Nelly O.

Calamba BPA 1-1 Art Appreciation

SEVEN ELEMENTS OF ART

1. Line - is the simplest visual expressive means. It connects a certain
distance between two points and it can be straight, curvy, angular or free.
Width, direction and length of the line often define stroke of an individual
artist. It is the crucial element in design and the necessary constituent of
marks and signs. Thick or thin, line helps form shape and form, create a
drawing and consequently it’s the most basic component of figural and
many abstract artistic styles. Some of techniques, such as printmaking, are
based on line, and some of drawing types are defined by simple lines
alone, such as croquis.
2. Shape - refers to area defined by edges – lines, which is two
dimensional. It is often related to simple geometric figures such as triangle,
square, rectangle, circle or various polygons. At the same time, it can
emulate any of the outlines found in nature, depicting silhouettes of
different animals, objects, people or plants. Shape cannot exist without
other basic elements of art. They are also in charge of creating the subject
matter, whether it is figurative or abstract art.
3. Color is the direct consequence of reflection of light and one of the most
important elements of art. Color hues come in a scale, but there are three
basic colors – blue, red and yellow. When mixed, these three colors
produce all other nuances of the spectrum. First characteristic of color is
therefore nuance or hue, defining the color, in terms we define as red,
green, yellow orange and so on. Intensity is the next trait of this pictorial
element, describing the clarity of the hue, in the range from bright, deep
and vivid to dull or pastel. Intensity often refers to saturation or its purity.
Value is the third characteristic of color, defining its lightness or darkness.
Each hue comes in a span of shades, tinted with white to become lighter or
shaded with black to turn darker.

4. Value - is the element of art responsible for the dramatic and emotional
impression of an artwork, right next to color. It refers to the lightness and
darkness of a piece, regardless of its hue. Sometimes named “tone”, value
can be achieved by adding gray to the base – pure color. It’s irreversibly
connected to light, just like color, but its purpose is to depict an illusion of
light. Therefore, surfaces in a painting must be rendered in different values,
even if the subject is all of the same nuance. Shading and tinting allow for
the limitless transitions in surface rendering, and when executed skillfully,
they evoke the natural appearance of things. If you look at the Vermeer’s
masterpiece “Woman with a balance”, you will see how her skin and close
appear lighter or darker, depending of the way the ray of light falls on them.
Corot’s landscape depicts a green scenery, but as the light falls under
various angles on the forest, grass
5. Form- is referring to the three-dimensional figure depicted in a painting.
It is defined by illusion of volume achieved by the use of shadows and
perspective. Form as such is expected to have width, height and depth,
and as in painting it is only an optical illusion, in sculpture it is the most
important constituent. Forms, just as shapes, derive from geometry and
can be cones, cubes, balls and similar, or from the natural world. Organic
forms define all figures found in nature, from people, animals and plants, to
other inorganic natural and irregular object sand leaves appear darker or
lighter.
6. Texture - describes the tactile quality of the painted area, or the illusion
of that quality. Therefore, it can be tangible or painted – simulated,
emulating what a real texture of a fabric, stone, wood, skin may look like. In
classical arts, simulated texture was used to depict fabrics, objects and
porcelain tan, but as the modernity progressed and new techniques were
emerging, real, tactile texture became more and more common. Texture
provides richness, natural characteristic to the artwork, and its absence can
be a deliberate statement as well. It’s achieved by combining other basic
elements of art.
7. Space - is the area surrounding or filling the artwork and the painted
subject. Classical art has long been devoted to creating an illusion of
space, while modern art has managed to negate it in many ways.
Modernity brought about the idea of a positive and negative space. Positive
space is the space occupied by the subject, while negative space
surrounds.