What is representation?
To represent is to make something (a drawing, a photo, a sculpture, a film) that stands for something else: a person, a place, an idea or a feeling. A representation is never the real thing. It is a set of choices: what to show, from where, how big, in what colour, and what to leave out.
That is why one apple can become many images. A ways of representing list includes drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, film, sculpture, collage, digital art and mixed work. Each has its own strengths. A photograph is quick and detailed. A pencil sketch can show only what matters. A sculpture can be walked around.
Showing space: from three dimensions to two (and back to three)
The real world has three dimensions: width, height and depth. A drawing or photo is flat: it has only width and height, on a surface called the picture plane. To give the feeling of depth, artists use depth cues:
- Size: far things are drawn smaller.
- Height on the page: far things are placed higher (up to the horizon).
- Overlap: a near thing hides part of a far thing.
- Light and colour: far things look paler and bluer; shadows show form and where things stand.
- Linear perspective: lines that go away from us meet at a vanishing point on the horizon.
Not all cultures use the same cues. Many Indian miniature paintings and folk art such as Warli or Madhubani show space in layers and patterns, not in linear perspective, and they are still clear and beautiful.
Artists also make real three-dimensional work (sculpture, relief, installation) where the viewer's own position matters: you see different sides as you move.
Visual storytelling: movement and time
A still picture shows one moment. Artists have many ways to show that time passes.
- A sequence of frames: comics, storyboards and films. Each panel is one moment. The viewer imagines what happens in the gap between two panels.
- Motion cues in one picture: blur, speed lines, faint repeated outlines (multiple exposure) or a pose caught at its most dramatic moment.
- Animation and film: many still pictures shown quickly. Films often show 24 pictures (frames) every second, and your eye joins them into movement.
- Order and rhythm: the order of panels, their size and the space between them control how fast the story feels.
An image does not have to copy reality
Between a perfect copy and pure shape there is a long scale: realistic (looks like the real thing), simplified or stylised (keeps only the main features, like a pictogram or a Warli figure), and abstract (shapes, lines and colours that do not show a recognisable thing).
An artist can mix real and imaginary: a blue horse, a floating city or a self-portrait made of fruit. Fiction is not lying. It lets artists show ideas and feelings that a photograph cannot. Even a photograph is not a mirror: someone chose the viewpoint, the crop, the moment and the editing.
Good question to ask: what did the artist keep, what did they change, and why?
Status and meaning of different images
The status of an image is the job it does in society. The same picture can have different status and so a different meaning.
| Status | Main job | Clues |
|---|---|---|
| Document | Record facts, give evidence (ID photo, news photo, map, X-ray) | Plain frame, factual caption, date and place |
| Artwork | Invite looking, feeling and thinking | Title, signature, gallery or museum, careful frame |
| Advert | Persuade you to buy or do something | Bright colours, slogan, logo, call to action |
| Teaching illustration | Explain how something works | Labels, arrows, clean shapes |
Always ask: Who made it? For whom? Why? Where is it shown? Frames, captions and place change how we read an image.
Making, producing and circulating a work
A work has a life from idea to audience.
- Research: look at real things, keep a sketchbook, collect references, talk to people, study other artists.
- Choose tools and materials: pencil, ink, brush, clay, camera, tablet, printing block. The tool changes the look.
- Make: try versions, test, improve, keep the best.
- Produce: finish, frame, print copies or publish digitally.
- Circulate: show in class, an exhibition, a book, a website or social media. The place changes who sees it and how they read it.
- Respond: listen to the audience and learn for the next work. Give credit to sources and respect other people's rights and privacy.
Try it at home
Draw the same cup three ways on three pieces of paper: very realistic, simplified to three shapes, and abstract (only colours that show how the cup feels). Then write a caption that makes the picture a document, then an artwork title, then an advert slogan. Show a friend and ask what each says. Predict first: will your friend read the same meaning each time?
Key formulas and definitions
- Representation = an image that stands for something real or imagined
- Picture plane = the flat surface of a picture (2 dimensions)
- Depth cues: size, height on the page, overlap, light and colour, perspective
- Style scale: realistic → simplified → abstract
- Status of an image: document, artwork, advert, illustration. Ask: who, for whom, why?
Worked examples
1. How can you show a faraway tree behind a house on a flat page?
Draw the tree smaller, higher on the page, partly hidden behind the house (overlap), and with paler, bluer colour. These are depth cues, so no real depth is needed.
2. A comic shows a boy kicking a ball in four panels. How does it show time?
Each panel is one moment. The ball and the boy are in different places in each panel, so we see movement. We imagine what happens between panels. Speed lines in a panel can add more movement.
3. The same apple picture appears in a botany book, in a gallery and on a juice advert. How do status and meaning differ?
In the botany book it is a document or illustration: it shows facts, with labels. In the gallery it is an artwork: we look, feel and think, with a title. On the juice pack it is an advert: bright colour and a slogan make us want to buy.
4. Why can a very simple road-sign image be a strong representation?
It keeps only the most important shape and removes details, so it is read in a second by everyone. Strong representation is not about detail, it is about meeting the purpose.
Common mistakes
- Believing the most realistic image is the best. The best image is the one that does its job.
- Thinking a photograph is always the plain truth. Someone chose the view, the crop and the moment.
- Thinking linear perspective is the only way to show space. Layers, overlap, size and colour work too.
- Reading an image without asking who made it, for whom and why.