Term that indicates products of diverse complexity, characteristics and purposes. Generalizing, one may identify a drawing with a composition in which the image is obtained by a tracing, more or less complex, on a surface that acts as a background. The supports and the techniques utilized, may serve as ulterior elements to define the genre: excluding the periods preceding the diffusion of drawings in the West, paper is generally chosen as the surface on which the image is drawn with the use of a style, a pencil, or with a pen with paintbrushes dipped in vegetable or mineral inks (see ink). The use of colour is extremely limited. Painted backgrounds are excluded, so the background remains the colour of the support.