Elements & Principles of Design

The ELEMENTS of art: line, shape, form, color, value,

texture and space.

1) Line• “a dot that moves” or “continuous mark”• Describes a shape or outline.• It can be: straight, curved, vertical, horizontal,

jagged, or dotted

The ELEMENTS of art: Line …a dot that moves….defines space, contours and outlines, or

suggests mass and volume. Straight, curved, vertical, horizontal, jagged, dotted

Vincent van Gogh Cottage Garden 1888reed pen, quill, and ink over graphite on wove paper, 24 x 19-1/4 inchesPrivate Collection, Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art Dominance Portfolio, Blue, Bridget Riley, 1977

2) Shape

• An enclosed space defined by other art elements such as line, color and texture.

• Shapes can be geometric or organic.– Geometric: Circles, squares, rectangles , triangles.

Seen in architecture, manufactured items.– Organic: Leafs, seashells, flowers. Seen in nature;

free flowing and irregular shapes.

The ELEMENTS of art: shape

An enclosed space defined by other art elements such as line, color and texture.

May be geometric or organic

Dogs, MC ESCHER, 1938 Cycle, MC ESCHER, 1938

Positive and Negative Shapes

• Positive Shapes are the solid forms in a design such as a bowl of fruit. In a sculpture it is the solid form of the sculpture.

• Negative Shapes-In a drawing it is the space around the positive shape or the shape around the bowl of fruit. In sculpture it is the empty shape around and between the sculptures.

3) Form

• Appears 3-dimensional (3D) such as a cube, sphere, pyramid or cylinder.

• Shape is only two-dimensional; form is three-dimensional. You can hold a form; walk around a form

• Form can also be geometric or organic.

The ELEMENTS of art: form

Are these forms organic or geometric? Where is the positive and negative shapes?

CLOUD GATE, Chicago ,Anish KapoorSNOWBALL, Andy Goldsworthy

Midsummer Snowballs, Andy Goldsworthy

Organic or Geometric Forms?

The ELEMENTS of art: formLouise Nevelson

Alexander Calder’s MOBILE at the National Gallery of Art

White Vertical Water, 1972

4) Color

• Color Theory PowerPoint and Color Wheel

The ELEMENTS of art: colorComplementary, Cool, Warm Color Schemes

Yellow and blue accentuate each other in van Gogh’s Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, 1888

Red and green accentuate each other in van Gogh’s Night Café in Arles, which was painted the same month as the café at left

5) Value

• Refers to the light and dark areas of a picture.• Value creates depth within a picture making

an object look three dimensional (3D) with highlights and cast shadows.

Categories of Value

• Tint is adding white to create lighter values such as light blue or pink.

• Shade is adding black to create dark values such as dark blue or dark red.

• Value Scale is a scale that shows the gradual change in value from its lightest value, white to its darkest value black.

The ELEMENTS of art: value

Refers to the light and dark areas of an art work

Study of Arms and Hands, Da Vinci 1474

The ELEMENTS of art: value

El Greco: Allegory, Boy Lighting Candle in the Company of an Ape and a Fool The ELEMENTS of art: value

THE MILKMAID(De Melkmeid )c. 1658-1661oil on canvas17 7/8 x 16 1/8 in. (45.5 x 41 cm.)The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The ELEMENTS of art: value

6) Texture

• The surface quality• A rock may be rough and jagged. A piece of

silk may be soft and smooth and your desk may feel hard and smooth.

• Texture also refers to the way a picture is made to look rough or smooth.

The ELEMENTS of art: texture

The surface quality of an artwork usually perceived through the sense of touch. Texture may also be implied.

Pietà

Michelangelo, 1499

Marble

SURFACE is polished marble, simulated texture of flesh and fabric

Shoes, 1888Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890)Oil on canvas; 18 x 21 3/4 in.

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890)

Sunflowers 1887

MediumOil on canvas 17 x 24 in. (43.2 x 61 cm)

The ELEMENTS of art: texture

6) SPACE

• The distance around, between, above, below, and within an object.

• Categories of Space– Positive Space (similar to positive shape)– Negative Space (similar to negative shape)– Composition: organization of elements in artwork– Focal Point

The ELEMENTS of art: space

The distance around, between, above, below, and within an object.

Fallingwater is the name of a very special house that is built over a waterfall. Frank Lloyd Wright, America’s most famous architect, designed the house for his clients, the Kaufmann family. Fallingwater was built between 1936 and 1939. It instantly became famous, and today it is a National Historic Landmark.

NEGATIVE SPACE OR POSITIVE SPACE