The Elements of Art PDF

The Elements of Art The Ingredients for a great Composition What are the elements of art? The Elements of Art are the “tools” that artists use to make art. There are 7 of them: Line Value Texture Shape Form Space Color Line A line is a path that a point ta...

The Elements of Art The Ingredients for a great Composition What are the elements of art? The Elements of Art are the “tools” that artists use to make art. There are 7 of them: Line Value Texture Shape Form Space Color Line A line is a path that a point takes through space. Lines can be thick, thin, dotted or solid. They can make straight movements, zig-zags, waves or curls. They may be horizontal vertical diagonal Horizontal Lines are generally restful, like the horizon, where the sky meets land Vertical lines seem to be reaching, so they may seem inspirational like tall majestic trees or church steeples Diagonal lines tend to be disturbing. They suggest decay or chaos like lightening or falling trees  Lines can convey emotion as well. They may show excitement, anger, calmness, tension, happiness and many other feelings.Because of this, some are said to be expressive. Shape Shape is created when a line becomes connected and encloses space. It is the outline or outward appearance of something. Shapes are 2 Dimensional (2-D) which means there are 2 ways they can be measured. You can measure its HEIGHT and its WIDTH. There are two basic types of shape. The 2 types of shape Geometric shapes have smooth even edges and are measurable. The include the square, the circle, the triangle and the rectangle. Organic shapes have more complicated edges and are usually found in nature. Leaves, flowers, ameba, etc. Form A Form is a shape that has become 3- Dimensional (3-D) Form has HEIGHT, WIDTH and DEPTH--which is the 3rd dimension.Depth shows the thickness of the object. Forms are NOT flat like shapes are! Turning Shapes into Forms A triangle becomes a cone or a pyramid A square becomes a cube  Turning Shapes into Forms A rectangle can become a box or a cylinder In order to turn a circle into a sphere, you must shade it. You can’t add another side to it! Value Value is the lightness or darkness of a color. Value makes objects appear more real because it imitates natural light. When showing value in a work of art, you will need a LIGHT SOURCE. A light source is the place where the light is coming from, the darkest areas are always on the opposite side of the light.  Value In order to have a successful drawing, you will need to show a full value range, which means that there are very light areas, middle tones, and very dark areas. This is a way of giving a work of art Contrast. In drawing value can be added several ways: Ways value can be added: Cross-hatching is when you use irregular lengths of parallel lines that cross over each other diagonally. The closer together the lines are placed, the darker the value.  Ways value can be added Stippling is the use of dots to create shade. This is accomplished by placing dots very close together to create dark values and farther apart to create lighter values. Ways value can be added Soft shading is when you use your pencil to create soft gradual movements from one value to the next using full value range. Color Color can add interest and reality to artwork. The use of a 12-step color wheel will help us understand color more effectively. When light is reflected through a prism, colors can be seen These colors are: Red, Yellow, Orange, Green, Indigo, Blue and Violet Remember the anagram: ROY G BIV Color There are 3 primary colors: Red, Yellow and Blue These colors are primary for 2 reasons: 1. They can’t be mixed to be made 2. They make all the other colors on the color wheel  Texture Texture is the way the surface of an object actually feels. In the artistic world, we refer to two types of texture---tactile and implied Tactile (or Real) Texture Tactile (or Real) Texture is the way the surface of an object actually feels. Examples would be sandpaper, cotton balls, tree bark, puppy fur, etc. Implied Texture Implied Texture is the way the surface of an object looks like it feels. This is the type of texture that artists use when they draw and paint. Textures may look rough, fuzzy, gritty, or scruffy, but can’t actually be felt. Space Space is basically divided into 3 parts: Foreground, Middle Ground and Background Generally, the background area is considered to be the upper 1/3 of the picture plane. The middle ground area is considered to be the middle 1/3 of the picture plane. The foreground area is considered to be the lower 1/3 of the picture plane. Space Space can be shallow or deep depending on what the artist wants to use. Shallow space is used when the artist has objects very close to the viewer. Space Deep Space may show objects up close but objects are shown far away too. Space Positive and Negative space is a way that an artwork is divided. When planning a work of art, both areas must be examined so that they balance one another. Drawing items running off the page and zooming in on objects are ways to create visual interest within a work. Space Positive space is the actual object(s) within the artwork Negative Space is the area in and around the objects. It is the “background” and it contributes to the work of art---you can’t have positive space without negative space Space Objects may overlap as well. When objects are overlapped it is obvious that enough space had to be in the picture to contain all the objects that have been included The Elements of Art in Review The Elements of Art are the “tools” that artists use to make art. They are the basic “foundation” of a good composition Line Value Texture Shape Form Space Color