Pointillism Pointillism Pointillism () is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism" was coined by art critics in the late 1880s to ridicule the works of these artists, and is now used without its earlier mocking connotation. The movement Seurat began with this technique is known as Neo-impressionism. The Divisionists, too, used a similar technique of patterns to form images, though with larger cube-like brushstrokes. The technique relies on the ability of the
Blend modes layer" or "active layer". Most graphics editing programs, like Adobe Photoshop and GIMP, allow the user to modify the basic blend modes - for example by applying different levels of opacity to the top picture. In the formulas shown on this page, values go from 0.0 (black) to 1.0 (white). This is the standard blend mode which uses the top layer alone, without mixing its colors with the layer beneath it: where "a" is the value of a color channel in the underlying layer, and "b" is that of the corresponding channel of the upper layer. The result is most