THE ELEMENTS OF ART

Chapter 6 THE ELEMENTS OF ART

Objectives • After reading this chapter, you should be able to: • List and briefly explain the artistic elements. • Discuss the categories and physical properties of color. • Devise an art activity that will help children learn about the artistic elements. • Help children make prints.

Artistic Elements • Line • Color • Shape • Mass or volume • Design or composition • Pattern • Space • Balance • Texture

Line • Is a visible mark made by an artistic tool, such as a crayon, moved across a surface, such as paper • Is a continuation of a dot • Usually suggests direction, movement, rhythm, or form • Does not exist in nature; nature produces edges—artists produce lines to represent edges • Helps the artist define shapes and contours or represent edges • Is something we use to make letters, words, numbers, symbols, and signs

Lines can be: • open or closed • patterned or irregular • straight or curved, zigzag or wiggly • controlled, or uncontrolled and spontaneous • dark or light • parallel or perpendicular, intersecting or crossed • fast or slow • plain or fancy • sharp or soft • long or short (length) • tall or short (height) • thick, fat, heavy; or thin, skinny, light (weight) • big or little (size) • horizontal, vertical, or diagonal (direction) • up or down (direction) • forward or backward (direction) • to the right or to the left (direction) • continuous; or broken, dotted

What Is Color? • Color is based on the passage of light. It is the visual sensation of light caused by stimulating the cones of the retina. As the light source changes, so does the color. With no light there is no color. • Color comes from the sun. We see colors because of the way certain objects reflect color rays to our eyes. For example, we see a banana as yellow because the banana absorbs all the color rays except yellow and reflects the yellow rays back to our eyes. • Color makes each of us respond with feeling.

Primary Colors • Red, blue, and yellow • Primary because they are used to produce the other colors

Secondary Colors • Mixing two primary colors in equal amounts results in a secondary color – red + yellow = orange – yellow + blue = green – red + blue = purple/violet

Intermediate Colors • Mixing an adjoining primary and secondary color in equal amounts results in an intermediate color. – yellow + orange = yellow-orange – red + orange = red-orange – red + violet/purple = red-violet – blue + violet/purple = blue-violet – blue + green = blue-green – yellow + green = yellow-green

Complementary Colors • Complementary colors are opposite each other on the color wheel. • They provide a dramatic visual contrast. – red and green – yellow and purple – blue and orange

Neutral Colors • Neutral refers to pigments that do not have a particular color. • Black and white are considered neutrals.

Colors Have Physical Properties • Hue • Value • Intensity • Tint • Shade • Thermal qualities

Refers to the outside form of an object Is the edge of an enclosed space Is defined by a line or outline, or by contrasting color or texture in the surrounding area Represents positive space or figure Is created by connecting lines Shape

Simple or complex Circular or angular Geometrical, including circle, square, rectangle, or triangle; or non-geometrical, including irregular, free-form, organic, or amorphic Active or quiet Clearly defined or vaguely defined Tall or short Big and large, or small and little Open or closed Solid, heavy, massive; or open, light Proportional or non-proportional Concave or convex Transparent or opaque Hard or soft Abstract or realistic Symmetrical or asymmetrical Precise or vague Characteristics of Shapes

Mass or Volume Mass or volume can be portrayed as: • Open or closed • Heavy, bulky, massive; or light, delicate • Solid, impenetrable, block like; or open, penetrable • Opaque or transparent • Geometric or organic • Static or dynamic • Angular or curved • Hard or soft • Large or little, big or small • Stationary or moving

Design and Composition • Design and composition as artistic criteria attempt to address the following questions: • Did the artist accomplish what he or she originally set out to do? Was the artist successful? • Do line, shape, color, texture, and form blend and work together as a unified whole? Is the arrangement of these artistic elements pleasing and satisfying? • Does the finished work impart a sense of overall order, coherence, equilibrium, and organization? • Did the artist strike a balance between monotony and chaos or unity and variety? • Is there a focal point, emphasis, center of interest, or dominant spot that attracts and holds attention? Does it make the viewer want to return and admire again and again?

Pattern • Refers to the treatment given to a surface • Suggests flow, rhythm, motion, or movement • Suggests regularity and repetition • Can be made with forms, shapes, lines, colors, textures, or symbols that move across a surface in a recurring sequence

Pattern Identities • Ornate and fancy, or plain • Regular or irregular • Symmetrical or asymmetrical • Sequenced or alternating

Space • Positive space is the space taken up with lines, colors, shapes, and forms. Subject matter, content, and design occupy positive space. • Negative space is the space left between or surrounding subject matter, symbols, or shapes.

Ways Artists Use Space • Positive or negative • Unoccupied, empty, sparse; or occupied, filled, dense • Vertical, horizontal, or diagonal • Symmetrical or asymmetrical • Ordered or random • Balanced or unbalanced

Symmetrical or Formal Balance The shapes are evenly or equally balanced around some point—for example, up or down, right or left, horizontally, vertically, radially, or diagonally.

Asymmetrical or Informal Balance The objects are not evenly or equally balanced from a point. The balance is unusual and intriguing.

Rough, bumpy; or smooth Hard or soft Coarse or fine Wet, sticky, or dry Raised or lowered Flat or layered Dull or shiny Pebbled Granular Rubbery Slippery, slick Spongy Furry, fuzzy Sharp Texture

THE ELEMENTS OF ART