You can classify electronic clip-art into three categories depending on the type of program used to create the image.
Paint:
Paint programs provide tools such as paint brushes, air brushes, and pencils you use to "paint" on your Macintosh screen as you would on paper. Paint documents are "bit mapped", which means that each pixel or "bit" is defined on a "map" of the page. Paint programs give you complete control over each pixel in the image you create; the resulting images often include fine details reminiscent of antique etchings. An example of a bitmapped image produced with a Paint program appears in Figure 1.
Draw:
Draw programs, such as the Graphics module in ClarisWorks, produce "object-oriented" art. These programs create images by layering "objects" defined by mathematical equations, such as circles, squares, lines, and blocks of text. Although you can produce complex images using shading and patterns with a Draw program, most Draw images look like the line drawing example in Figure 2.
Bezier
Draw: Bezier Draw programs produce "Bezier object" art which contains objects drawn with Bezier curves. (A Bezier curve is a line defined as a series of points, each of which have zero to two control points or handles.) The complex mathematical formulas supported by Bezier Draw programs let you define more complex shapes than those you can create with simple Draw applications. The most common Bezier Draw images are sophisticated line drawings with shading, patterns, and colors like the example in Figure 3.
Figure 1.
Paint Clip-Art
Figure 2.
Draw Clip-Art
Figure 3.
Bezier Object