ELEMENTS OF ART

2011

Definition of Visual Arts…..

Unique expressions of ideas, beliefs, experiences, and feelings presented in well-designed visual forms.

The Lovers, Rene Magritte, 1928

What is the meaning of this painting? What did the artist use to put it together?

ELEMENTS OF ART- Defined

Elements of art are the basic components or “building blocks” such as line, shape, form, value, color, texture, and space that artists use to create an artwork.

An artist can choose which elements to use to get his/her idea, belief, feeling or experience across.

LineLINE is a continuous mark with length and direction, created by a point that moves across a surface.

TYPES OF LINESThere are 4 types of line :

vertical

horizontal

diagonal

curved

Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889, oil on canvas, 29 x 36 ¼

Implied lines are a series of points that the viewer’s eyes automatically connect or the “line” between two colors. They are “suggested” lines-not “real” lines.

Contour lines are the edges and surface ridges of an object.

Shape and Form

Shape is a 2 dimensional areaForm is a 3 dimensional area

SHAPE SHAPE is a two-dimensional area that has

length and height.

Geometric shapes

Organic shapes

SHAPE:2 DIMENSIONAL SURFACE

Piet Mondrian

SQUARES & RECTANGLES

Geometric shapeOrganic shape

Ellsworth Kelly

FORM Form is a three-dimensional

area that has height, width, and depth.

height

length

depth

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.

CUBE

SQUARE

CYLINDER2-D SHAPE

3-D FORM3-D FORM

rectangle

2-D shape

Pottery is a Form3 DIMENSIONAL Yasuhiro Okuma

The artist chose a curved

contour line and diagonal lines painted

on the surface

DIAGONAL LINES

Curved, contour lines

ValueThe lightness or darkness of a color. Sometimes that color is black as in a drawing or photograph

Value Scale showing the gradations (steps) of black

VALUE:Janet Fish

The artist chose to draw on paper and used many different values to make the bottles of cherries look 3 dimensional.She used curved lines and horizontal lines.

Color

Color has three properties: (1) hue-the color’s name, e.g., red, yellow, blue, etc.: (2) intensity- the purity and strength of a color, e.g., bright red or dull red; and (3) value- the lightness or darkness of a color.

When a ray of white light is split, a color spectrum (rainbow) is created and we can see colors.

Prism

COLOR

Color is seen when light strikes an object and the individual color 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 (rainbow) into a circle which organizes the colors

HUE, VALUE, INTENSITY

Properties of Color

Hue Another word for color-which

is the name we give the color

red green blue yellow orange violet

IntensityIntensity is the purity and strength of a color,

e.g., bright red or dull red.

A color is made duller by adding its complement.

red made duller byadding green

Value of a colorValue is the lightness or darkness

of a color.

Tint-made by adding white to a color

Shade-made by adding black to a color

Color Value Scale

Color or no color? Which will get the idea across to the viewer the best?

Texture

An element of art which refers to the surface quality or "feel" an object has-its smoothness, roughness, softness, etc.

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.

SIMULATED TEXTURE-2 DIMENSIONAL SURFACE

M.C. EscherEye, 1946, mezzotint

Hairy

Shiny & smooth

Space

Space can be the depth in between two objects.Space can be negative and/or positive.

1. Space is the depth between objects that make some objects look behind another or farther away2. Space can be positive and negative

SPACE-3 DIMENSIONAL WORK Jonathan

Kaplan

Still Life with TeapotCast Terra Cotta with underglaze pigments

20"x6"x6"1994

POSITIVE SPACE

Negative space

Mug looks in front of the teapot

Elements of art An artist can choose

which of the elements he/she would like to use. Not all elements need to be in their artwork…which are used here?