Mediums and Techniques in Visual Art – Class 9 Arts Chapter 15 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 9ArtsChapter 15NCERT book: Madhurima - Arts Class 9

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 15 of the NCERT Class 9 Arts book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 15: Mediums and Techniques in Visual Art (Visual Arts)

Introduction

After warm-ups like sketching and journalling, Chapter 15 moves to the next level: mediums and techniques. The choice of materials and tools has shaped every artist's expression — from prehistoric cave paintings made with earth pigments to today's digital drawing devices. That we can still see artworks made thousands of years ago proves artists had deep knowledge of materials.

Let us recall: Some pottery and metal-casting techniques practised today are more than 5,000 years old.

Key Ideas

What is a medium?

A medium is the materials, tools and processes used in making a visual artwork — for drawing and painting, printmaking, sculpture, textile crafts, paper crafts and digital art.

A conversation about mediums (Samir, Sharmila, Sukhbir)

The chapter explores mediums through a lively comic-style conversation:

Samir enjoys watercolours on paper and has painted on canvas; he dreams of a wall mural.

Sharmila loves sculpture because she can shape things with her hands. Her uncle's ceramic studio has a kiln and pottery wheels — clay is fired at very high temperature, which needs experience, so she is exploring wood, jute fibres and wire sculpture.

Sukhbir arrives covered in charcoal stains from outdoor sketching. He got soft charcoal from Jayanti Kākā, who irons clothes, because the shop didn't sell 2B–8B soft-lead pencils.

Pencil "lead" is not lead (Pb) — it is graphite, which under very high temperature and pressure turns into diamond!

Oil painters use turpentine as a thinner (it can make eyes burn) and palette knives to create texture.

Oil pastels are like wax crayons but more vibrant and blendable; dry pastels are like charcoal.

Traditional artists make black pigment from charcoal and soot of oil lamps — a natural, sustainable medium.

Many artists now make digital paintings and sculptures and even work for virtual reality (VR).

Care, maintenance and responsible storage

Source consciously: choose non-toxic, sustainable materials; reuse paper; try recyclables.

Handle with care:

Clean brushes immediately with soap, rinse, shape the bristles and dry them horizontally or bristles-up.

Close paint tubes tightly; cap markers and ink bottles.

Don't touch artworks with dirty or oily hands.

Dispose of inks, acrylics and chemicals like turpentine responsibly.

Store responsibly: keep paper, canvas and drawings in dry, flat spaces; store cutters, scissors, needles and sculpting tools safely away from young children and animals; keep food and water away — they attract fungi that destroy artwork.

Sculptural crafts of India

Every region has craft traditions in stone, metal, terracotta, wood, grass, palm, beads and fabric — basketry, brass work, wood crafts, marble inlay, Bidriware, jewellery, Sikkī grass crafts, terracotta and embroidery. Examples shown include idol-makers of Kumoratuli, Kolkata, terracotta animal figurines of Odisha, and a painted wooden Rāvaṇa from Uttar Pradesh.

Two headgear traditions:

Sumok Thyāktuk — traditional bamboo hats made by the Lepchas of Sikkim, worn at festivals and rituals. Made of cane and bamboo, each takes a month to weave, in four layers, each with its own pattern and symbolism.

Śholāpith — a craft of West Bengal and Odisha (a similar Tamil Nadu tradition is Neṭṭī). Artisans extract the milky-white spongy pith of the śholā plant (Aeschynomene aspera) to carve garlands, bridal headgear and idols. The artisans are called malakars (garland-makers).

Colour theory

The Chitra-sūtra discusses sourcing, preparing and using colours. It names the basic colours as white, yellow, red, blue and black; mixing them gives innumerable colours, and adding white or black to secondary colours gives tints and shades.

Complementary colours lie directly opposite on the colour wheel (e.g. red–green, blue–orange, yellow–violet).

Analogous colours lie next to each other (e.g. yellow, yellow-green, green).

Map warm and cool colours; practise tints, shades and tones.

Perspective techniques

Perspective shows three-dimensional depth on a flat surface.

Linear perspective — lines that are parallel in reality are drawn converging at a vanishing point on the horizon (like a corridor). In Raphael's School of Athens (fresco, 1508–1511 CE) the architecture's lines converge at the centre, where Plato and Aristotle stand among Socrates, Pythagoras, Archimedes and others.

Aerial (atmospheric) perspective — uses colour tonality: near things are richer and more detailed; distant mountains look hazy. Example: a Japanese landscape by Kawabata Gyokusho (1887–1892 CE).

A Deccan miniature of two dancers (1750 CE) is analysed as a confluence of perspectives.

Do you know? "Perspective" also means a person's opinions and attitudes based on their experiences.

Activities

15.1 List every medium in the conversation and try the available ones.

15.2 Report on two Indian sculptural crafts (region, artist, materials, process, source).

15.3 Handcraft a 3-D object — pen stand, headgear, jewellery — from clay, fabric, fibre or soft wood.

15.4 Make a mixed-media colour wheel (primary, secondary, tertiary; warm/cool; tints, shades, tones).

15.5 Mark the vanishing point on School of Athens.

15.6 Analyse perspective in the Deccan miniature.

15.7 Create an ~A4 dance scene using both perspectives, in 9 steps, without copying the miniature.

Key Terms

Medium (माध्यम) — materials, tools and processes of an artwork

Pigment (रंजक) — colouring substance

Graphite (ग्रेफ़ाइट) — the "lead" in pencils

Kiln (भट्टी) — furnace for firing clay

Turpentine (तारपीन) — thinner for oil paint

Palette knife (पैलेट चाकू) — tool to apply paint and texture

Complementary colours (पूरक रंग) — opposite on the wheel

Analogous colours (सदृश रंग) — side by side on the wheel

Perspective (परिप्रेक्ष्य) — illusion of depth

Vanishing point (लोप बिंदु) — where parallel lines converge

Horizon (क्षितिज) — eye-level line

Aerial perspective (वायवीय परिप्रेक्ष्य) — depth through colour and haze

Malakar (मालाकार) — śholāpith artisan

Artists & Traditions

Raphael (School of Athens), Kawabata Gyokusho, Deccan and Mewar miniatures, Abanindranath Tagore (Emperor's March to Kashmir, wash and tempera, 1920), Lepcha hat-weavers of Sikkim, śholāpith malakars, Kumoratuli idol-makers.

Connect to Your Life

Turmeric, beetroot, spinach and soot can all give colours — the same logic as traditional pigments. Look at a railway track or a long road: that is linear perspective in real life.

Common Mistakes

Thinking pencil lead is toxic lead (Pb) — it is graphite.

Mixing up complementary (opposite) and analogous (adjacent) colours.

Using black freely when mixing — it overpowers other colours.

Storing wet or food-stained work — it invites fungi.

Let's Reflect

List five or six natural colour sources (like lamp soot).

Find complementary and analogous pairs in the Mewar miniature (1680–1690).

Describe perspective and blending in Abanindranath Tagore's wash painting.

💡 Key Learning Points

✓A medium is the materials, tools and processes of an artwork
✓Different mediums (charcoal, pastels, watercolour, oil, clay, digital) suit different expression
✓Care, maintenance and responsible storage protect materials and artworks
✓India's sculptural crafts include Sumok Thyāktuk and śholāpith traditions
✓Colour theory and linear/aerial perspective create harmony and depth

👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

→Read the Samir–Sharmila–Sukhbir conversation aloud as a role-play
→Set up a medium-testing table with pencil, charcoal, pastel and watercolour
→Demonstrate correct brush cleaning and storage at the end of class
→Invite a local craftsperson for a hands-on workshop (Activity 15.3)
→Build a mixed-media colour wheel as a class wall chart
→Project School of Athens and let students trace converging lines
→Take students outdoors to observe aerial perspective in distant trees or hills

📋 Assessment Questions

Can the student define 'medium' and name at least five?
Can the student explain complementary vs analogous colours with examples?
Can the student identify linear and aerial perspective in a painting?
Does the student follow care and storage practices?
Can the student describe one Indian sculptural craft, its region and material?

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