ELEMENTS OF ARTThe elements of art are the building blocks of a composition

• Line

• Shape

• Form

• Space

• Color

• Value

• Texture

LINE• A mark drawn from one point to another

• Implied/Contour line- the edge or definition of the surface of an object or shape.

Lines can vary in:

Length- short, long, continuous, broken

Width- skinny, thick, tapering, uneven

Direction- vertical, horizontal, diagonal, zigzag, curving

Focus- sharp, fuzzy, blurry

Color

LINE

SHAPE• A shape is a figure that has height and length, but no depth (is flat). A shape

can be defined by a line that overlaps or becomes enclosed, by color, or by

shading.

Different kinds of shapes:

• Geometric shapes- shapes that have a defined name (square, diamond,

octagon)

• Organic shapes- free form or irregular shapes

• Positive shapes- are the solid shapes in a picture (apple, person, square)

• Negative shapes- shapes created by the space made between and around

the positive shapes in a drawing (space around the apple, person,

square...)

FORM• three dimensional figures- has length, height, and depth.

Form can be:

Implied- drawn to appear 3D but it still made on a flat surface

Actual- an object (like a sculpture) that has depth.

• A form will have sides- a front, back… (length, height and depth)

SHAPE/FORM

SPACESpace can be looked at in two ways

1. Positive or Negative

• Positive space- is the area of a composition that is occupied by an object or shape;

the area in a picture that is filled by a solid shape or object.

• Negative space- is the area in and around the positive space; often, negative space

can take on a shape itself.

2. Near to Far- distance between objects

foreground, middleground and background

SPACE

COLOR

Broken down into 3 main parts:

• Hue: the names of the color

• Value: the lightness to darkness of a color

• Intensity: how bright or dull a color is

There are different color groups that artists use to create interesting compositions-

Primary (red, blue and yellow) Complimentary (opposites on the color wheel)

Secondary (green, orange, violet) Analogous (warm/cool)

COLOR

VALUEThe light to dark range of a color. This can most easily be identified in a gray

scale- the range of black to white with all the grays in between

Having a full range of values in your work can add drama!

VALUE

TEXTUREThe way something feels or appears to feel

• Implied texture- (sometimes called invented textures) the appearance of

texture (cannot actually feel the texture that is represented in the picture; for

example- if I walk up and touch a painting of a cactus, I may feel the texture of

the paint, but I cannot actually feel the cactus’ texture!)

• Actual Texture- texture that you can feel. This is texture that can be felt on the

surface of a piece of artwork (example- the weave of a basket or the smooth

feeling of a marble statue).

TEXTURE