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Elements Principles
Elements Principles
Elements: Principles:
Line Balance
Shape Emphasis & Focal Point
Form Contrast
Color Movement
Value Variety
Texture Pattern & Repetition
Space Unity
Harmony/Gestalt
Line
A line is defined as a mark with length and direction, created by a point that
moves across a surface. A line can vary in length, width, direction, curvature, and
color.
Contour, Diagonal, Broken, Curved, Outline, Implied, Vertical, zigzag,
Horizontal, Wavy, Slanted, Continuous, Solid, Narrow, Bold
Andy Goldsworthy
Keith Haring
Shape
Shape is an enclosed space defined by other elements of art.
Shape is 2-Dimensional
Tamara de Lempicka
Portrait of Ira P. 1925
Value
An element of art that refers to luminance or luminosity – the lightness
or darkness of a color.
Kathe Kollwitz,
Self portrait
Value
Oppenheim
Fur-lined cup
Texture
Actual and Implied
Albrecht Durer
Rhinocerus
Golsdworthy
Color
Is an element of art with three properties
1) Hue, the name of the color, e.g. red, yellow, etc. 2) Intensity
or the purity and strength of the color 3) Value, or the lightness or
darkness of the color
Delauney
Primary Colors
Wassily Kandinsky
Piet Mondrian
Warm Colors
• Colors that are often described as being
higher in temperature
• Reds, oranges, yellows
• Associated with fire and sun
• Optically, appear to advance
• Stimulating and passionate
Ex. Warm
Cool
• Colors that are often described as being
lower in temperature
• Greens, Blues, and Violet
• Associated with water, sky, and spring
• Optically, they appear to recede
• Calming and depressing
Ex. Cool
Color and Mood
MC Escher
Space
Positive space is filled by a shape or form. Negative space surrounds a
shape or form.
Space/Depth
May be created by overlapping, change in scale,
perspective placement, color theory, or projection toward the
viewer.
David Hockney
Place Furstenberg, Paris, August 7,8,9, 1985 -#11985
Balance
Balance is a sense of stability in the body of work.
Balance can be symmetrical (formal) or assymmetrical (informal)
Stuart Davis
Andy Warhol
Movement
Movement adds excitement to your work by showing action and directing the viewers eye
throughout the picture plane.
Umberto Boccioni,
Unique forms of continuity in space Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending Staircase
Dominance & Subordination
The part of a composition that is emphasized, has the
greatest visual weight, the most important, powerful, or
has the most influence.
Emphasis & Focal Point
Emphasis - Any forcefulness that gives importance to some feature or features of an
artwork; something singled out, stressed, or drawn attention to by means of contrast,
anomaly, or counterpoint
David Hockney
Emphasis & Focal Point
William Morris
Arts and Crafts Movement
Pattern & Repetition
Andy Warhol
Contrast
Claude Monet
Haystacks
Unity
Cezanne
Wayne Theibaud
Unity
Gauguin
What Elements and Principles stand out?