The Elements of Design are the basic ingredients or fundamental building blocks to creating art.
They are the visual language of art.
Artists use the elements to express their ideas,
just as a writer words to express ideas.
There are 7 Elements of Design...
LINE
TEXTURE
SPACE
SHAPE
FORM
COLOR
VALUE
LINE
TEXTURE
SPACE
SHAPE
FORM
COLOR
VALUE
LINE
A mark made by a pointed moving tool.
Artists use lines to create edges, to define spaces, and to direct the viewers eye through a visual image.
WIDTH: thick, thin, tapering, uneven
LENGTH: long, short, continuous, broken
DIRECTION: horizontal, vertical, diagonal
curvy, zigzag
FOCUS: sharp, blurry
FEELING: jagged, graceful, smooth, awkward
STATIC: they appear at rest and give the impression of stability, peace, calm, stiffness, etc...
ACTIVE: they give the impression of movement, excitement, instability, tension, etc...
What is LINE?
reference journals:
Line workshet
Stactic/Active drawing
example/discussion
TEXTURE
Refers to how things feel or might feel if touched.
Artists use texture to illustrate or interpret surface quality of and object in art (is something rough, smooth, sharp, etc...)
ACTUAL: Real textures that can be felt
SIMULATED: Implied textures that are created by the artist
There are many characteristics of TEXTURE
your turn!
What is TEXTURE?
reference journals:
Texture actual vs. simulated
Texture Collage
SPACE
The emptiness or area between, around, below, or within objects
Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, and not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape
POSITIVE: shapes and forms in art (objects)
NEGATIVE: the empty areas between and around the shapes and forms (objects)
COMPOSITION: the placement or arrangement of visual elements (ingredients) or objects in a work of art.
Although the object itself does not change shape or size, the space and composition of the photograph will change and vary with each new point of view.
What is SPACE?
reference journals:
space collage
SHAPE
A 2-Dimensional area defined in some way.
GEOMETRIC: precise shapes define by mathmatical formulas. (square, rectanagle, triangle, circle)
ORGANIC: irregular or uneven shapes (shapes found in nature)
What is Shape?
journals:
- mondrian paper art
- geo/organic drawing
FORM
3-Dimensional objects
FORM in art
A visitor to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney on Friday strikes an unusual pose while viewing a life-like sculpture by artist Ron Mueck. The sculpture, made from a fibre-glass resin, is a self-portrait of the artist sleeping and is part of Mueck's first Australian exhibition of his "hyper-real" figures, which will be exhibited in London early next year.
— Reuters
What is Form?
journals:
research and create origami
COLOR
the result of reflected light
Color occurs when light in different wavelengths strikes our eyes. Objects have no color of their own, only the ability to reflect a certain wavelength of light back to our eyes.
Categories of Colors
What is Color?
VALUE
It is the lightness or darkness of an object, regardless of color.
What is Value?
ELEMENTS
OF DESIGN
Categories of Value
5 Characteristics of a Line
TINT: a lighter value of the original hue (made by adding white to the original hue).
SHADE: a darker value of the original hue (made by adding black to the original hue).
HIGH-KEY: is where the picture is all light values.
LOW-KEY: is where the picture is all dark values.
VALUE SCALE: is a scale that shows the gradual change in value from its lightest value, white to its darkest value black.
- What line characteristics does Shahn use in his drawing?
- What adjectives best decribe the drawing/lines?
- How might the drawing be preceived if the artist used different line characteristics?
Different styles of lines create different feelings, moods, or thoughts toward an artwork.
- Describe the style of line used in each drawing.
- Explain the feelings, moods, or thoughts these different lines make "you" think about.
"Supermarket" by Ben Shahn
There are two styles of LINE
Ansel Adams
Edward Hopper, Early Sunday Morning (1930)
Charles Sheeler, Catastrophe No. 2, 1944
Pablo Picasso Portrait de Jacqueline de Face, II, January 15, 1962
Grant Wood, American Gothic (1930)
There are two styles of TEXTURE
Primary Colors-
Red, Yellow, Blue
Secondary Colors-
Orange, Violet, Green
Secondary colors are created by mixing two primary colors.
Tertiary / Intermediate Colors-
Red-Orange, Red-Violet, Yellow-Green, Yellow-Orange, Blue-Violet, Blue-Green
Tertiary colors are created by mixing one primary and one secondary color together.
Complementary Colors-are colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. When placed next to each other they look bright and when mixed together they neutralize each other.
Red ----- Green
Blue ----- Orange
Yellow ----- Violet
Monochromatic is where one color is used but in different values and intensity.
Warm colors are on one side of the color wheel and they give the felling of warmth for example red, orange and yellow are the color of fire and feel warm.
Cool colors are on the other side of the color wheel and they give the feeling of coolness for example blue, violet, are the color of water, and green are the color of cool grass.
Different textures create different feelings, moods, or thoughts toward an artwork.
- Describe the texture of each photograph.
- Explain the feelings, moods, or thoughts these different textures make "you" the viewer ponder.
- Which artwork is implied texture, which is actual texture? Explain.
Wayne Thiebaud, Three Burgers, 2000 pastel on paper
Saturation: the intensity of a specific hue
Hue: another name for color.
descriptive adjectives
examples: rough, smooth, sharp, soft, bumpy, hard, sticky, slimy, course, silky
Empire State Building Images
http://socialentrepreneurs.enchantingchallenge.com/?p=164
http://cleantechnica.com/2009/04/06/empire-state-building-begins-huge-energy-efficiency-retrofit/
http://www.newyorkcity101.com/new-york-city-attractions/empire-state-building/
There are two types of FORM
POINT OF VIEW: angle at which you see an object or scene
GEOMETRIC: precise forms define by mathmatical formulas. (square, rectanagle, triangle, circle)
ORGANIC: irregular or uneven forms (shapes found in nature)
There are two types of SPACE
Different forms can create different feelings, moods, or thoughts in an artwork.
- Which sculpture captures mostly geometric shapes, which captures mostly organic shapes?
- Which sculpture looks more fluid, which looks more organized?
- List some adjectives to discribe the different types of shapes.
Jerry Uelsmann, The Committee, 2002
a photograph can be "composed with littte or great negative space depending on the mood or feeling the photographer wishes to create.
The use of positive space or negative space by an artist helps create different feelings, moods, or thoughts toward an artwork.
- Describe the types of space in each artwork
- Explain how the type of space used affects the mood of the artwork
The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist, Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1499–1500
Shapes can be created by line, or by color and value changes which define their edges.
There are two types of SHAPE
Organic Shapes
Different shapes can create different feelings, moods, or thoughts in an artwork.
- Which photograph captures mostly geometric shapes, which captures mostly organic shapes?
- Which photograph looks more fluid, which looks more organized?
- List some adjectives to discribe the different types of shapes.