In order to understand how to describe a painting or a sculpture, it is important to comprehend

first the visual elements of art. These visual elements of art are line, color, shape, space, value,
texture, time and motion.

Line

This refers to a prolongation of a point or a mark on a.. surface.

Solid lines can be used in order to define form.. while broken lines are
typically used to suggest hidden. forms.

Shape and Mass

This element refers to an area with

boundaries.. identified.or drawing lines. A shape may be natural or..
living.. forms called..an organic shape and can be irregular. or..
rounded. It. may also be... measured forms called.. geometric.shape.
In. contrast to shape., which..is.. two-dimensional,
mass refers to. solid portions of a.. three-
dimensional object.

Color

This refers to visual perception that allows a person to differentiate objects due to the way
various wavelengths of light are reflected. Color is a very important element because it can
communicate information and emotion to the viewer. These are the three properties of color:

• Hue, which refers to the basic or pure color, and is represented in the color wheel.
• Value, which refers to the lightness and darkness of color. A light color or tint is the
result of adding white to a hue, while a dark color or shade results from adding black to
a hue.
• Saturation, which refers to brightness and dullness of color. It is also referred to as
purity of the color. A bright color can be produced by adding more pigment to the same
hue, while a dull color can be produced by adding gray or the color’s complement to the
pigment.

2The color wheel is an arrangement of

primary,.. secondary and.tertiary colors. It is
important tool to... identify which colors.. can .work.. well if
used in a.. certain.. artwork which is the color..
schemes or color.. relationships.. These are some of the
color.. schemes:

Color Schemes

• Monochromatic – involves using the same hue but with different gradients of value.
• Analogous – entails the use of three or four adjacent colors in the color wheel.
• Complementary – involves the use of a color and its
complement
-meaning the color located opposite of the first color.
 • Split-complementary – a close relative to the complementary color scheme. But
instead of using the color’s complement, this scheme uses the two colors adjacent to
the complement.
• Triadic – uses three colors that are of equal distance with each other.
• Tetradic – also known as double complementary color scheme, this uses two pairs of
complementary colors.
Texture

This element refers to the feel or appearance of a.. surface. A..

person.. may describe as actual or implied.. Actual texture. can be..
felt.. tangibly based on the. material.that is used for. the artwork
while implied..texture. can be exhibited, for. instance, in a painting of
fur of an. animal.

Value
This element refers to lightness or darkness of an area. This is evident in creating shadows for a
two-dimensional object to give an illusion of depth.

Space
Space refers to the area that is occupied by an object or a subject, as well as the area
surrounding that object or subject. An illusion of space can still be created in a two-dimensional
surface using perspective. There are two types of perspective: atmospheric perspective, which
utilizes the properties of light and air in depicting the illusion of distance; and linear perspective,
which involves the use of vanishing points and receding hidden lines.

Time and Motion

Movement in the visual arts can either be an illusion or an actual motion. An illusion of
movement is more common in two-dimensional artworks. On the other hand, actual motion is
easily seen in kinetic sculpture that moves with the wind or are vibrating with the surrounding air.