Methodology
Facts, observations and visual references should never be confused.
Picartica is built around material behaviour. That makes provenance important: a manufacturer statement, an independent technical source, a Picartica studio observation and an explanatory diagram are different kinds of evidence.
1. Manufacturer data
Product records preserve the manufacturer's own terminology wherever practical: pigment codes, lightfastness systems, opacity or transparency labels, staining scales, granulation markers, fibre composition, paper weight, surface terminology, brush fibre and manufacturer size systems. We do not silently convert an undisclosed field into an estimate.
2. Picartica observations
A field should be labelled as a Picartica observation only after a controlled in-house test has actually been performed. Manufacturer claims and Picartica observations remain separate in the database so readers can tell where each statement came from.
3. Reference diagrams
Some articles use standardized vector diagrams to explain mechanisms such as moisture state, transparency, lifting, granulation, paper texture, glazing, drying shift or wash failure. These are explanatory behaviour models—not photographs of a measured product test and not substitutes for calibrated studio swatches.
4. Technical claim verification
Picartica prioritizes primary manufacturer technical documentation for product-specific facts. Manufacturer education material may support explanations of use. Independent measured sources are used when they materially improve accuracy or help explain behaviour that manufacturers do not document consistently.
5. Recommendations
“Best” means best for a defined job, not a universal ranking. Comparisons should state the use case, material properties that matter, trade-offs and the type of artist or technique the option suits.
6. Corrections and review
Art-material ranges change. Product records therefore retain source provenance and review dates. When a technical claim changes at the source, the goal is to update the record without rewriting historical manufacturer terminology as if it had never existed.