ELEMENTS OF ART & DESIGN
ELEMENTS OF ART & DESIGN
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Watch the videos to help you review, or read and look at examples to help your understanding! Remember, elements of art is like the ingredients to your work. You can use as many or as little as you need to create. These elements are like the building blocks of art, and when artists use them together, they can create amazing pictures! If you have any more questions or need examples, just let me know!
Elements Of Art
Elements Of Art
Senior art students (Grades 7, 8, and 9) are expected to know each element and principle of art and design as there are assignments each year catered to demonstrating their understanding of each concept.
Please utilize this page to help familarize yourself with these elements.
Can you identify the elements?
Can you identify the elements?
Click on the little Ms. Pham's to reveal the answers! See if you can locate each element in the images!
Line
Line
A line is like a long mark that you make with a pencil or pen. It can be straight, curved, or zigzag. Lines can be thick or thin, and they help create shapes and show movement in art.
The lines here is the water from the waterfall! They lead our eyes to look at all the elements in the painting. They make our eyes go down, just like the flow of the water!
Hokusai. Waterfalls of Various Districts; Kirifuri-no-taki at Kurokami-yama in Shimotsuke Province. Shimane Art Museum. Matsue-shi, Shimane-ken, Japan. 1833.
Vincent van Gogh. Falling leaves (Les Alyscamps). Kröller-Müller Museum. Otterlo, Netherlands. 1888.
The lines here are from the trees! They take up more of the art and go from the top to the bottom!
Shape
Shape
A shape is a form that you can see but not touch, we call them two-dimensional or 2D because they are flat. Shapes can be simple like circles and squares or more complex like the shape of a leaf. Shapes help create pictures and can be found all around us.
The shapes here are the squares an rectangles. They are flat, and two dimensional.
Piet Mondarian. Composition in colour A. Kröller-Müller Museum. Otterlo, Netherlands. 1917.
Bridget Riley. Movement in Squares. Hayward Gallery. London, United Kingdom. 1961.
The shapes here are from the black and white squares and rectangles. They were two-dimensional (2D).
Form
Form
Form is like a shape that you can see from different angles because it has depth. Think of a ball or a box; they have volume and take up space. Form makes things look three-dimensional or 3D, like they could pop out of the page!
The form here is the use of paper and different shapes to show a 3D shape!
Luiz Sacilotto. Concreção 6045. The Adolpho Leirner Collection of Brazlillian Constructive Art at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Houston, United States. 1960.
Vincent van Gogh. Falling leaves (Les Alyscamps). Kröller-Müller Museum. Otterlo, Netherlands. 1888.
The form here are from the trees and the benches. They look as if they are 3D and coming off the painting.
Space
Space
Space is the area around and between things in a picture. It helps us understand how far apart objects are. Artists use space to make their art look interesting and to show depth, like in a landscape where some mountains are far away.
The space here can be seen from the big sky, the smaller ships, and the space from the water.
J. M. W. Turner. The Fighting Temeraire, 1839. Rmn-Grand Palais. Paris, France, France.
Piet Mondarian. Composition in colour A. Kröller-Müller Museum. Otterlo, Netherlands. 1917.
The space here is from what we call "white space" (see principles of art) and there is space around each shape.
Texture
Texture
Texture is how something feels or looks like it would feel. It can be rough like sandpaper, smooth like glass, or fluffy like a cloud. Artists show texture in their work to make it more interesting and to give it a real-life feel.
The texture here is the face of the horse, you can imagine it feels rough and how the bumps might feel.
Albert Tucker. Apocalyptic horse. Art Gallery of New South Wales. Sydney, Australia. 1956.
Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch. Shell cart. Kunstmuseum. The Hague, Netherlands. circa 1890.
The texture here is from the sand or dirt. It looks rough, bumpy, and maybe sandy.
Value
Value
Value is about how light or dark a color is. For example, a light blue is a lighter value than a dark blue. Value helps create shadows and highlights in art, making it look more realistic and three-dimensional.
The value here is from what we call a "monochrome" palette. These are different shades (light and dark) of the colour blue to create different shapes, and illusion of space.
Adriana Varejão. O Colecionador. Inhotim. Brumadinho MG, Brazil. 2008.
Luiz Sacilotto. Concreção 6045. The Adolpho Leirner Collection of Brazlillian Constructive Art at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Houston, United States. 1960.
The value here is from the shadows created from the 3D shape. They are all the same colour, just lighter or darker!
Colour
Colour
Colour is what we see when light hits an object. It can be bright like red and yellow or soft like blue and green. Colours can make us feel different emotions, like happy or calm, and they help make art lively and fun.
The colour here is the bright pinks, blue, orange, and blues. There are pops of colour everywhere!
Ted Harrison. Northern Trio, 1995. Canada house Gallery.
Piet Mondarian. Composition in colour A. Kröller-Müller Museum. Otterlo, Netherlands. 1917.
The colour here is from the pink, orange, blue, and black shapes. They show that they are different from each colour.
🔍Practice: Take a look at some famous artworks below and see if you can identify elements of art that are being used in each piece.
🔍Practice: Take a look at some famous artworks below and see if you can identify elements of art that are being used in each piece.
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