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Elements of Design

“An element is a basic component or essential part of a work of art. The elements are necessary, for without them there would be no work of art. They are the visual instruments with which artists orchestrate their compositions, and they are common to all works of art.

 

The elements of art are: line / shape / form / space / texture / color / value.

 

These elements can function independently or in conjunction with one another. Some artists choose to use variations on only one of the element to create their work of art. Other artists may use several elements at the same time. “(Katz, p62)

 

You can go here to see some examples from the Getty Museum collection.

 

Pablo Picasso, First Steps, 1943, Oil on canvas, 511/4”x381/4”(130 x 97 cm). Yale University Art Gallery.

Often defined as a moving dot or the path of a point A line in art generally has a beginning and an end with length and direction, and often suggests movement in a drawing painting or sculpture.

 

On a surface it can be a continuous mark that is created by the movement of a tool and pigment such as brush, pencil, stick, pen, crayons, or chalk etc. Or lines can be formed in other ways as well; digitally in a computer, light projected in a dark space, made with string, wire or other things, and edges of objects are lines as well. Lines may be two-dimensional (as with pencil on paper) three-dimensional (as with wire) or implied (the edge of a shape or form). Often it defines a space, and may create an outline or contour, define a silhouette; create patterns, or movement, and the illusion of mass or volume.

Line

Lines can be used to show motion by guiding and moving our eyes around a design. Horizontal lines guide our eyes across the paper. They create a calm and restful mood in a design. Vertical lines move our eyes up and down the paper. They make us think of buildings and trees. Diagonal lines move our eyes from one corner of an object or design to the opposite comer. They are exciting lines and show strong feelings. In graphic design lines can also be used to separate different portions of the composition.

 

Lines are very important to an artist or a designer. Because they can tell us what that person is trying to communicate through his or her art. We can show moods and feelings, such as anger, laziness, confusion, or happiness, by drawing different kinds of lines. These are called "character lines."

 

 

Line Continued....

 

 

 Lines can be described as:

 

vertical horizontal diagonal straight or ruled curved bumpy or wavy bent angular or jagged thin thick wide Interrupted (dotted, dashed, broken, etc.) blurred or fuzzy controlled as with a ruler or tool freehand parallel hatching meandering spiraling

Shape is an area that is contained within a line. When both ends of a line meet to surround space, the line forms an enclosed shape. Or shape is an area of spaceidentified and defined by other art elements such as color, value, and texture. 

 

Shapes have two dimensions, length and width, and can be geometric with straight lines and angles, or organic free-form with curvy bumpy lines. In painting and drawing, shapes may take on the appearance of solid three-dimensionalobject even though they are limited to two dimensions — length and width. This two-dimensional character of shape distinguishes it from form, which has depth as well as length and width.

 

Shapes with familiar names like triangle... There are also irregular geometric shapes which have straight lines and angles like the regular geometric shapes but they are more free form in nature.

Shape

Another family of shapes called organic shapes are made from curvy lines and have bumpy edges. These are shapes that are usually found in nature; clouds, rocks, puddles, leaves etc.

 

Design in painting is basically the planned arrangement of shapes in a work of art.

 

 

circle square, oval, and less familiar polygons such as rectangle, rhombus, trapezium, trapezoid, pentagon, hexagon, 

heptagon, octagon, nonagon, decagon,

are called regular geometric shapes.

Shape

Color depends on light. It’s produced when light of various wavelengths strikes an object and is reflected back to the eyes. Without light we cannot see color. A red shirt will not look red in the dark, where there is no light. The whiter the light that is shined on an object, the more true the colors on the object will be. A yellow light on a full-color painting will change the appearance of all the colors.

 

As an element of art it has three properties: 
(1) hue or tint, the color name, e.g., red, yellow, blue, etc. 
(2) intensity, the purity and strength of a color, e.g., bright red or dull red 
(3) value, the lightness or darkness of a color.

 

The range of all colors is called the spectrum. When it is organized as a color wheel, the colors are primary, secondary, intermediate (or tertiary) colors, analogous and complementary colors, warm and cool colors.

Color

Shade and tint are terms that refer to a variation of a hue.

Shade: A hue produced by the addition of black. Tint: A hue produced by the addition of white.

Color continued...

Colors can be described as saturated, clear, cool, warm, deep, subdued, grayed, tawny, mat, glossy, monochrome, multicolored, parti-colored, variegated, or polychrome. The use, or non-use, of color can be instrumental in conveying different types of emotions. Here is an article that talks about the causes of color

Basic color schemes can be found here

 

We use the term "value" to refer to how much relative light and darkness is in a design. Value is very important because it makes some parts of a composition more dominant than others. Value contrasts help us to see and understand two-dimensional works of art.

This type can be read because of the contrast of dark letters and light background. Value contrast is also evident in colors, which enables us to read shapes in a painting.

 

Pure white is the lightest value, and black is the darkest value. All values in between are grays. Texture and shading are ways of making shapes have value. The more texture or shading a shape has the darker in value it becomes. For instance, imagine words as texture on a piece of white paper. If the paper has one sentence typed on it, it has a very light value. But the same paper with many sentences typed on it has a much darker value. Color also has value. A design with a lot of light colors and very few darks is considered a light-valued picture. A design with a lot of dark colors and very little light is considered a dark-valued picture. Most good art is made up of a combination of lights and darks. Below is a value scale employing a smoothly nuancedgradation of values.

Value

Here is a value scale — or gray scale — in eight stepped grades of values.

And another stepped scale produced by hatching and cross-hatching.

Sometimes value is referred to as luminance or luminosity — the lightness or darkness of a color.

The following illustration diagrams colors of various values. Value changes from pure hues are called shades and tints. On the right, pure hues are marked by dots. Notice how their values — their positions beside the gray scale — are varied.

Value Continued... 

Changes in value, whether sudden or gradual, can add greatly to the visual impact of art forms and they can also be used to help the artist express their ideas. These links will give you some more information about value.

http://studiochalkboard.evansville.edu/s-grays.html

http://studiochalkboard.evansville.edu/s-chiaro.html 

http://studiochalkboard.evansville.edu/s-tex.html

A form is a shape with volume and mass that takes up space, it has the three dimensional aspects of height, width, and depth. A flat shape has only two dimensions: height and width. Form represents the difference between drawing a square on paper and drawing or constructing a cube. Forms always have bulk or mass; a triangle, becomes a pyramid, and a circle becomes a sphere. Other examples of various forms, include theovoid, cone, and cylinder.

 

Forms can and should be viewed from many angles and forms make up the shapes we see in the natural world. For instance, a pine tree is a cone, a ball is a sphere and a building is a cube. More complex subjects are combinations of these basic forms. The human body is made of various cylinders and a sphere. When you hold a baseball, shoe, or small sculpture, you are aware of their curves, angles, indentations, extensions, and edges in other words, their forms.

Form

Texture

Texture refers to the surfacequality of an object or how the surface of something looks and feels. For example, the surface of a brick is hard and rough and a snake's skin is scaly and dry. Textures may be actual or simulated. Actual textures can be felt with the fingers, while simulated textures are often suggested by an artist, in representations of drapery, metals, rocks, hair, etc.

 

A designer can represent texture through the use of points, lines, and shapes: points can show the scratchy surface of sandpaper; long, flowing lines can show hair; and small circular shapes can show the dimples on a golf ball. The shapes forming a texture can create a pattern, such as a brick wall or a shingled roof.

 

Different Techniques used in painting also serve to show texture. For example, the dry brush technique produces rough simulated quality and heavy application of pigment with brush or other implement produces a rough actual texture.

 

Words describing textures include: flat, smooth, shiny, glossy, glittery, velvety, feathery, soft, wet, gooey, furry, sandy, leathery, crackled, prickly, abrasive, rough, furry, bumpy, corrugated, puffy, rusty, and slimy.

 

 Click for some visual examples of actual and implied texture...

Texture Continued...

Texture Continued...

Space

Space is thedistance or area between, around, above, below, or within things. Actual space is a three-dimensional volume that can be empty or filled with objects; it has measurable height, width, and depth. Space that appears three-dimensional in a painting is an illusion that creates a feeling of actual depth. Various techniques such as overlapping, diminishing scale and vertical placement to name a few, can be used to show such visual depth or space. These will be explained in more detail in unit 9.

 

Positive and negative spaces are also an important part of this element. The positive space of a picture is the picture's subject, or what the designer wants us to look at. This space is called the "foreground". For instance, in apicture of an apple surrounded by black, the apple is the foreground. The black background is what we call the "negative space" in the picture. Negative space is as important as positive space because it surrounds and sets off the positive space. A designer needs to consider both in balancing a design. Without negative space, the positive space loses its power to attract the eye. Even a single point on a blank piece of paper creates positive and negative space and commands our attention.

In these images, negative spaces have been shaped and placed among positive spaces so that a viewer can make closure on a triangle, a square, and a cube.

Space... or rather - negative space Another name for negative space is white space

White space is the part of the design that "isn't" there; it is the space between visual elements — it's an integral part of the message. White space tells you where one section ends and another begins.

Why is important? White or negative space helps frame and contain the design It avoids visual clutter, looks “clean” It can also help to focus the viewer on something specific Helps keep flow going How to achieve it Empty space Blurred backgrounds Patterns

Space Continued... When considering the element of space in works of art, it can be described as two-dimensional or three-dimensional; flat, shallow, or deep; open or closed; positive or negative; and as actual, ambiguous ,or illusory.