Elements of Art
Line
• An element of art that is used to define space,
contours, and outlines, or suggest mass and
volume. It may be a continuous mark made on
surface with a pointed tool or implied by
edges of shapes and forms.
Examples of line
• An element
of art. An
enclosed
space
defined by
other art
elements
such as line,
color and
texture.
Shape
Form
• An element of
design that
appears threedimensional
and encloses
volume such as
a cube, sphere,
pyramid, or
cylinder.
Texture
• The
surface
quality of
an
artwork
usually
perceived
through
touch
Space
• An element
of art that
indicates
areas
between,
around,
above,
below or
within
something.
Perspective
• The representation of three-dimensional
objects on a flat surface to produce the same
impression of distance and relative size as that
received by the human eye.
• Aerial perspective: The diminishing of color
intensity to lighter and duller hues to give the
illusion of distance.
• Two point linear perspective: A technique of
creating an illusion of depth on a flat surface.
– All parallel lines receding into the distance are
drawn to converge at one or more vanishing
points on the horizon line.
– In ONE POINT linear perspective receding line
converge to one vanishing point.
– In TWO POINT linear perspective lines go to te3o
vanishing points
One point perspective
Two point perspective
• Value: An element of art concerned with the
degree of lightness of colors. Darker colors are
lower in value.
• Tint: A lighter value of a hue made by adding
small amount of another color to it.
• Shade: Variations in the dark and light of
color by adding black to the color.
Color Theory
• Color: An art element with three
principles : hue, value, and intensity.
Primary colors: The three basic colors red, yellow
and blue, form which it is possible to mix all other
colors.
Secondary colors: Colors that result from a mixture
of two primary colors.
Intermediate colors: Colors produced by mixing a
primary color and the adjacent secondary color
on the color wheel.
Primary colors
Secondary colors
Intermediate colors
• Intensity: The degree of purity, saturation or
strength of color.
Color Schemes
• Triadic: Any three colors equidistant on the
color wheel
• Complementary: Two colors that are directly
across from each other on the color wheel.
• Analogous: Colors that are next to each other
on the color wheel.
Triadic
Principles of Design
• Repetition: A way of combining art elements
so that the same elements are used over and
over to achieve balance and harmony.
• Pattern: The repetition of elements or
combinations of elements in a recognizable
organization.
• Rhythm: A principle of design that refers to
ways of combining elements to produce the
appearance of movement in an artwork .
Movement
Associated with rhythm referring to the
arrangement of parts in an art work to create
a sense of motion to the viewers eye.
• Contrast: A principle of design that refers to
difference s between elements such as color,
texture, value, and shape.
• Proportion: The size relationship between
parts of an artwork
Balance
• A principle of design referring to the visual
elements to create stability in an artwork.
There are four types of balance:
• Symmetrical: A balance arrangement in which
parts of a composition are organized so that
one side duplicates or mirrors the other.
• Symmetrical: A balance arrangement in which
parts of a composition are organized so that
one side duplicates or mirrors the other.
• Asymmetrical: A feeling of balance attained
when the visual units on either side of a
vertical axis are actually different but are
placed in the composition to create a “felt”
balance of the total work.
• Radial symmetry: A balance arrangement that
results from the repetitive placement of
elements radiating out from central point.
• Emphasis: A principle of design in which one
element or a combination of elements create
more attention than anything else in a
composition.
• Focal point: The area within a composition
which the emphasis is greatest and where the
eye of the viewer continually comes to rest.
Emphasis?
Focal Point????
• Variety: A principle of design concerned with
the inclusion of differences in the elements of
a composition to offset unity and add interest
to an artwork.
• Unity: A
principle of
design related
to the sense of
wholeness that
results from
the successful
combination of
the component
elements in an
artwork.
Media
• Medium: The materials such as oil, watercolor
etc. , used to create an artwork or category of
art such as drawing, painting, or sculpture.
• Media…plural for medium, more than one.
Two dimensional art media
• Painting: artwork made of
colored powders mixed with
a liquid. Some media
include; watercolor,
tempera, oil, acrylic and
fresco.
• Watercolor: transparent water-based paint
that uses gum Arabic as a binder.
• Tempera: A technique of painting in which
water-based paint is mixed or tempered with
egg yolk.
• Oil painting: Slow drying paint made when
pigments are mixed with an oil; usually
opaque and used on canvas.
• Acrylic paint: A synthetic paint medium in
which pigments are mixed with acrylic , a
plastic emulsion that acts as a vehicle and a
binder.
• Fabric: a material produced by interlocking
horizontal and vertical threads.
• Yarn: A material produced by twisting fibers of
animal, plant, or synthetic sources, used to
make fiber art.
• Ink: A two-dimensional medium of pigment
mixed with water and chemicals to be used for
drawing.
• Pastel: pigments pressed into sticks and used
as a dry medium on paper. Sometimes
referred to as hard or soft chalk pastels.
• Oil pastels: a media similar to chalk pastels but
with more brilliant color and an oil base that
makes it stick to the surface.
• Chalk: pigments mixed with gum and pressed
into a stick form and used as crayons.
• Fiber art: A type of art
using fibers, yarn and
fabric as the medium
tom create tactile
forms and images
through surface design,
weaving, and
construction
techniques.
• Photography: the art, craft, and science of
capturing optical images on light-sensitive
surfaces.
• WWII famous kiss
Dorothea Lange: Migrant Mother
Computer generated art
• Any visual expression created with a
computer.
Three dimensional art media
• Clay: earth mixed with water so that it can be
shaped and fired (in a kiln) to create
permanent artwork.
• Wood: A natural material used to make
sculpture using the subtractive process ,
although some wood sculptures can be
constructed by adding precut pieces of wood.
• Glass: An art medium made of silicone and
other trace elements that can be formed
when hot or used in mosaics and stained glass
windows when cool.
Mosaic
• Metal: three-dimensional media used to make
sculpture e.g.; bronze, copper, steel, tin,
aluminum.
• Stone: A natural material used to make
sculpture such as limestone, marble,
soapstone, jade, etc. Used in subtractive
process.
• Plaster: Usually refers to plaster of Paris or
gesso. Plaster is a mixture of gypsum and
water, which hardens to a smooth solid
medium for sculpture; plaster can be cast,
carved, or attached to something else.
Art Processes
• Drawing: A twodimensional artwork
containing marks made
with a dry medium such as
pencil or crayon.
• Painting: A twodimensional art process
made with wet media such
as tempera, oil or
watercolor.
Two dimensional
• Fiber art: a type of art using fibers, yarn, and
fabric as the medium to create tactile forms
and images through surface design, weaving,
and construction techniques.
• Examples of fiber art: fabric printing,
stamping, batik( a method of dyeing cloth by
using wax), tie-dye.
• Printmaking: a two-dimensional art process of
reproducing image on a flat surface; three
types are: relief(linoleum, wood), intaglio
(etching, engraving) and stencil (silkscreen).
• Photography
Three-dimensional
• Textiles: artworks
that are created
from natural or man
made fibers.
Weaving, basketry,
stitchery, and
knitting are just a
few of the processes
involved in textile
design.
• Fiber art can be three dimensional as well
• Ceramics: the process of creating functional
and nonfunctional art forms out of clay.
• Sculpture: an art process of modeling, carving,
or joining materials into a three dimensional
form.
• Architecture: three-dimensional art form that
encompasses designing/planning buildings,
cities, landscapes, and bridges.
Subject Matter
• Subject matter: iconography or what the
artwork is about, such as portrait, landscape,
still life, nonobjective.
• Representational artwork: artworks who
primary purpose is to depict the visual
appearance.
• Examples: landscapes, portrait, still life
• Nonrepresentational: (nonobjective) artwork
that contains no recognizable objects or forms
but sometimes uses the elements of art as
subject matter.
• Examples: abstract, nonobjective