The Elements and Principles of

The Elements of Art!The individual ingredients or parts that

make up works of art. They are:

TextureColor Value

Today we are going to discuss 3 of them: lines, shapes, and space.

LinesShapesSpaceForm

HorizontalVertical Diagonal Zigzag CurvedImplied

Lines point in the direction your eye is suppose to go, they also suggest the way you’re suppose to feel.

A line is the path made by a point as it moves. There are 6 basic types of lines. They are:

Vertical Lines : Straight up and down. They show dignity, strength, power and formality.

Horizontal Lines: Straight left to right, they feel calm, relaxed, and comfortable.

Diagonal: Straight slanted lines that show movement, action and excitement!

ZigZag: A series of diagonal lines that move back and forth, they suggest action, nervous excitement, and confusing motion.

Curved: Curvy lines that express graceful, flowing movement.

Implied Lines: Are not continuous lines, but point the viewer’s eye in the direction the artist wants them to go. This type of line suggests where to look. Examples are dotted or dashed lines, and arrows.

Shapes are areas clearly set off by one or more elements. Shapes have 2 dimension: length and width. There are 2 basic types of shapes: Geometric and Organic.

Geometric shapes look like they were made with a tool like a ruler. They are usually made of straight lines, but some can look curvy like circles and ovals. There are 6 basic types of geometric shapes.

squares

rectangles

triangles

polygons

circles and ovals

Organic shapes are free flowing shapes usually found in nature. Sometimes these shapes are called free-form shapes.

Space is the distance between, around, above, below and within things.There 2 types of space: positive and negative. In zentangles, positive space is usually white and negative space is black.

Artists use various techniques to create the illusion of space and depth in two dimensional works of art. Some of these include: overlapping, size changes, placement and linear perspective.

OVERLAPPING is when the artist has one shape in front of the other. Closer objects are in front of objects further away.

SIZE CHANGES is making distant shapes smaller than closer ones. Large objects seem closer than smaller objects.

PLACEMENT: Artists also show space by placing distant objects higher up on the picture (background) and closer ones lower down on the picture ( middle ground and foreground).

background

middle ground

foreground

Linear Perspective: Artists also show space by having all the line travel to a distant point called the vanishing point. The most common forms of linear perspective are one and two point perspective.

The Principles of Design Guide lines to govern how artist organize the

elements of art to create works of art. They are:

Today we are going to focus on variety, emphasis/contrast, movement, pattern and rhythm.

Balance Variety Harmony Emphasis/contrast Proportion Movement Rhythm Pattern

Graduation Unity

Variety- changing elements like lines and shapes to create interest.

Emphasis- making elements like lines and shapes stand out.

Contrast: created by using elements that conflict with one another so they stand out.

Movement- creating the look and feel of action and to guide the viewers eye throughout a work of art.

Pattern- a consistent use of repetition of one or more elements of art.

Rhythm- concerned with repeating an element to make a work seem active or to suggest movement .