is usually found on an object's underside. Or a distinguishing characteristic, trait, or feature.
Harmony or Harmonious - Agreement; accord. A union or a blend of aesthetically compatible components. A composition is harmonious when the interrelationships between its parts fulfill aesthetic requisites or are mutually beneficial. As a principle of design, harmony refers to a way of combining elements of art to accent their similarities and bind the picture parts into a whole. It is often achieved through the use of repetition and simplicity.
Harmonic Sequence or Harmonic Series - A sequence of numbers in which the terms are in harmonic progression. Also see the Fibonacci sequence, music, and rhythm.
Harmonious Colors - Colors that look good together because they are complementary colors, analogous colors, or otherwise related.
Hatching or crosshatching - Creating tonal or shading effects with closely spaced parallel lines. When more such lines are placed at an angle across the first, it is called cross-hatching. Artists use this technique, varying the length, angle, closeness, and other qualities of the lines, most commonly in drawing, linear painting, engraving, and ethnicity. Hatching is also referred to with the French word hachure.
Height - The first dimension, the measurement of the distance from the level of the lowest point to the level of the highest point of a shape or space.
Heighten - In drawing and painting, to raise the value of areas with white or pale color in order to complete the rendition of forms. Along with its opposite — shading — an important aspect of chiaroscuro.
Helix - A three-dimensional spiral; a curve that lies on a cylinder or cone. Spirals — helixes and volutes — are among the ten classes of patterns. The chirality of a helix in the direction of its turning, or handedness. A right-handed helix turns as a screw does; a left-handed one turns in the opposite direction.
Hemisphere - Half of a sphere. Also see concave, convex, dome, and niche.
Heritage - History, culture, and traditions of a group of people.
Hieroglyphics - System of writing, such as that of the ancient Egyptians, that uses pictures or symbols rather than words or letters.
High Key - Having a lighter overall tonal range. In film lighting, having a low contrast between light and shadow.
Highlight - A spectacular reflection of the light source on a wet or shiny surface that is in direct relation to the viewer.
Horizon Line - The line created in artwork by the meeting of sky and ground, usually at the viewer's eye level.
Horizontal - Moving straight across rather than up and down. For example, the top edge of a piece of paper is horizontal.
Hue - refers to the family of wavelengths in the visible spectrum of light or another word for color. The attribute of a color that allows it to be classified as red, yellow, blue, and so on.
Hyper-realism - Or Photo-realism is an art style with the sharpness of detail evenly distributed over the whole picture (except where out-of-focus effects in the photograph are faithfully recorded), but the scale is often greatly enlarged, as when portrait heads are blown up to giant size. (Some critics prefer to use the terms ‘Photographic Realism’ only when a picture has been painted direct from a photograph.
HVC - Shorthand for hue/value/chroma, a way of defining a specific color note.
