# What is this style of painting called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** arts-crafts\ **Created:** [January 23, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313 "2021-01-23T19:39:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/1 "2021-01-23T19:39:17Z")
[This](https://displate.com/displate/3045427) is called a geometric painting. [What](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/534239574534296852/) is this type of painting called? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/2 "2021-01-23T19:43:26Z")
The second one looked like an enlarged paint- by- numbers. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/3 "2021-01-23T19:43:34Z")
Tonal? Layered? Layered tonal? Whatever it’s called, it’s a beautiful piece of art. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/4 "2021-01-23T19:44:17Z")
It reminds me of “solarized” photographs that were popular in the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/5 "2021-01-23T19:47:33Z")
I’d call the first one geometric. At the very least if you do a google image search for “geometric [subject] art” you’ll find a lot of similar things. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/6 "2021-01-23T19:49:30Z")
Good, that is what I called it in the OP. 😀 I need the name for the second one. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/7 "2021-01-23T19:51:54Z")
Yeah. it does look like a paint by numbers but it is freehand. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/8 "2021-01-23T19:53:10Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Tonal? Layered? Layered tonal? Not seeing anything on a google search that looks the same. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/9 "2021-01-23T19:57:01Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > The second one looked like an enlarged paint- by- numbers. - Speaking of which, why does nobody make erase-by-numbers art? ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/10 "2021-01-23T21:01:30Z")
“A half hour in Photoshop!” [Not threadshitting. They look like photographs that have had the background removed and then “smart blurred.”] ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/11 "2021-01-23T21:08:15Z")
Posterization? > **[Posterization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posterization)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Posterization or posterisation of an image is the conversion of a continuous gradation of tone to several regions of fewer tones, causing abrupt changes from one tone to another. This was originally done with photographic processes to create posters. It can now be done photographically or with digital image processing, and may be deliberate or an unintended artifact of color quantization. > The effect may be created deliberately, or happen accide... Better example: [https://images.app.goo.gl/tnvmzy71wWPC8YpE6](https://images.app.goo.gl/tnvmzy71wWPC8YpE6) ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/12 "2021-01-23T21:14:05Z")
Can you link to an example? Google search for “smart blur” turns up nothing similar. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/13 "2021-01-23T21:18:27Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > Posterization No, but similar. This seems (to me) more like painting something then tearing it up into little scraps and gluing it back together. Hence, I’m stuck on collage or mosaic, neither of which is correct. I knew the style once and you could google the name and get pages of examples. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/14 "2021-01-23T21:19:34Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > Posterization? Let’s call it “Che Guevarazation”! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/15 "2021-01-23T21:27:36Z")
There was a documentary a few years back about Vermeer’s paintings. It showed how he achieved such lifelike effects by presumably using what was basically a _camera obscura_ approach. This painting reminds me of ones produced in same manner. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/16 "2021-01-23T22:13:26Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Speaking of which, why does nobody make erase-by-numbers art? When erasing, you use stencils instead: [Amazon.com : scratch art stencils](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=scratch+art+stencils&ref=nb_sb_noss_1) ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/17 "2021-01-23T22:52:28Z")
[[Album] Photoshop smart blur cat ![](https://i.imgur.com/LfZJSQL.jpeg?fb "Photoshop smart blur cat") ](https://imgur.com/gallery/Az7iv1Y) Click on link. Compare the top cat to the smart- blurred cat below. (I just did this in Photoshop) ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/18 "2021-01-23T23:13:14Z")
Ok, I see what you mean but not what I’m looking for. Thanks a lot for taking the time to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/19 "2021-01-24T01:36:23Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > Good, that is what I called it in the OP. 😀 I need the name for the second one. It’s primary features are the limited/reduced color palette, and the resultant ‘banding’. Oil paintings in theory have an infinite color palette, but in practice most artists deliberately paint with a limited palette. So it’s a characteristic of ‘painter effect’, and you can get pre-set effects like ‘paintum’ that include it. The problem is that most ‘painterly’ effects also include brush strokes or cracking or something as well as the limited color palette, and actively strive to avoid banding. Reduced color palette is the defining feature of posterization. In post-processing, it’s mostly an unwanted effect (‘banding’). Posters were made with a 3 or 4 or 5 (or 6 or 7) color process, depending on how much you were willing to pay. Unfortunately, almost all the ‘posterization’ examples you see are 3 or 4 primary colors. Also, a lot of posterization includes some degree of sharpening or vectorization, which tends to reduce the fine lines you see in your example. Still, for lack of better knowledge, I’d call it ‘painter effect’ and ‘posterization’: it’s just that most examples are of something different. In ‘art’ terms, I think it’s a subset of ‘pop art’, but again, not a subset I’ve seen named. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313/20 "2021-01-24T02:35:24Z")
It’s definitely “posterized,” and it’s easy to do in a program like Adobe Illustrator: Original: ![Shared with CloudApp](https://p9.f1.n0.cdn.getcloudapp.com/items/BluYXAXm/70581385-2076-47d8-8532-dfb5a5427375.jpg?source=social&v=20c4e382d3bed142a892320c644b6872) “Live trace,” 6 colors in Adobe Illustrator: ![Shared with CloudApp](https://p9.f1.n0.cdn.getcloudapp.com/items/NQuJLXkk/99ca9906-b2f9-4aa1-9fae-c3af7f9239b4.jpg?source=social&v=656c9c14a14b6e2abb3271d41215dc8a) (Open the image in a new window to see the best effect). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-style-of-painting-called/931313.md?page=2)