A drawing or painting technique using small dots or short marks to create tone, texture, and shading effects. The density and size of the dots determine the darkness and visual quality of different areas.
From Dutch 'stippelen' meaning 'to make dots,' from 'stip' (dot or point). The technique and term entered English through Dutch and Flemish artistic traditions, where pointillist methods were refined in both drawing and engraving.
Stippling reached its zenith in 18th-century portrait engravings, where master printmakers could capture the subtle gradations of skin tone using nothing but tiny dots! This painstaking technique could take months to complete a single portrait, but created prints so refined they looked almost photographic.
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