The Elements and Principles of Art The elements and principles can be applied to discuss any of the visual arts including: painting, photography, set design, graphic design, sculpture, and architecture.
Elements The elements are the building blocks of art and what the artist uses to create the artwork. Elements are also what the critic uses to talk about the work. Colour Line Shape Form Space Texture Value/Tone
COLOUR If an artist chooses to use all shades of one color from dark to light, the work is MONOCHROMATIC. If the artist chooses a variety of hues, the work is POLYCHROMATIC.
Primary Colours Primary colors are the only colours that cannot be made by mixing two other colours together. Blue + Yellow =? Yellow + Red =? Red + Blue =?
Artist: Piet Mondrian
Secondary Colors Mixing primary colours will create secondary colours Green Yellow Blue Orange Purple Red
Tertiary Colors Mixing secondary colors will create tertiary colours Lime Green Yellow-Orange Blue-Green Red-Orange Indigo Violet
What are complementary colors? Complimentary colors are directly across from each other on the color wheel. Blue and Orange Red and Green Yellow and Purple
Complementary colours are opposite one another on the colour wheel, they create contrast. They have the most visual impact if there is a lot of one colour and a little of the other colour Complementary Colours
What are analogous colors? Adjacent hues, colors that are right beside each other on the wheel.
Cool and Warm Colours Cool Colors Blues Greens Purples Warm Colors Reds Oranges Yellows
Warm and Cool Colours To the eye -Warm colours come forward -Cool colours recede (go backwards)
Limited Colour Palette is when a small number of colours are used Creates unity in the work
Where in these works by Van Gogh can you see the following use of colour? - Warm and Cool Colours - Complementary Colours - Limited Colour Palette
LINE a mark on a surface Horizontal Vertical Curvilinear Types of Lines
A diagonal line can imply movement.
A vertical line can imply strength and growth
A horizontal line can imply stability and rest A curved line can imply grace
SHAPE 2-dimensional line with no form or thickness -Geometric shapes are man-made or machine made shapes, mathematically deduced, with clear sharp edges. -Organic shapes are natural, free flowing shapes
Speaking of shapes One can refer to the shapes in relationship to each other by using terms like: adjacent and juxtaposed. A d j a c e n t shapes are right beside each other. Shapes that are juxtaposed are overlapping or interconnected.
-What shapes can you see in this art work? -Where can you see adjacent shapes? -Where can you see shapes that have been juxtaposed?
FORM A 3-dimensional object. It can be both the illusion of a 3-D effect that can be implied with the use of light and shading techniques or it can be real 3-D form with a sculpture or textured painting.
SPACE Making art is a process of organizing and arranging space Space refers to the area between, around, above, below, or within objects
Open and Closed Space In a painting, if subject matter is both in the frame and leaving the frame, the space is open. If the viewer s eyes are kept in the center of the canvas and all the subject matter and elements are within the edges of the frame, the artist has composed a closed space.
Positive and Negative Space -The positive space is the material - The negative space is the absence of material.
What is the POSITIVE space? What is the NEGATIVE space?
Illusion of Space As painting, printmaking and photography is created on a flat surface. Any depth (3 Dimensionality) in space is usually an illusion (it does not really exist).
To create the illusion of space artists use Perspectivecreated by using lines that recede (go back) to a vanishing point
Foreground, Middleground and Background
TASK: 1) What do you see in the -Foreground -Middleground -Background 2) Using s by creating a fore, middle and background and / or using perspective space creates d t _ in a composition
TEXTURE Texture refers to what the surface feels like as well as the representation of texture.
The smooth texture of skin in this close up of a marble sculpture by Bernini is remarkable.
Texture can be both REAL and IMPLIED REAL TEXTURE IMPLIED TEXTURE
VALUE/TONE Value is the lightness and darkness in a work of art present in colours or black and whites.
Tint and Shade Tint means to add white to make the color lighter. tint shade Shade means to add black to make the color darker.
Principles Movement Emphasis Principles are the effects that can be created by how the elements are placed in an artwork. Unity Variety Balance Contrast Proportion Pattern
MOVEMENT Is caused by using elements to give the feeling of action and to guide the viewer's eyes throughout the artwork.
EMPHASIS -The emphasis of an image is the place where your eyes are drawn to first. -Usually this focal point will contrast with nearby elements so that it stands out.
Where is the emphasis in this painting? Why does this area stand out?
Does this painting have a focal point?
RULE OF THIRDS If the focal point is on the rule of thirds it: works with the eyes natural tendency to look at the intersections of the thirds allows you to create balance in your composition as there is room to have a another point of emphasis somewhere else in your composition. keeps the viewer s eye on the composition longer as the eye is being led around the image to the next focal point.
UNITY -Unity brings a composition together by using elements in a similar way How has unity been created in the following works?
VARIETY Creates interest by using elements in a range of ways.
BALANCE When elements are arranged so that no one part of a work overpowers, or seems heavier than any other part. Unbalanced composition
Symmetrical Balance Is where the image can be folded in half and both sides would match up
Asymmetrical balance A range of differing elements are placed in the frame unevenly but equal weight or interest is present on both sides of the composition.
CONTRAST Occurs when there is a large difference in the way an element is used. -High contrast refers to a great difference between elements. -Low contrast refers to a slight difference between elements. Very dark tone Very light tone A small range of tones High contrast image Low contrast image
Chiaroscuro (, Italian: "light-dark") in art is "an Italian term which literally means 'light-dark'. In paintings and photography the description refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling of the subjects depicted". 1 Further specialized uses include chiaroscuro woodcut, for coloured woodcuts printed with different blocks, each using a different coloured ink; and chiaroscuro drawing for drawings on coloured paper with drawing in a dark medium and white highlighting. Similar effects in the lighting of cinema and photography are also chiaroscuro.
PROPORTION Is the relationship created by the different sizes of elements in a composition. Proportions are often normal and expected. They can also be exaggerated and distorted.
PATTERN There is visual effect in pattern and emphasis created in the variation on that pattern.
Where does your eye go first?
Andreas Gursky b1955 Bahrain I 2005 Colour photograph on paper face-mounted on Perspex 2800 x 1975 mm
This image depicts the Formula 1 racetrack in Bahrain as seen from a helicopter. Andreas Gursky works with a medium-format camera, taking pictures which he then scans into a computer where he can manipulate them. His aim in using digital technology is not to create fictions, but rather to heighten the image of something that exists in the world. Unlike some of Gursky s more elaborately composed images, this photograph is a minimally manipulated shot of the racetrack spiralling through the desert. The human figure, represented by the race cars visible on the track, is dwarfed by the man-made landscape. The image draws attention to the speed of process and the might of technology. Bahrain I also represents a tendency in Gursky s work towards abstraction; the sinuous lines of the racetrack in this image evoke gestural abstract painting.