An example of stippling in a biological illustration.

Stippling is the technique of using small dots to simulate varying degrees of solidity or shading. Image File history File links Stipple. ... Image File history File links Stipple. ...

In a drawing or painting, the dots are made of pigment of a single color, applied with a pen or brush; the denser the spacing of the dots, the darker the apparent shade — or lighter, if the pigment is lighter than the surface. This is similar to - but distinct from - pointillism, which uses dots of different colors to simulate blended colors. Drawing is a means of making an image, using any of a wide variety of tools and techniques. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... For animal and plant pigments, see Pigment, biology. ... A ballpoint pen A pen is a writing instrument which applies ink to some surface. ... Different styles of paintbrushes The term brush refers to a variety of devices mainly with bristles, wire or other filament of any possible material used mainly for cleaning, grooming hair, painting, deburring and other kinds of surface finishing, but also for many other purposes like (but not limited to) seals... Detail from Seurats La Parade (1889), showing the contrasting dots of paint used in pointillism. ...

In printmaking, dots may be carved out of a surface to which ink will be applied, to produce either a greater or lesser density of ink depending on the printing technique. Stippling may also be used in engraving or sculpting an object even when there is no ink or paint involved, either to change the texture of the object, or to produce the appearance of light or dark shading depending on the reflective properties of the surface: for instance, stipple engraving on glass produces areas that appear brighter than the surrounding glass. Printmaking is a process for producing editions (mutliple copies) of artwork; painting, on the other hand, is a process for producing a single original piece of artwork. ... Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. ... An Italian Futurist sculpture by Umberto Boccioni at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (MoMA). ...

The technique became popular as a means of producing shaded line art illustrations for publication, because drawings created this way could be reproduced in simple black ink. The other common method is hatching, which uses lines instead of dots. Stippling has traditionally been favored over hatching in biological and medical illustration, since it is less likely than hatching to interfere visually with the structures being illustrated (the lines used in hatching can be mistaken for actual contours), and also since it allows the artist to vary the density of shading more subtly to depict curved or irregular surfaces. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Line Art. ... Albrecht Dürer, Veronica, 1513. ... Illustration by Jesse Wilcox Smith. ...

Images produced by halftoning or dithering and computer printers operate on similar principles (varying the size and/or spacing of dots on paper), but do so via photographic or digital processes rather than manually. These newer techniques have made it possible to convert continuous-tone images into patterns suitable for printing, but artists may still choose stippling for its simplicity and handmade appearance. The Wall Street Journal features stippled portraits known as hedcuts in its pages, as part of its long-standing avoidance of photographs. Halftoning is a method of printing shades using a single color ink. ... Dither is a form of noise, or erroneous signal or data which is added to sample data for the purpose of minimizing quantization error. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Wall Street Journal is an influential international daily newspaper published in New York City, New York with a worldwide average daily circulation of more than 2. ... Hedcut is a style of drawing, primarily of people, pioneered and used by the Wall Street Journal. ... A photograph (often shortened to photo) is an image created by focusing light onto material having a light-sensitive coating. ...

The term stipple can also apply to a random pattern of small depressions applied to a surface to increase the friction and make the surface easier to grip. This process is similar to knurling or checkering, but is often used on complex curved surfaces, such as anatomical grips, where a regular pattern would not fit. Stippling can be cast into plastic objects, or applied with a hammer and punch to wood or metal objects. Two examples of the use of knurling in hand tools. ... Greek anatome, from ana-temnein, to cut up), is the branch of biology that deals with the structure and organization of living things; thus there is animal anatomy (zootomy) and plant anatomy (phytonomy). ... Plastic covers a range of synthetic or semisynthetic polymerization products. ... A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is derived from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... Hot metal work from a blacksmith In chemistry, a metal (Greek: Metallon) is an element that readily forms positive ions (cations) and has metallic bonds. ...

A further use of stipple indicates the damage caused by spider mites which make tiny white spots on plant leaves which can coalesce until the entire leaf appears silvery. Binomial name Tetranychus urticae C.L. Koch, 1836 Tetranychus urticae (an animal with over 60 common names, including red spider mite and two-spotted spider mite) is one of many species of plant-feeding mites found in dry environments, generally considered a pest. ...

External links

• Detailed Stippling Demonstration
• Stipple Portrait Drawings Pen and Ink Illustration by Wall Street Journal portrait artist Noli Novak