The drawing, composition, and design terms defined.
A short reference to the working vocabulary used across the catalogue. Each entry sits in its dedicated page with the definition, origin, and links to the related overlay. From the Loomis method to the baseline grid to the seed of life.
How the figure is constructed.
The classical and modern construction methods — Dürer's grid, Loomis's sphere, Reilly's rhythmic curve, atelier sight-size.
Grid method
The classical NxN proportional-transfer technique. Dürer, 1525.
Loomis method
Sphere-plus-side-plane head construction for any angle.
Reilly method
Frank Reilly's rhythmic-curve head + body integration.
Proportional transfer
Atelier-tradition sight-size / comparative measurement.
Head construction
Building the head from simple solids before features — the basis of Loomis, Reilly, and Asaro.
Plane of the head
The flat facets that approximate the head's curved surface — where value turns.
Volumetric drawing
Drawing form as 3D volume in space rather than as flat outline.
Primitive solid
The sphere, cylinder, cone, and box Cézanne reduced all form to.
Sight measurement
Comparative measuring by eye with a held pencil — the atelier sight-size check.
Block-in
The first rough placement of the big shapes, before any detail.
Cast drawing
Drawing from a plaster cast — the atelier value-and-edge exercise.
Where the subject sits in the frame.
Off-centre composition grids — thirds, golden ratio, golden spiral, fifths, diagonal anchors, modular scale.
Rule of thirds
The most-used composition grid in photography.
Golden ratio
Phi (1.618) — the classical proportional system.
Golden spiral
The phi-growth logarithmic spiral.
Rule of fifths
5×5 subdivision — slower-paced than thirds.
Diagonal method
45° corner-to-corner composition anchors.
Modular scale
Geometric typography size sequence.
The grid behind the screen.
Modern systems for laying out text and screen interfaces — the typographic grid and its parts (columns, gutters, margins, measure, baseline), the 12-column responsive grid, the 8-point spacing standard.
Typographic grid
Columns, rows, and gutters — the Swiss-style layout framework.
12-column grid
The responsive web layout standard.
Baseline grid
Horizontal lines for vertical text rhythm.
Baseline
The line glyphs sit on — type's reference datum.
Leading
Baseline-to-baseline line spacing. Set "10/12" in metal type.
Measure
Line length — the width of the column of text.
Gutter
The space between columns, or the binding inner margin.
Margin
The whitespace framing the live content area.
8pt grid
Material/iOS spacing system standard.
Figures from the older traditions.
The recurring symbolic figures — Flower of Life, Seed of Life, Metatron's Cube, Vesica Piscis, Sri Yantra, Merkaba — and the broader tradition that frames them.
Sacred geometry
The broader tradition — overview term.
Flower of Life
19 overlapping circles — universal sacred figure.
Seed of Life
7-circle generative figure inside Flower of Life.
Metatron's Cube
13 spheres + lines, contains all Platonic solids.
Vesica Piscis
Two overlapping circles — Gothic foundational figure.
Sri Yantra
9 interlocking triangles — Hindu meditative diagram.
Merkaba
Two interlocking tetrahedra — 3D Star of David.
Platonic solids
The five regular polyhedra — the only ones possible.
Hexagonal symmetry
Six-fold order — seven equal circles packed around one.
Radial symmetry
Balance about a central point — rose windows, yantras.
Rosette
Petal figure of overlapping arcs — one compass setting.
Mandala
Concentric cosmic diagram read inward to the centre.
The basic working vocabulary.
Foundational terms that every other entry assumes you know.
Composition
How the elements sit in the frame — the umbrella term.
Negative space
The unoccupied area around the subject — half the composition.
Visual weight
Perceived heaviness of an element. Size, contrast, colour, isolation.
Visual hierarchy
Ordering elements by prominence to guide the eye.
Alignment
Lining elements to a shared edge or axis for order.
Proportion
Ratio between the parts and the whole — comparative size.
Anthropometry
Measuring the body to scale design to human use.
Atelier technique terms.
The language painters use day-to-day for light, depth, posture, and method.
Chiaroscuro
Italian for "light-dark." Strong contrast as form modelling.
Sfumato
Da Vinci's "smoky" edge — gradient transitions without lines.
Scumbling
Dry brush over dried paint — broken-colour optical mixing.
Foreshortening
Drawing a form aimed at the viewer at extreme angle.
Contrapposto
Classical figure stance — weight on one leg, shoulders tilted.
Plein-air
French — painting outdoors directly from the motif.
Atelier method
The studio apprenticeship system — cast, Bargue plate, then figure.
Value structure
The arrangement of lights and darks that carries a composition.
Munsell system
Albert Munsell's hue / value / chroma colour-ordering system.
Simultaneous contrast
How adjacent colours shift each other's appearance — Chevreul's law.
Cubism
The early-20th-century movement fracturing form into simultaneous views.
Beyond thirds — the deeper compositional language.
Armature, baroque diagonals, rabatment, reciprocals — the analytic vocabulary for reading classical composition.
Armature
Bouleau's 14-line internal grid for analysing Old Master composition.
Baroque diagonal
Upper-left to lower-right — the "active" diagonal of Baroque drama.
Sinister diagonal
Upper-right to lower-left — the "passive" diagonal, reads as falling.
Rabatment
Folding a square out of a rectangle — a classical composition aid.
Reciprocal lines
Dynamic-symmetry perpendiculars dropped from the diagonal.
Root rectangle
√2, √3, √5 rectangles built by swinging the diagonal.
Fibonacci sequence
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 … — the integer ratio approaching phi.
Mandorla
The almond-shaped lens of the vesica piscis — sacred figure ground.
Dynamic symmetry
Hambidge's root-rectangle composition built from the diagonal.
Reciprocal diagonal
A line square to the main diagonal — a dynamic-symmetry anchor.
Rhythm line
Reilly's flowing construction curves that link the features in rhythm.
The scaffolding of depth.
The terms every perspective construction begins with — plus the depth cue that needs no vanishing point.
The three terms readers look up first.
Short answers with the canonical figure beside each — three openings into the wider catalogue.
Golden ratio
Phi (φ ≈ 1.618) — the proportional system that produces a frame divided at 38.2 / 61.8. Subjects placed on the four Phi intersections sit slightly closer to centre than thirds.
Read the full definitionLoomis method
Andrew Loomis's portrait-head construction (1942). A sphere with a flattened side plane, sliced at the brow and the lower eye-line — the scaffold underneath any angle of head.
Read the full definitionFlower of Life
The 19-circle hexagonal figure documented at the Osirion temple (c. 535 BC). Every classical sacred-geometry construction — Seed, Egg, Fruit, Metatron's Cube — sits inside it.
Read the full definitionRelated
Browse the full reference library.
The glossary covers the terms; the library covers the overlays. Eighty-two composition and drawing grids — every Tier-S tool, every category hub, every entry's "try it live" link.
Open the 82-overlay library →