ABSTRACT; non-subjective art, art that utilises shape, colour and texture, without representing real objects.

Abstract Expressionism...An American style of painting that developed in the late 1940s. It had two branches, one called "Action painting" and the other "Color Field painting". Both were characterized by a non-representational style that stressed psychological or emotional meaning.

academic...A term applied to any kind of art that stresses the use of accepted rules for technique and form organization. It represents the exact opposite of the creative approach, which results in a vital, individualistic style of expression.

ACRYLIC PAINT; pigment suspended in acrylic resin, water soluble before dry, permanent after drying.

Action painting...An Abstract-Expressionist style that involves dripping, spraying and brushing techniques in the application of pigment to the painting surface.

aesthetic...Having to do with the pleasurable and beautiful as opposed to the useful or scientific. An aesthetic response is the perception and enjoyment of a work of art.

aesthetics...A compound of the philosophy, psychology, and sociology of art having to do with the nature of beauty and its relation to human beings.

ARTISTS CHROMOGRAPH; colour picture created and produced under direct control of the originator, [see CHROMOGRAPH].

ARTISTS PROOF; term used to distinguish small number of perfect example prints from an edition. Usually extra 10% not included in the total number in a limited edition. Usually property of the artist and numbered in Roman numerals. [see EDITION [LIMITED]]

ARTWORK; original work by the artist for use in production of CHROMOGRAPHS, PRINTS etc..

atmospheric (aerial) perspective...The illusion of deep space produced in graphic works by lightening values, softening details and textures, reducing value contrasts, and neutralizing colors in objects as they recede.

binder...The liquid medium that is mixed with pigment to form paint, or pastel sticks. The binder used for water-colour is gum arabic; oil paints are bound with oil, acrylics with a synthetic resin, and pastels with gum tragacanth.

BRIGHTON ARTISTS WORKSHOP; group of artists formed in 1976 in Brighton Sussex. Founders include Colin Ruffell and Fran Slade. Original purpose joint ownership of framing equipment, now a distribution and direct contact organisation with hundreds of listed art collectors.

CANVAS; traditional ground for oil or acrylic paintings. Usually GESSO'ed and stretched on STRETCHERS.

CHIAROSCURO; [15th century] light and dark in a painting, often well defined showing single light direction.

chroma...1. The purity of color or its freedom from white, black, or gray. 2. The intensity of hue.

chromatic...Pertaining to the presence of color.

CHROMOGRAPH; [alternative spelling. CHROMAGRAPH] literally "colour image" [writing or picture] generic term for art that involves transfer of image from one form to another. [see C.T.L.X., ENGRAVING, ETCHING, LITHOGRAPH, PRINT, SERIGRAPH, XEROGRAPH]

classical...Art forms that are characterized by a rational, controlled, clear, and intellectual approach.

Collage...From the French word coller which means "to paste". A pictorial technique in which the artist creates the image, or a portion of it, by adhering real materials that possess actual textures to the picture-plane surface, often combining them with painted or drawn passages.

Colour...The visual response to the wavelengths of light, identified as red, green, blue, etc.

Colour Field painting...Another branch of Abstract Expressionism in which artists filled extremely canvases with bright color meant to involve the viewer psychologically. They created unified shapes, fields and/or symbols of the artists' personal feelings. The fields of color were flat in technique and bonded or integral to the surface.

complementary colors...Two colors directly opposite each other on the color wheel. A primary color is complementary to a secondary color that is a mixture of the two remaining primaries.

composition...An arrangement and/or structure of all the elements which achieves a unified whole. Often used interchangeably with the term design.

COMPUTER ENHANCED IMAGE; picture produced with one of its stages being in digital language using computer software. Awesome technology available to the advertising industry and graphic designers and increasingly available to FINE ARTISTS.

conceptual perception...Creative vision that derives from the imagination.

content...The expression, essential meaning, significance, or aesthetic value of a work of art. Content refers to the sensory, subjective, psychological, or emotional properties we feel in a work of art, as opposed to our perception of its descriptive aspects alone.

C.T.L.X. [CoToLaX][CONTINUOUS TONE LASER XEROGRAPH]; high quality picture end-product of computer technology involving dry pigment [toner] fixed by "melting" onto paper with LASER.

Cubism...The name given to the painting style invented by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque between 1906 and 1914. Cubists used multiple views of objects to create the effect of their three-dimensionality, while acknowledging the two-dimensional surface of the picture plane.

culture...A set of learned ways of thinking and acting that characterizes a decision-making human group.

Dada...A nihilistic, anti-art, anti-everything art movement resulting from the social, political, and psychological dislocations of World War I. The movement, which literally means hobbyhorse, is important historically as a generating force for Surrealism. The Dada movement began in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1916.

DEALER SYSTEM; system of FINE ART sale and distribution usually from galleries. Prestigious international dealers contract artists and provide salaries in exchange for promotion and exhibitions. Main effect is to provide art to wealthy collectors and public galleries, however side effect is to keep artists and general public apart, and put up prices.

design...A framework or scheme of construction on which artists base the nature of their total work. In a broader sense, design may be considered synonymous with the term form.

De Stijl...A Dutch form of art featuring primary colors within a balanced structure of lines and rectangles. It was a style to perfectly express the higher mystical unity between humankind and the universe. Translated as the Style it was the form of abstraction developed by Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg about 1914-17.

diluent...Liquids used to thin down paint, such as turpentine or white spirit of oils and water for water-based paints.

DISTRESSING; deliberate ageing effects applied to frames and furniture.

drawing...The art or act of representing something on a surface by means of lines and shades, as with a pencil, crayon, pen, chalk, compasses, etc. Also, a sketch, plan, picture or design made with such materials.

dry brush...A technique of applying the minimum of paint to the surface, usually with the bristles of the brush slightly splayed out.

EDITION [LIMITED]; published art works that are all exactly the same, usually published at the same time, and limited to quoted number. Pencil marking in fraction format, upper number is particular to that print and lower number is size of edition. The publisher undertakes not to produce more than edition size. The smaller the edition size the more rare and hence potential value. Edition sizes range from an edition of 2 to thousands. In practice editions over 750 have little if any extra value.

EDITION [OPEN]; unlimited edition, usually un-numbered. Usually less expensive than limited editions. However this may be because the published method is such that pictures are produced to order one at a time rather than all at once. Open editions may therefore be more rare than limited editions.

ENGRAVING; pictures produced by cutting into surface of metal or wood plate to hold ink for printmaking.

ETCHING; similar to engraving but use is made of acid to etch into plate surface after image is inscribed onto surface which has been covered in acid resisting ground.

Expressionism....A form of art in which there is a desire to express what is felt rather than perceived or reasoned. Expressionistic form is defined by an obvious exaggeration of natural objects for the purpose of emphasizing an emotion, mood, or concept. It can better be understood as a more vehement kind of Romanticism. The term is best applied to a movement in art of the early twentieth century, encompassing the Fauves and German groups, although it can be used to describe all art of this character.

Fantastic art...Not a particular style or movement, but a term to describe the departure from accepted appearances or relationships for the sake of psychological expression in the arts. Fantasy may exist in any art style, but is usually thought of in connection with unencumbered flights of pictorial imagery, freely interpreted or invented.

fat-over-lean...The traditional way of building up an oil painting; beginning with thin, non-oily paint (lean) and increasing the thickness and oil content as the painting proceeds. For any painting built up in a series of layers, this is very important. Thick, oily paint takes a long time to dry, a shrinks slightly in the process. If lean paint is laid over this, the top layer will dry first, and may crack as the lower layer shrinks.

Fauves (Fauvism)...A name (meaning wild beasts) for an art movement that began in Paris, France, about 1905. It was expressionistic art in a general sense, but more decorative, orderly, and charming than German Expressionism.

figurative painting...A painting of something actual, as opposed to an abstract painting. The word does not imply the presence of human figures.

form...1. The arbitrary organization or inventive arrangement of all the visual elements according to the principles that will develop unity in the artwork. 2. The total appearance or organization of the artwork.

FINE ART; the visual arts which include painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture and some performance art. Excludes other art forms such as poetry, literature, dance and music.

FIVEWAYS ARTISTS GROUP; artists living within designated area near Fiveways junction in Brighton. The group was formed in 1986 to exhibit in the Brighton Festival and opened up their houses to the Festival public to show their own and guest artists work. The success of the open house exhibitions has been such that many other open houses have sprung up all over Brighton and Hove during subsequent Festivals. 5Ways group has 20 member houses in 1997 and some are homes to more than one artist.

FRAME SIZE; in effect rebate size, measurements are traditionally the size of the canvas or panel in unglazed work, and the size of the glass in paper work under glass, not overall size.

GALLERY SYSTEM; see DEALER SYSTEM for international galleries. High Street galleries do not usually contract artists, selling instead mainly prints and some originals, but often relying on picture framing business to support the high rents and rates of central premises. Useful source of local art.

GESSO; mixture of chalk whiting and glue which makes ideal surface for painting in oils or acrylics.

giclee; literally means little squirt in French. The latest digital printing technique enabling "print on demand". Originally term used by Iris printers but rapidly becoming generic term for top quality digital prints using archival quality inks on heavy weight paper or canvas.

glazing...A technique of applying oil or acrylic color in thin, transparent layers so that the color beneath shows through, modifying the color of the glaze.

Golden Mean...Perfect harmonious proportions that avoid extremes; the moderation between extremes.

Golden Section...A traditional proportional system for visual harmony expressed when a line or area is divided into two so that the smaller.part is to the larger as the larger is to the whole. The ratio developed is 1:1.6180....or, roughly, 8:13.

GOUACHE; opaque water-colour, sometimes called designers colour. [see WATER-COLOUR]

GRAPHIC ARTIST; artists, designers and illustrators, often freelance, but employed in the publishing, media and advertising industries.

graphics...A form of artistic expression, usually on paper, through emphasis on lines, marks, or printed letters rather than on color. It includes everything from drawing through print-making of all kinds including the art of typesetting and book design. It also refers to illustrations, diagrams or designs accompanying printed matter.

GREEN ISSUES; growing concern of artists and public. Art materials, especially pigments, were until very recently very toxic while being used. Modern materials are much safer for the artist. Public concern has been expressed over the use of hard woods in picture frame making. Most frame designs are now available in renewable soft woods. Ask!

GUM ARABIC; the binding agent for water-colour pigments which is soluble in water, and does not lose solubility when dry. Hence water-colours are susceptible to damp and should be exhibited behind protective layer of glass and sealed at the back.

hatching...Repeated strokes of an art tool producing clustered lines (usually parallel) that create values. In cross -hatching similar lines pass over the hatched lines, following a different direction and usually resulting in darker values.

hue...Designates the common name of a color and indicates its position in the spectrum or on the color wheel. Hue is determined by the specific wavelength of the color in a ray of light.

illusionism...The imitation of visual reality created on the flat surface of the picture plane by the use of perspective, light-and-dark shading, etc.

illustration(al)...An art practice, usually commercial in character, that stresses anecdotes or story situations and stresses subject more than form.

installation...A term used to describe an assemblage or environment constructed in the gallery specifically for a particular exhibition.

intensity...The saturation, strength, or purity of color.

intermediate color...A color produced by a mixture of a primary color and a secondary color.

IMPASTO; thick paint applied with brush, palette knife or fingers etc..

Impressionism...A movement of the late nineteenth century primarily connected with such painters as Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro. A form of realistic painting on the way in which changing aspects of light affect human vision; it challenged older models of such representation.

imprimatura...A layer of color applied to a ground, often used as a middle tone in a painting.

INK, usually any thin and runny colour using manufacturers secret formulas. Printing ink is usually more sticky and more greasy than writing or drawing ink. Indian ink is black and is traditionally used as a non-soluble drawing ink also known as Chinese ink.

LANDSCAPE FORMAT; any picture that is wider than tall. Pictures are usually measured with side measurements first and top and bottom measurement last. [see PORTRAIT FORMAT]

LASER PRINT [see XEROGRAPH]; recent mechanised publishing process using the wonders of modern technology including computers and lasers to melt toner [dry ink] onto the surface to be printed. [see XEROGRAPH]

linear perspective (geometric)...A system used to develop three-dimensional images on a two-dimensional surface; it develops the optical phenomenon of diminishing size by treating edges as converging parallel lines. They extend to a vanishing point or points on the horizon (eye-level) and recede from the viewer. (See perspective)

LITHOGRAPH; literally stone image. In lithography the surface that receives the image to be printed is not engraved but remains flat. The printing ink is attracted to areas that are made greasy and resisted by areas that are made wet with water. Originally large flat stones were used but nowadays the plates are usually metal [zinc] or plastic. 

local (objective) color...The color as seen in the objective world (green grass, blue sky, red barn, etc.).

local value...The relative light or dark of a surface, seen in the objective world, that is independent of any effect created by the degree of light falling on it.

low-key color...Any color which has a value level of middle gray or darker.

mahlstick...A piece of bamboo or rod dowel rod with a pad at one end, used for steadying the hand when painting fine details.

MATT; American term for MOUNT.

medium...1. The material used for painting (or drawing), i.e. oil, water-colour, acrylic, pastel. 2. Another term for binder , a substance used in the manufacture of paint. 3. Substances added to paint while working to make it thicker, thinner, more glossy, and so on. These may be traditional mediums such as poppy oil and linseed oil, or synthetic ones, such as Liquin, Wingel, or acrylic medium.

mixed media...A painting or other work of art in which more than one medium and/or material is used; e.g. using acrylic, and water-colour in a single work.

mobile...A three-dimensional moving sculpture.

modern art...The term modern art is applied to almost all progressive or avant-garde phases of art from the time of the Impressionists in the late 1880's to the growth of Postmodernism in the 1960's.

Modernism...An art form usually associated with the non-representational, formally organized branch of modern art, as opposed to the organic and/or fantastic branches.

MONOPRINT; one off print, often made by inking up a glass surface and pressing paper onto it. Each image is slightly different if process is repeated.

motif...A designed unit or pattern that is repeated often enough in a total composition to make it a significant or dominant feature. Motif is similar to theme or melody in a musical composition.

MOUNT; card surround around paper picture to keep ink or paint surface from touching the glass. Usually decorated and integral part of the finished picture. Can be used by artist to sign picture.

MULTIPLE; any repeated reproduction of an original, including sculpture. [see CHROMAGRAPH, PRINT etc.]

negative area(s)...The unoccupied or empty space left after the positive elements have been created by the artist. However, when these areas have boundaries, they also function as design shapes in the total structure.

Neo-Abstraction...Within the broad church of Post-modern art there exists a hard core of artists who have chosen to remain within the abstract manner. Most of them are influenced by the rich color work of such artists as Frank Stella and Al Held.

Neo-classicism...A style initiated in the late 1700's in France, which centred upon a reintroduction of Classical Greek and Roman forms of art, as then understood. It became the basis for the approved or official art of the French government until about the middle of the nineteenth century. The main exponents were Jacques-Louis David and Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres.

Neo-Expressionism...Dating from the early 1980's, this style reaffirmed the psychic emotionalism of the early twentieth-century Expressionism. It became perhaps the most distinctive direction in Postmodernism.

non-representational...A term used to define a range of work encompassing non-recognizable imagery that varies from pure abstraction (non-recognizable but derived from a recognizable object) to non-objective (not a product of the abstraction process, but deriving from the artist's mind).

objective (art)...That which is based, as near as possible, on physical actuality or optical perception. Such art tends to appear natural or real

OIL PAINT; traditionally the main binding agent for pigment in non glazed paintings was linseed or stand oil. When dry the colour is non-soluble and can be exposed to the atmosphere. Unfortunately the oil takes a long time to dry to full dryness and many modern artists prefer to use ACRYLIC paints which are soluble in water until dry which is only hours after application.

opaque...Having cover power; not permitting the prepared surface or other colors to show through or other colors

ORIGINAL PAINTING; any art work where the artist designs and applies the work.

ORIGINAL PRINT; tricky definition usually taken to mean any non-mechanical print made by the original artist and usually a numbered and limited edition. Often on very good quality paper and hence often quite pricey.

PALETTE; wood, paper, metal or glass surface used to mix paints. Also term used to describe individual artists choice of colours.

PALETTE KNIFE; flexible painting tool that can be used for cleaning palette, mixing or applying IMPASTO paint.

PANEL; traditionally wood or metal slab for painting onto. Modern materials include MDF, plywood and hardboard. Look for purpose made and chamfered panels if possible. Hardboard [masonite] panels are fine if not too big and if supported by battens that prevent warping.

paper collé...A visual and tactile technique in which scraps of paper, with various textures are pasted to the picture surface to enrich or embellish areas. In addition to the actual texture of the paper, the print on tickets, newspapers, etc., can function as visual richness, or a decorative pattern in the same way as an artist's invented texture.

patina...1. A natural film, usually greenish, that results from oxidation of bronze or other metallic material. 2. Colored pigments, chemicals, and so on, applied to a sculptural surface.

PASTEL; pigment bound in stick form like chalks. Can be oil pastels which are greasy and water resistant.

perspective...Any graphic system used to create the illusion of three-dimensional images and/or spatial relationships on a two-dimensional surface. There are several types of perspective: atmospheric, linear, and projection systems.

photography...The art or practice of producing images of objects upon a photosensitive surface by the chemical action of light, discovered c. 1840.

picture plane...The plane occupied by the physical surface of the picture. In most Representational painting, all the elements in the picture appear to recede from this plane, while trompe l'oeil effects are achieved by painting objects in such a way that they seem to project in front of the picture plane.

PIGMENT; original dry colouring matter from mineral, vegetable or animal origin in powder form. Differs from PAINT which is PIGMENT that has been dispersed in a binding agent such as OIL or ACRYLIC etc..

plein air...A French term describing paintings done in the open air direct from the subject. Plein air painting became fashionable in the nineteenth century, and was central to the Impressionist movement.

Pop art...The name given to the form of art which uses, often satirically, the mundane products of mass popular culture, such as newspaper, magazine,television, and billboard advertising; comic strips and books; supermarket shelves, and so on, as its subject matter. It derived from certain early modern art forms and ideas, especially from Marcel Duchamps's ready-made and found objects of the 1920's through the 1950's. It began in England in the late 1950's and quickly spread to the United States in the 1960's.

PORTRAIT FORMAT; picture that is taller than wide. [see LANDSCAPE FORMAT]

positive (shape, line, etc.)...The state in the artwork in which the art elements, or their combination, produce the subject. (See negative areas)

Post-Impressionism...The name applied to the style of a few artists at the end of the nineteenth century who sought to break away from the Impressionists and restore formal organization, decorative unity, and expressive meaning to art. The leaders in this movement were Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent van Gogh.

Postmodernism...In the 1970's the dominant styles of art - Minimalism and Conceptualism - seemed to no longer fit in a world struggling with a myriad of social problems; as a result, a plurality of styles developed. Some Post-modernists forcefully expressed a desire to do away with art that seemed to have no meaningful content, and began to turn back to figurative art and the establishment of meaning. Other Post-modernists attempted to extend modern art in new ways by appropriating earlier styles, which they modified. Due to the sheer variety of sources and styles it is difficult to catergorize Post-modern artists
with the same ease of earlier styles or movements.

primary color...A fundamental color (red, blue, and yellow) that cannot be separated into any other colors. All other colors are produced from the mixing of primaries.

primer, priming...Priming a canvas, board, or other support simply means laying a ground. The paints specifically made for this purpose are sometimes called primers. The most commonly used today is acrylic gesso.

Primitive art...The art of a people with a tribal social order or an early, though complex, stage of culture. The art of such people is often characterized by a heightened emphasis on form and content and a mysterious or vehement expressive content.

PRINT; any mark that has been made by transfer of image from one surface or form to another. Various methods have characteristics of process that make them unique. [see CHROMAGRAPH, LITHOGRAPH, ETCHING etc..]

realism, Realism (art movement)...A style of art that retains the basic impression of visual actuality without going to extremes of detail. In addition, realism attempts to relate and interpret the universal meanings that lie below the surface appearance. As a movement, Realism relates to painters like Honoré Daumier and Winslow Homer.

reflected color...Color on an object that bounces off adjacent objects.

representational art...A type of art in which the subject is presented through the visual elements so that the observer is reminded of actual objects. (See naturalism and realism).

REPRODUCTION; similar definition to PRINT but usually more mechanical involvement and denoting importance of accurate duplication of second image from first image. Often indicates that the picture is mass production.

Romanticism..A movement of nineteenth-century artists such as Delacroix, Géricault, Turner, and others. It was the romantic spirit characterized by an experimental point of view and extolled spontaneity of expression, intuitive imagination, and the picturesque rather than a carefully organized, rational approach.

saturated color...Pure intense color, unmixed with any black or white.

scumbling...A technique used in all the opaque media including pastels. Scumbling involves dragging a dry, fairly thick layer of color in a deliberate uneven manner over a dried layer of another color, thus creating attractive broken color effects.

secondary colors...The colors made by a mixture of two primary colors. Green, orange, and purple are all secondary colors.

SERIGRAPH; literally silk screen print. The ink is squeezed onto the print surface through a mesh of silk or nylon gauze that has been prepared with blocked out areas. Printing process used for large scale printing i.e. posters, or fabric printing i.e. curtain material, or for special picture making processes that can be used without heavy duty presses. Favourite process for ORIGINAL PRINT production for many artists.

sgraffito...A method whereby a layer of color is scratched into with a point to reveal either another layer of color below or the white of the ground, thus making a linear pattern.

SILK-SCREEN PRINT; see SERIGRAPH.

STRETCHER; expandable wooden frame that canvas is prepared onto before painting that enables the artist to adjust the tension of the surface.

successive contrast...The afterimage of a complementary color seen after viewing of color.

support...Another word for the painting surface. A support can be anything, from paper to canvas or a wood panel.

Surrealism...Influenced by Freudian psychology, this style of artistic expression emphasizes fantasy. Surrealist subjects are usually experiences revealed by the subconscious mind through the use of automatic techniques. Originally a literary movement and an outgrowth of Dadaism, Surrealism was established by a manifesto in 1924.

symbol...The representation of a quality or situation through the use of another object, emblem, or sign. Examples are: the owl represents wisdom; the flag represents country - freedom - oppression; the color yellow represents cowardice.

Symbolism...A movement that spread to painting in the 1880's. Paul Gauguin is considered to be the father of this movement. Symbolists tried to grapple with human emotions and that people and objects are, therefore, merely symbols of a deeper existence beyond the everyday. It was not a style as such, and merely set a goal for artists to reach.

tempera...Originally, all water-based paint, "tempered" with some form of gum was known as tempera, but the term is now used mainly for egg tempera, which was the main painting medium before the development of oils. Tempera is a tricky medium to use but can achieve beautiful effects, and after centuries of neglect it is now enjoying something of a revival.

temperature...The relative warmth and coolness of hues or pigments.

tenebrism...A style of painting that exaggerates or emphasizes the effects of chiaroscuro. Large amounts of dark value are placed close to smaller areas of highly contrasting lights (and vice versa) in order to concentrate attention on important features.

tertiary colors...Mixtures of a primary and its adjacent secondary: for example, red-orange or blue-green; also called intermediate colors.

tint...A light value of a color; usually produced by the addition of white.

tone...1. The value or color character of a surface, determined by the quantity of light reflected from it. The amount of light reflected can be determined by the character of the medium that has been applied to the surface. 2. Color variety due to slight changes within the same hue.

tonking...Removing surplus oil paint from the canvas by laying a sheet of absorbent paper over it, a correction method used when the surface has become too heavily loaded with paint to allow further work.

transparent...Permitting light to penetrate and reflect off the white surface of the support or allowing another color to show through, as in a glaze.(The opposite of opaque)

trompe l'oeil...A French phrase meaning "trick of the eye"; a technique that copies a subject with such exactitude that the viewer is tricked into believing he is seeing the subject in its natural form

wash...A thin layer of paint covering a large area of of the support.

WATER-COLOUR; paint made by binding finely ground pigment in soluble gum. Traditional water-colours do not use white paint to lighten colour but instead rely on the transparency of the medium to reflect light through the paint film from the white paper below. [see GOUACHE]

wet-into-wet...Laying a new color before the previous one has dried. The effect in oils is not as dramatic as with water-colours but each new color is slightly modified by those below and adjacent, so that forms and colors merge into one another without hard boundaries.

wet-on-dry...Laying new (wet) color over a dried layer below.

WOOD BLOCK; engraving using hard wood block that has areas to be left blank carved away from surface to be inked.

working drawing...A drawing made specifically as a basis for a painting, usually from earlier studies and/or photographs. Unlike a sketch, a working drawing establishes the entire composition, and is usually transferred to the painting surface.

XEROGRAPH; literally dry colour image. Process that uses dry colour "toner" which is melted onto paper with lasers. Highly technical process incorporating computer controlled machinery hence very high cost of equipment available through specialized studios catering for the advertising industry.