ELEMENTS OF ART

Learning Outcomes
Enumerate the different elements art
Explain the relevance of the elements in
relation to study of art and its products
Definition of Visual Arts…..
Unique expressions of ideas, beliefs,
experiences, and feelings presented in
well-designed visual forms.
ELEMENTS OF ART- Defined
Elements of art are the basic components or
“building blocks” such as value, color, line, texture,
shape, form, and space that artists use to create an
artwork
Line
 (1) LINE
 LINE is a continuous mark with length and direction,
created by a point that moved across a surface.
 Lines can vary in length, width, direction, curvature, and
color.
 A line can be two-dimensional (drawn on paper), incised
in clay, three-dimensional (wire), or implied.
TYPES OF LINES
There are 4 types of line :

horizontal

diagonal curved
vertical
Ando Hiroshige
Fuji from Safami River
19th C.
Colored print
13 ¼ x 8 ¾ in.

Lines create moods and

feelings
Thick lines feel bold,
thin lines feel delicate
Contour lines are
the edges and
surface ridges of
an object.
Implied lines are a
series of points that
the viewer’s eyes
automatically connect.
They are “suggested”
lines-not “real” lines.
LINE:
2 DIMENSIONAL SURFACE

Harmensz Rembrandt
van Rijn
1606-1669
Two Studies of a Bird of
Paradise
Pen and sepia ink and
wash, white highlights

Diagonal lines
Curved lines
LINE:
3 DIMENSIONAL SURFACE

Warren Mather
Overflow,
Stoneware,
multiple firings
15"x 5.5"x 5.5"
1993

DIAGONAL, CONTOUR
LINES
Francisco de Goya
“Porque esconderios?”
Etching and aqua tint
“The Raft of Medusa”
Theodore Gericault
Color
(2) Color
The Visual Element of Color has the
strongest effect on our emotions. It is the
element we use to create the mood or
atmosphere of an artwork.
Approaches to the Use of Color
Color as light Color as symbol
Color as tone Color as movement
Color as pattern Color as harmony
Color as form Color as contrast
Color as symbol Color as mood
When a ray of white light is split, a color spectrum is
created and we can see colors.

Prism
COLOR
Color is seen when light strikes an object and then reflects
back to the eyes.
Light hits an object

Red reflects back to the eye-all other colors

are absorbed into the object
Color Wheel
Artists bend the color spectrum into a circle which organizes
the colors
COLOR WHEEL
When the spectrum is
organized as a color
wheel, the colors are S
divided into groups called
primary, secondary and P
intermediate colors.
S

S
P
Properties of Color
(a) Hue- this dimension of color give its name: Primary, Secondary,
Tertiary/Intermediate

(b) Value –this refers to the brightness or darkness of color: light,

dark, tint, shade

(c) Intensity –this is the color’s brightness or dullness: bright or

warm; better understood in color harmonies/schemes
 Hue: PRIMARY COLORS
Primary colors are the colors yellow, red and blue
These colors can not be made by mixing other colors…..however,
it is possible to mix all the other colors of the spectrum using the primary
colors.
Yellow

Blue Red
Hue: SECONDARY COLORS
Colors made by mixing two different primary colors
ORANGE
GREEN

VIOLET
Hue: INTERMEDIATE COLORS
Intermediate colors are made by mixing one primary color
and one secondary color.
Yellow-orange
Yellow-green

secondary Red-orange
Blue-green

Blue-violet Red-violet
Intensity : Color Schemes
Colors artists group together that look good when put with one
another

Triad, complementary, analogous, split

complementary,
Warm, cool, monochromatic,
Neutral
Intensity: Triad Color Scheme
Any three colors spaced at
an equal distance on the
color wheel such as the
primary colors, or the
secondary colors.
Piet Mondrian, Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow c. 1930
Intensity: Complementary Color Scheme
Two colors opposite each other on the color
wheel
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Boating on the Seine

Vincent van Gogh, Night Cafe

Intensity: Analogous Color Scheme
Three colors that are next to each other on the color wheel: the
colors have a common color.

Yellow-green, green, blue-green

Intensity: Warm Color Scheme
Colors associated with warm things: fire, sun, heat
Intensity: Cool Color Scheme
Colors associated with cool things-
such as ice and grass
Intensity: Split Complementary Color Scheme
One color and the
two colors on each
side of its
complement

Red-orange, yellow-orange, blue

Split complementary color scheme with yellow, red-violet and blue violet
Intensity: Neutral Color Scheme

Colors such as black,

white, gray, or brown
that are not on the
spectrum.
Intensity: Monochromatic color scheme
One color and all its tints and
shades
 Artistic expression
Colors can make us think of
certain things or feel a certain
way. Black
Pink
What do you think of when
Blue
you see these colors:
Yellow
Gray
Red
GIACOMO BALLA (1871-1958)
Street Light, 1909 (oil on canvas)
ANDRÉ DERAIN (1880-1954)
Portrait of Matisse, 1905 (oil
on canvas)
EDGAR DEGAS (1834-1917)
Blue Dancers, 1899 (pastels)
JUAN GRIS (1887-1927)
Violin and Checkerboard,
1913 (oil on canvas)
VICTOR VASARELY (1906-
1997)
Vonal KSZ, 1968 (silkscreen
print)
VINCENT VAN GOGH (1853-1890)
Sunflowers, 1888 (oil on canvas)
 (2c) Value
The lightness or darkness of a color. Sometimes that color is black as in

a drawing or photograph

Often this is used by artists to create the illusion of depth and solidity, a

particular mood, communicate a feeling, or in establishing a scene.

Value Scale
showing a gradation or the steps of values.

Black fading to white

Rene Magritte
The Listening Room, 1952
The gradual
value change in
the apple makes
the apple appear
round, solid and
more real.
Value:
3 dimensional work

Allan Houser

Listen
1990 bronze
edition of 8
25"x25"x21"
Texture
 Activity Today: Texture, Shape, Space Light
Instructions:
1. Use clay to create two opposite textures.
2. Use clay to form any geometric shape and any organic shape
3. With the use of clay form two cubes of equal sizes. Poke holes on one
cube and label cube A, the one without holes label cube B.
4. Model a human face and bring it to a dark corner, use the light of the cell
phone and flash it on the upper part of the face then on the lower part of
the face.
 On a bond paper write the answers to the
following by filling out the table on the
following slide.
1. What verbs can be used to label each texture? Discuss each. (6 pts)

2. What nouns can be used to label each shape? Discuss each.(6 pts)

3. Which cube appear lighter? Heavier? (4 pts)

4. Describe how the facial expression of the face changed when light was flashed from

above, from below.(4 pts)

1 Texture Verb Discussion
Rough
Smooth
2 Shape Noun
organic
geometric
3 Space Light Heavy
Cube A
Cube B
4 Light Description Description
Above
Below
(3) TEXTURE
An element of art which refers to the surface quality

or "feel" of an object, its smoothness, roughness,

softness, etc.
TEXTURE is the way a surface feels or the way it is drawn to look and the viewer imagines
how it might feel.
Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528), The
Rhinoceros, woodcut, 1515, British Museum, London.

African Mask
TYPES OF TEXTURE
Textures may be actual or implied. Actual textures can be felt with the fingers,
while implied textures are suggested by an artist.
ACTUAL TEXTURE-
3-DIMENSIONAL
SURFACE

ROUGH TEXTURE

Miriam Novak SMOOTH TEXTURE

 SIMULATED TEXTURE-
2 DIMENSIONAL SURFACE
M.C. Escher Shiny & smooth
Eye, 1946, mezzotint

Hairy
ACTUAL TEXTURE-
3-DIMENSIONAL SURFACE
Meret Oppenheim

Object, (Luncheon in Fur)

1936

ROUGH, HAIRY TEXTURE

(4) SHAPE
SHAPE
SHAPE is a two-dimensional area that has length and height.
Geometric
shapes

Organic shapes
SHAPE:
3 DIMENSIONAL SURFACE
Barbara Mazur

Cup and Saucer

Porcelain, salt-glaze
6"x 4"x 4"
1994

ORGANIC
SHAPES
SHAPE:
2 DIMENSIONAL SURFACE
Piet Mondrian
Composition in
Red yellow and blue
1937-1942
Oil on canvas
60 X 55 cm

SQUARES &
RECTANGLES
(5) FORM
 FORM
Form refers to an element of art that is three-
dimensional (height, width, and depth) and
encloses volume.

height

depth

width
FORMS
For example, a square, which is two-dimensional, is a shape, but a
cube, which is three-dimensional, is a form. Pyramids, spheres, cones,
and cylinders are examples of various forms.

SQUARE
CYLINDER

rectangle
2-D SHAPE CUBE
3-D FORM 2-D 3-D FORM
shape
(6) SPACEace
SPACE
Space is an empty place or surface in or around a
work of art. Space can be two-dimensional, three-
dimensional, negative and/or positive.
SPACE
Artists create positive and negative space in two-
dimensional artworks.

2 dimensional
Negative space
2
dimensional
Positive
space
 SPACE-
3 DIMENSIONAL WORK
POSITIVE SPACE
Jonathan Kaplan

Still Life with Teapot

Cast Terra Cotta with underglaze pigments
20"x6"x6"
1994

Negative space
(7) LIGHT
LIGHT
Light often describes the light source or light reflected
within the composition.

 In realistic compositions, if there is light, there is shadow.

Reflecting light: light that bounces off of objects.

 Glowing light: the source of light

LIGHT
Possible characteristics: chiaroscuro, brilliant, bright, dark,
shadows, shade, holy light, night light, moonlight, sunlight,
bulbs, morning light, dusk, diffused, dim, filtered,
illuminated, clear, highlights, foggy, mystical, realistic,
imaginary.
Light
The actual or imaginary luminosity of a work
Johannes Vermeer
“Domestic Scene”
 Georges de La Tour
“Magdalena with the
Smoking Flame”
Caravaggio, Guiditta Decapitates
Oloferne, 1598, oil on canvas.
National Gallery of Italian Art,
Rome. This work is in the public
domain
Planes and Perspective
LINEAR PERSPECTIVE
 It is is an art technique for creating an illusion of three-
dimensions (depth and space) on a two-dimensional (flat)
surface.
Perspective is what makes a painting seem to have form,
distance, and look "real".
The same rules of perspective apply to all subjects,
whether it's a landscape, seascape, still life, interior scene,
portrait, or figure painting.

Leon Battista Alberti, Paolo Uccello (Renaissance Artists)

Filippo Brunelleschi (Architect, 15th century)

Its use was based on the ff. observations:
 As forms and objects recede, the smaller they become

 Parallel lines seem to converge when they recede into a

distance, at a point, they disappear.

 Point of disappearance is called the vanishing point

Types of Perspective
Viewpoint
Viewpoint is the spot (point) from which the artist is
looking at (viewing) the scene.

Linear perspective is worked out according to this

viewpoint.
Types
Normal viewpoint is how an adult sees the world when standing up.

Low viewpoint is when you're looking at a scene from much lower

than you would ​standing up.

High viewpoint is when you're looking down on a scene.