The Elements of Art

The ingredients for a great composition

What are the Elements of Art?

The Elements of Art are the tools that artists use to make art. There are 7 of

them:

LineValue

TextureShapeFormSpaceColor

LINE

• A line is a path that a point takes through space. Lines can be thick, thin, dotted or solid. They can be straight, zig-zagged, wavy, curly, etc.

SHAPE• A shape is created when a line becomes

connected. Shapes are 2 Dimensional- which means you can measure its HEIGHT and its WIDTH.

There are two basic types of shapes:

ORGANIC GEOMETRIC

FORM• A Form is a shape that has become 3-

Dimensional (3-D). A form has HEIGHT, WIDTH and DEPTH. Depth shows the thickness of the object. Forms are NOT flat like shapes are!

VALUE

• Value is the lightness or darkness of a color. Value makes objects appear 3D because it imitates natural light. When showing value in a work of art, you will need a LIGHT SOURCE.

A light source is the place where

the light is coming from, the darkest areas are always on the opposite side of the light.

COLOR• Color is the product of light. Without light you have no color. • The color wheel is divided up into primary (red, yellow,blue), secondary (orange, green, violet), and tertiary (red-orange, blue-violet, etc) colors.

TEXTURE

Texture is the way the surface of an object actually feels. In the artistic world, we refer to two types of texture:

Real & Implied

SPACE• Space is the area in, around, above, below, etc., in

a composition. It is basically divided into 3 parts: Foreground, Middle Ground and Background.

Your Assignment:

•Create a name tag that includes at least 5 Elements of Art (you must use space).

• Your name tag must be completely colored using markers, crayons & colored pencils.