Bagong Taon by Arturo Luz,1997

Planting Rice, Fernando Amorsolo, 1951, Oil on canvas

The Language of Art

To learn how the watch works, you might take it apart and study the pieces. While the parts are spread out before you, however, the watch cannot run. Only when the parts are in place will the familiar ticking tell you that the watch is working.Like watches, works of art are made up of parts. When an artist skillfully puts the pieces of an artwork together, it succeeds as art. You can see how the parts work together to make a unified whole. In this book you will learn about this parts and how they can be explore, manipulated and organized, as in the paintings below, to make a pleasing whole.

What is Art?

Art - the product of creative human activity in which materials are shaped or selected to convey an idea, emotion, or visually interesting form.

The word art can refer to the visual arts, including painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, decorative arts, crafts, and other visual works that combine materials or forms. We also use the word art in a more general sense to encompass other forms of creative activity, such as dance, drama, and music, or even to describe skill in almost any activity, such as “the art of bread making” or “the art of travel.” In this article art refers to the visual arts.

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Mosaic – a 2D artwork

Fernando Amorsolo, Afternoon Meal Under the Mango Tree, 1961,Oil on Canvas

The Visual Arts are a class of artforms, including painting, sculpture, photography, and others, that focus on the creation of artworks which are primarily visual in nature. Visual arts - the arts whose objects are appreciated by viewing or through the sense of sight.The visual arts are distiguished from the performing arts, language arts, culinary arts, and other such classes of artwork. The definition is not strict, and many artistic disciplines involve aspects of the visual arts as well other types

Common Types of Visual Arts We have two ways of looking at this topic when we refer to art.

1. 2D Artworks – they are flat has a dimension of height and width, . Painting or 2-dimensional art viewed only from front side.

Painting Drawing Printmaking Photography Textile Art Body Art Comics Mosaic

2. 3D Artworks - they are solid and has three dimension of height, width and depth They can be viewed on all sides – front, back, sides, up, down

Sculpture Architecture Ceramics/Pottery Landscape Design Jewelry Furniture Glass Art

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4. Texture5. Color6. Space

Ceramics and Pottery

Architecture

Furniture

Glass Art

When you view a sculpture or piece of pottery, a 3-Dimensional art, you need to view it from all sides. If one were to view it just from the front, a lot of expression and detail would be missed.

Elements of ArtThe Elements of Art are the building blocks for a work of art. Artist use the elements planned and organized ways. They are organized according to the Principles of Design.

The Elements are basic components or parts which can be isolated and defined in any visual design or work of art. They are the structure of the work, and can carry a wide variety of messages.

Every drawing, painting, and sculpture uses the 6 elements of art.

The Elements are:

1. Line 2. Shape and Form 3. Tone or Value

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B. Curve Lines Types of Curve Lines

Convex Concave Scroll Spiral

Line Line is the most basic of the elements of art. It defines the edges of shapes and forms. They don't exist naturally, but you see them in nature as a structural feature such as branches, or as surface design, such as striping on a tiger or a seashell, artists have to decide where and how to place lines as they draw. Lines often suggest movement in a drawing or painting.

I. Line – is the path of a moving point. It is a mark left by a tool - brush, pencil, stick, pen, etc. as it is drawn across a surface and is often defined as a moving dot. It has length and width, but its width is very tiny compared to its length

A. Physical Characteristics of Line

Physical Qualities - Composed of or relating to things that occupy space and can be seen, hold or feel. It is the appearance or width of any line.

1. Kinds of Lines A. Straight Lines Types of Straight Lines

Vertical Horizontal Slant or diagonal Broken Lines

2. Direction – refers to the movement or course, which the line is taking or is pointed towards. Horizontal Line Diagonal Line Vertical Lines

3. Measure – refers to the dimension of line which is length and widthThere can be an infinite number of combinations of long and short, thick and thin lines within a composition. - Thin, Short, Fat, Long

4. Character – refers to the expressive qualities of lines.The character of line shows emotional qualities and is greatly dependent on the nature of the artistic media that the artist uses.

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B. Design Qualities of Lines Design Qualities - How well an (artwork) element is ordered or put together. It is the way lines are arranged or used in an artwork.

1. Outline Outlines show the edges of the shapes and forms

2. Contour Line Contour lines not only show the edges of the shapes being drawn but they also go onto the surface of the object to help describe the 3-dimensional qualities of the form. Contour Line is a line that represents the contour of an object, both the interior contours and the outer edge.  Contour line drawings - Drawing that represents the edges and ridges of a form, without tonal variation, shading, etc

3. Hatching and Crosshatching Hatching is the placement of lines next to each other as seen in some areas of the drawing above.  Crosshatching - is a series of intersecting sets of parallel lines used to indicate shading or volume in a drawing. Crosshatching occurs when hatching lines cross another area of hatching lines.Hatching and crosshatching lines help to develop value in the drawing.

4. Gesture Lines Gesture lines indicate action and physical movement. They are done quickly in the form of a rough sketch as the model moves. Therefore they lack detail.

LINE GESTURE DRAWING is a drawing which describes interior forms, utilizing line rather than mass. Usually a quick and loosely drafted image used as a preliminary effort before the final drawing.

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