- Stippling is a visual art technique involving the application of material (such as paint) in a series of dots or points. The term can apply to numerous techniques across several areas of art and decoration.
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Stippling as a wall painting technique is popular because it gives a flat wall the appearance of having texture, making it more appealing and engaging to the eye. This technique is done through the application of a secondary paint color in dots over a primary paint color where the second color is applied using the tips of a paintbrush.
The reason the resulting paint job appears to have texture is that the human eye will tend to see the two-dimensional somewhat as three-dimensional objects, just as it sees a two-dimensional drawing of a three-dimensional object as having texture. Wall stippling will also have the effect of giving a wall an aged look by highlighting variations in its surface (in much the same way that stripes will have a slimming or widening affect). - Stippling in visual art refers to a drawing or painting that is shaded by use of dots rather than lines. The advantage of stippling to an artist is that it allows for a distinctive style through texture while still allowing the artist to draw in a photorealistic manner. The texture of the drawing is determined by what size and shape of dots the artist prefers to use. Since the subject itself also has texture which is rendered by the shading, the additional dimensions of the shading itself give the drawing an extra dimension.
- The word "stippling" can also apply to a common process used by makeup artists to give actors' faces the appearance of being aged and wrinkled. Old age stippling is preferred for movies and close stages over the technique of drawn-on age lines because it creates a wrinkled texture which looks highly authentic and stands up to close scrutiny. Old age stippling is accomplished by stretching the facial skin tight between fingers, applying a thin layer of liquid latex (a kind of rubber makeup glue), and waiting for the skin to dry before releasing it. The effect is similar to what will happen if you put a piece of clear tape on your legs while wearing pantyhose, then remove the hose.
