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Discover the 7 essential elements of art that are crucial for creating captivating artwork. Learn about the fundamental components like line, shape, form, space, value, color, and texture that make up the foundation of any masterpiece. Enhance your artistic skills by mastering these key elements.
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- Colour Mixing Rules
- Line
- Shape
- Value
- Colour
- Space
- Texture
- Form
- Examples: Elements of Art
- Principles of Design
- Formal Analysis
Lineis one of the most basic elements of art and it can be used to create many different effects. Lines can be straight, curved, angular or organic and they may be thick or thin. They can also denote direction, such as horizontal or diagonal. Lines can also be used to suggest movement, value, depth and texture within a piece of art. An artwork can ...
Shapesare two-dimensional forms that are defined by an outline or border. They can be geometric such as squares, circles and triangles, or organic like free-form shapes. Artists use shapes to represent a subject, for example, drawing the shape of a leaf in a landscape piece. Complex shapes draw more attention from the viewer than simple shapes and ...
Value is the lightness or darkness of a colour used in an artwork. Light and dark values create depth and perspectiveand also emphasise certain elements within a composition. Value is created by mixing black or white with a colour. Denman Ross created the value scale in 1907. In the Denman Ross value scale, 1 represents white and 9 represents black...
Colouris an important element of art which helps to bring life to an artwork. Colour is the way in which humans perceive wavelengths of light and is further categorised by hue, saturation and luminance. Primary colours such as red, blue and can be mixed to create secondary and tertiary colours. In art, these primary and secondary colours correspond...
Space is the area around, within and between shapes that creates a sense of depth within an artwork. Positive space is defined as the space in artworks occupied by subject or objects, while negative space is the area around and between the subjects. Negative spacecould include the background, or sky for instance, however this can depend on the cont...
Texture refers to the surface quality of an object or material that can be seen and felt. It can make a painting look more three-dimensional or realistic and it also helps to create a sense of depth, movement and rhythm. Sculptures have inherent texture to them, with paint, artists can add additives to paint to enhance texture. For example, by addi...
Formis a three-dimensional object that has mass and volume. It occupies space and it can be viewed from any angle. Sculptures are considered to have three dimensional form, while subjects within a painting can have the appearance of form. Forms can be organic or geometric, simple or complex and either abstract or representational. When using media ...
Vincent van Gogh used the elements of art in interesting and unique ways to create novel, symbolic and eye catching compositions. For example, he used the complementary colourscheme of purple and yellow in his famous painting ‘The Starry Night’ to create contrast and dynamism. Additionally, the use of repeated, textured brush strokes creates a sens...
The principles of design are the effects that can be created by arranging visual elements in such a way to create a successful composition. These include balance, contrast, emphasis, repetition, variety, proportion, scale, movement, pattern, rhythm and unity. Balance can be achieved through a symmetrical or an asymmetrical composition; artists use ...
Formal analysis is the process of looking at and examining the elements, principles and techniques used in an artwork. By observing an artwork and breaking it down into its component parts, one can gain deeper understanding of how the elements interact with each other to create a unique composition. Viewers can also elicit important information abo...
The Elements of Design are a way to instill a little bit of commonality between all forms of visual art. Whether that is two-dimensional art or three-dimensional art forms. These basic components of art allow us to describe a work of art in a more precise way. Think of these art elements as the visual building blocks for all visual art forms.
- Line. These marks span a distance between two points and can be straight or curved. In visual art, lines don't only need to be made with marks and outlines.
- Color. By working with hue, value, and intensity—three building blocks of colors—artists can tap into a wide range of emotions. There's nothing that changes an artwork's emotional impact more than color.
- Shape. The result of closed lines, shapes are two-dimensional, flat, and only have height and width. Geometric shapes like circles and squares are mathematical and precise, while organic shapes take cues from nature and tend to be curved and abstract.
- Form. When a shape acquires depth and becomes three-dimensional, then it takes on form. Cylinders, pyramids, and spheres are some of the more common forms, though they can also be amorphous.
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- Color. Can you imagine how drab and dreary the world would be without color? Color seems to have a direct effect on our moods – just think of how different you feel when you wake up to a bright and cheery blue sky compared to a sky filled with endless gray clouds.
- Composition. The manner in which all the various elements are organized and arranged within an artwork is referred to as “composition”. A good composition is produced by using the various principles of art to produce a sense of overall harmony.
- Value. To put it simply, the value of a color is determined by how dark or light it is. These values are best observed when rendering an artwork to grayscale.
- Form. The form of an object is determined by its shape and volume in art. Although people often think of shape and form as the same thing, despite being related, they are actually two different elements.
The elements of art are components or parts of a work of art that can be isolated and defined. They are the building blocks used to create a work of art. The list below describes each element of art. Learn about the principles of design here. Download a student handout containing a list of the elements of art and their definitions. (PDF, 168KB)
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The art methods are considered the building blocks for any category of art. When an artist trains in the elements of art, they learn to overlap the elements to create visual components in their art. Methods can be used in isolation or combined into one piece of art (1.24), a combination of line and color.
