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JSpaeth Notes

Page history last edited by JT Spaeth 12 years, 6 months ago

Elements of Art/Design

The elements of art are sort of like atoms in that both serve as "building blocks." You know that atoms combine and form other things, right? Sometimes they'll casually make a simple molecule, as when hydrogen and oxygen form water (H2O). If hydrogen and oxygen take a more aggressive career path and bring carbon along as a co-worker, together they might form something more complex, like a molecule of sucrose (C12H22O11).

A similar activity happens when the elements of art are combined. Instead of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, etc., in art you've got line, shape, form, space, texture, value and color. Artists manipulate these elements, mix them in with principles of design and compose a piece of art. Not every work has every last one of these elements contained within it, but there are always at least two present.  http://arthistory.about.com/cs/reference/f/elements.htm

 

Line: 

 

A line is a basic element of art, referring to a continuous mark, made on a surface, by a moving point.

 

A line is long relative to its width. It can define a space, create an outline or pattern, imply movement or texture and allude to mass or volume. Absolutely essential in creating art, the line.

 

Line quality:  describes the attributes a specific line.  ie, curvy, jagged, fat, thin, wavy etc.

 

 

Vertical Line:  Lines that travel up and down.  Vertical lines in art or design give the feeling of strength or rigidity.  Vertical lines are static (don't appear to move).

 

Horizontal Line:  Lines that travel side to side.  Horizontal lines in art or design give a feeling of calm or relaxation.  Horizontal lines are static (don't appear to move).

 

Diagonal line:  Lines that travel at angles other than vertical or horizontal.  Diagonal lines in art or design are active.  They are ideally suited for creating movement and energy. 

 

Opposing Lines:  Sets of Lines that intersect dramatically move in  different directions, meant to create movement and tension preventing the viewer from focusing on any one place.

 

Calligraphic Line:  Fluid or flowing lines possessing thick and thin attributes.  They appear to move gracefully from beginning to end.  The term is derived from the word calligraphy which is an ornate style of writing with brushes or ink and well pens.  Calligraphic lines are a great way to create movement through a design.

 

Implied line:  Implied line can take two forms.  The first places shapes or lines in close proximity so that it leads the viewer's eye to a particular point within a work of art. The second form uses the psychological gestalt theory of closure.  It relies on the viewer to mentally complete an incomplete line to imply the existence of a shape when one does not exist.

 

Texture:

 

Texture, another element of art, is used to describe either the way a three-dimensional work actually feels when touched, or the visual "feel" of a two-dimensional work.

 

Simulated/Implied texture:  A real, 3-D rock might feel rough or smooth, and definitely feels hard when touched or picked up. A painter, depicting a rock, would create the illusions of these qualities through use of color, line, shape, etc.

 

Invented texture: Patterning of lines or groups of small shapes meant to visually disrupt the surface of a shape or space.  Can take the form of a regular repeating pattern or randomly repeating pattern. 

 

sperson line and texture

Line and Texture Assignment

 

Shape: 

A shape is an element of art. Specifically, it is an enclosed space, the boundaries of which are defined by other elements of art (i.e.: lines, colors, values, textures, etc.).

Shapes are limited to two dimensions: length and width. Geometric shapes - circles, rectangles, squares, triangles and so on - have the clear edges one achieves when using tools to create such shapes. Organic shapes have natural, less well-defined edges (think: an amoeba, or a cloud). (http://arthistory.about.com/cs/glossaries/g/s_shape.htm)

 

Space:

An element of art, space refers to distances or areas around, between or within components of a piece. Space can be  open or closed, shallow or deep and two-dimensional or three-dimensional. Sometimes space isn't actually within a piece, but the illusion of it is.  (modified from http://arthistory.about.com/cs/glossaries/g/s_space.htm)

sperson shape-space assignment

shape-space assignment

 

Value:  Refers to a color or tone's lightness or darkness.  Instrumental in the creation of depth and form appear on the page.  The surface of all three dimensional objects react to changes in light and an object's value range and distribution relies on light direction and intensity.

 

Value Range:  Refers to the amount of difference between the lightest tone and darkest tone within an object or a composition.

 

Contrast:  Describes the amount of difference between various similar elements (ie contrasting colors, shapes, lines, values textures, etc.)  High contrast designs are one possessing a wide variance between a particular element.  Low contrast designs are ones possessing a limited variance between a particular element.

 

Form:  Element of art that deals with three dimensional objects.  These objects possess the dimensions of height, width and depth.  Two dimensional pieces can only imitate an illusion of form and depth by manipulating other elements such as value, shape and space (overlapping and placement).

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