ART APPRECIATION

UNIT – II

Elements of Art and Principles of Design

Elements of Art:

Line: A mark left in the path of a moving point. A mark with length and direction(s)

 Lines can be: vertical, horizontal, diagonal, straight, curved, angular or bent, thick or
wide, thin, blurred, fuzzy, controlled, or meandering.
 Lines can create an outline or contour.
 Lines are often used to define space or direct the movement of your eyes

Shape/Form: An enclosed space defined and determined by other art elements such as line,
color, value and texture.

• Shape refers to a closed space made when a line connects to itself.

• Form refers to a shape that is or appears to be three dimensional, having weight, width and
depth.

Texture: a surface quality that can be seen (simulated texture) or felt (actual texture)

Color: The visible spectrum of reflected light

It has the 3 attributes of:

---hue(it’s unique color name)

---value (lightness or darkness)

---intensity or saturation (purity and strength)

When the spectrum is organized as a color wheel, the colors are divided into:

--- primary (red, blue, yellow), secondary (orange, green, violet) and intermediate (or
tertiary) colors (orange-red, blue-green, etc.)
 ---analagous (next to each other) or complementary (opposites)

--warm or color colors (warm colors move forward, cool colors recede)

Space: The area around, above, below and within an artwork.

• It can be described as:

---two-dimensional (2D) or three dimensional (3D)

---flat, shallow, or deep

---open or closed

---positive (subject) or negative (background)

• The illusion of space can be created with perspective, shading, overlapping, or relative
scale.
• The perception of space can be created or distorted with optical illusions.

Value: The lightness or darkness of a color.

• A value scale or gray scale shows steps or gradations of lightness and darkness.
• When values that appear next to each other are very different, it’s called contrast. Artists
use contrast to draw your attention to things.
• Value changes in color are called:

---tints when they are lighter than the original color

---shades when they are darker than the original color)

Principles of Design

The principles of design are the rules by which an artist uses the elements of design.
The most often used principles in visual art are: balance, emphasis, movement, variety,
proportion and unity. These principles may vary slightly according to the person using them.

7. Balance
Balance is the arrangement of lines, colors, values, textures, forms, and space. their are three
types of balance: formal or symmetrical or informal or asymmetrical and radial balance. Formal
or symmetrical balance has equal weight on both sides. Informal or asymmetrical balance has a
different weight on on each side to maintain balance. Radial balance is a circular balance moving
out from a central object to maintain balance.

8. Emphasis
 Emphasis is way of bring a dominance and subordination into a design or painting. Major
objects, shapes, or colors may dominate a picture by taking up more space or by being heavier in
volume or by being darker in color than the subordinate objects, shapes and colors. There must
be balance between the dominant and subordinate elements.

9. Movement
The use of lines, colors, values, textures, forms and space to carry or direct the eye of the viewer
from one part of the design or picture to other is called movement. Movement is created in art by
the way the artist uses the elements of design. Movement is generally created by the arrangement
of shapes.

10. Variety and contrast

An artist uses elements of art to create diversity and differences in design. Contrasting colors,
textures, and patterns all add interest to the art work. Highlights of color to the corners or edges
of some shapes maybe used to add contrast.

11. Proportion
The size of one part of artwork to its other parts is called proportion. Artists use proportion to
show emphasis, distance and use of space, and balance.

12. Unity
Unity is the result of how all element and principles work together. All parts must have some
relation to each other. They must fit together to create the over all message and effect.

What Is Line?
Line (actually a straight line), together with point, is a basic concept of elementary geometry.
The idea of line is an abstraction that distills our intuition that a straight line is the shortest way
between two points. However, we distinguish between a line and a line segment. A line segment
includes the endpoints, i.e. the points that it joins. The line through the two points continues
beyond these points indefinitely.

The absence of the endpoints is often hinted to by drawing arrows:

In the (Euclidean) plane lines are subject to a dichotomy: two distinct lines either intersect or are
parallel. Two lines that intersect define a unique point - the point of intersection. The point of
intersection lies on (or belongs to) both lines. Parallel lines have no common points.

Every point on a line divides the line into two parts. These are called rays. A ray is a piece of a
line with one endpoint. (Rays are used in defining angles.)

Rays and line segments are said to be parallel if the lines they are parts of are parallel. Rays and
line segments are not subject to the dichotomy. Not parallel rays or line segments need not
intersect:

A parallelogram is a quadrilateral with sides on two pairs of parallel lines.

Line art emphasizes form and outline, over color, shading, and texture. However, areas of solid
pigment and dots can also be used in addition to lines. The lines in a piece of line art may be all
of a constant width (as in some pencil drawings), of several (few) constant widths (as in
technical illustrations), or of freely varying widths (as in brush work or engraving).

Line art is one of the most common forms of art in the world. Even that little doodle in your
student notebook (Come on, who doesn't doodle in their student notebook) is considered a form
of line art.

GRADATION
Gradation of size and direction produce linear perspective. Gradation of of colour from warm to
cool and tone from dark to light produce aerial perspective. Gradation can add interest and
movement to a shape. A gradation from dark to light will cause the eye to move along a shape.

1. Objective Drawing
This type of drawing depicts something that resembles its actual true life. This drawing depicts
real concrete objects

Instances of this type are still-life images, interiors, portraits etc. These can be anything like jugs,
pots etc. which you come across in daily life. When the actual form of these objects is put on the
paper it creates still-life drawing.

Objective drawing projects real objects. It represents the actual concrete object as seen by the
artist. A portrait is an intance of this type

2. Subjective Drawing

This type of drawing expresses your feelings or ideas about something through your work of

Subjective Drawing

art. It acts as an interface between the feelings of artists and those of the viewers.

Say for example, cartoons are a type of subjective drawing that are humorous sketches with some
meaning. Take for instance, the cartoons, which you see everyday in newspapers express the
feelings of artist towards a particular situation but with a humorous touch added to it.

Subjective drawing reflects feelings. They project the artist’ own thinking of any particular
subject or topic. They can contain a message as in a cartoon
Color
Color is an element consisting of hues, of which there are three properties:
hue, chroma or intensity, and value.Color is present when light strikes an
object and it is reflected back into the eye, a reaction to a hue arising in the
optic nerve.The first of the properties is hue, which is the distinguishable
color, like red, blue or yellow. The next property is value, meaning the
lightness or darkness of the hue. The last is chroma or intensity,
distinguishing between strong and weak colors. A visual representation of
chromatic scale is observable through the color wheel that uses the primary
colors.

Primary Colors

Primary colors are the basis of the color spectrum. With these three colors, you can create any
other color in the spectrum. Red, Yellow & Blue. This is a bold and powerful color scheme when
used together.

Secondary Colors
Secondary colors are made by mixing two primary colors together. They lie opposite of the
primary colors on the color wheel. Green, Violet & Orange. These colors are very bold like
primary colors, when used together.

Tertiary Colors

The colors in-between the secondary & primary colors

are what make up the tertiary colors. You can create these colors by mixing one primary color
and one secondary color. Using tertiary colors as a color scheme is very bright and vibrant.

Monochromatic Colors

Monochromatic color schemes use a single hue (green above) and then use various tints and
shades of that original color. They are very low in contrast but can be used very easily because of
their simplistic nature.

Analogous Colors
Analogous colors are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. One of the colors is dominate
while the others are accents for the main color. These schemes are easy to create and have unity
and consistency.

Clash

Clash color schemes pair a first color with a second to the left or right of it’s color wheel
compliment. Clash colors are VERY bold and have high contrast. The more colors you add the
harder it is to make clash colors work effectively.

Split Complementary

Split complementary colors are created by taking the colors

directly beside your original colors compliment. (purple above so yellow is purples compliment)
Split complementary colors can be very difficult to make work correctly. Try using one color as
the main color and the other two as accent colors.

Neutral
Neutral colors are a mix of a hue and its compliment and is sometimes mixed with black. These
colors schemes are not bright and commanding but they can be calm & effective.

Tertiary Triad

Tertiary triads are a set of three tertiary colors that are

equal distance from each other on the color wheel. Tertiary triads are some of the least
recognizable color schemes. They are very vibrant and comfortable to the eye.

Color and the Mind

We’re regularly asked what a particular color might mean to a specific audience, and we draw
heavily upon color theory in our NJ Web design, print and multimedia projects. Below are some
basic color associations:

Red: Symbolic of heat, danger, power, passion, strength, blood, and war. It evokes feelings of
creativity and assertiveness or even anger. It can stimulate people to make quick decisions and
increase expectations.

Orange: Orange is the color of warmth, autumn, fire, creativity, innovation, and speed. Orange
tends to be declassifying and has a broad appeal. It can serve as a neutral color if toned down.

Yellow: Another warm color that can remind us of a sunny day. Conversely, yellow also denotes
caution, sickness, or jealousy. Another good neutral when not saturated.
Green: A strong color, signifying vitality, growth, energy, faith and money. Green is the color
we most often associate with nature, giving it a calming effect and, currently, with being
ecologically responsible.

Blue: Evokes feelings of trust and loyalty. Blue can create an innovative or technology-driven
feel. Considered by experts to be therapeutic to the mind and body. Conversely, blue represent
solitude or sadness.