In art, a mixture of chalk and a binding medium, such as wax or oil, used in drawing on paper. The two terms-crayon and chalk-are, however, often used interchangeably. Chalk occurs naturally in tones of black, white, or red, and these are the traditional colors for chalk or crayon drawings. Artificially tinted chalks of other colors are properly termed pastels. Crayon has been used as a drawing medium throughout recorded history, beginning with Stone Age cave drawings. In modern times, Leonardo da Vinci was one of the first masters to use black and red crayon together. The use of the three basic colors together-called the trois crayons technique-reached its peak in the 18th-century work of the French artist Jean-Antoine Watteau.

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"Crayon," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.