An Introduction to Principles and Elements of Art

Introduction to Visual Arts

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Curriculum and lesson plan activities in education

What are the elements of art?

• Line

• Shape

• Form

• Color

The Elements of Art are the “tools” that artists use to make art. The 7 Elements are:

Value

Space

Texture

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The Six Principles: *covered in later slides

• Pattern

• Rhythm/Movement

• Balance

• Unity

• Emphasis

• Contrast

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Why Learn the Elements/Principles?

• “A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.” Michelangelo

• Creating art requires an understanding of the fundamental concepts in art.

• Analogy of cooking: requires knowledge of how different ingredients will go together.

• Elements and principles of art must be organized in a way intended to convey a mood, idea, statement, or emotion.

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Geometric shapes Have smooth even edges and are measurable. Include the square, the circle, the triangle and the rectangle.

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Shapes Geometric Shapes

▶ Circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles.

▶ 2 Dimensional – Height and Width

Three Musicians by Pablo Picasso Merry Structure by Wassily Kandinsky

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You can see how geometric shapes are used in both these paintings to create a hard edge effect. When attempting to create a sense of chaos, anger, or rigidity, geometric shapes are used. Geometric shapes may also be used to create abstract interpretations of things that would normally be depicted as organic shapes.

Turning Shapes into Forms

A triangle becomes a cone or a pyramid

A square becomes a cube

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Turning Shapes into Forms

A rectangle can become a box or a cylinder

In order to turn a circle into a sphere, you

must shade it. You can’t add another side to

it!

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Form

• A shape that is 3-Dimensional (3-D).

• Form has Height, Width and Depth.

• Depth shows thickness of the object.

• Forms are NOT flat.

Square turns into a cube Triangle turns into a pyramid

Circle/Rectangle becomes a cylinder

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Organic shapes have more complicated edges and are usually found in nature- such as leaves and flowers.

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Shapes Organic Shapes

▶ Complex shapes found in nature with a

flowing and curving appearance.

▶ Leaves, animals, and flowers.

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When attempting to create a piece that looks natural, flowing, soft, peaceful, or calming, organic shapes are generally the shapes of choice.

Value

The lightness and darkness.

Contrast is added when showing a full value range light areas, middle tones, and very dark areas.

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How Value is Created

Light source is where the light is coming from.

Dark areas are on opposite side of light source.

Shading- add black to paint or heavier pencil marks move gradually to lighter pencil marks.

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Drawing Techniques

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Examples using Techniques

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Drawing Animals from Basic Shapes

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Color Theory

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Color Wheel and Color Schemes

– Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Colors

– Complementary and Monochromatic

– Warm vs. Cool Color Palette

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Monochromatic = One Color

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Complementary Colors

o High contrast. Adds energy. o Vibrancy will stand out.

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Colors next to each other (Analagous)

• Creates peaceful effect. Match well. 21

Color Schemes to Set Tone

• The lightness or darkness of a color.

– Tint: is white added to a color

– Shade: is black added to a color.

– Tone: is black and white added to color.

• Critical in producing mood and realism.

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Which Color Schemes Are These?

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Monochromatic Color Schemes

Choose one color only and mix in black, white or grey into color to create various values.

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Use of Tone/Value Creates Mood

The Red Vineyard at Arles by Vincent Van Gogh

Dogwood by Albert Bierstadt

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Vocabulary

Composition: the way the elements of art are composed in

a work of art.

Medium: the type of material used in a work of art, such as

oil paint, watercolor, acrylic, or pastels.

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Emphasis of Elements

• Some elements are emphasized more than others.

• When looking at a work of art, which elements do you notice the most?

• What message, mood or meaning would you like to convey in your art work?

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Lines

Diagonal Horizontal Vertical Zig-Zag Curved

Lines can be thick, thin, or dotted. Lines can be straight, curvy, zig-zag, or wavy.

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Use of Lines

How are these lines used? • They help form shapes. • To convey a feeling: Curvy,

flowing lines depicts softness and femininity. Straight, angular lines depict linear, masculine feeling.

Supermarket by Ben Shahn

The Peacock Skirt by Aubrey Beardsley

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Space

• The distances or areas around, between or within components in a work of art.

• Creates an illusion of space through use of value (distance fades) or line (perspective and dimension).

• Space can be negative or positive (black or white).

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Space

• Foreground

• Middle Ground

• Background

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Space

Perspective • A technique used to represent the 3-dimensional world on a 2-

dimensional flat surface.

• A sense of depth is shown by showing objects getting progressively smaller as they get closer to the vanishing point (a point on the horizon).

One Point Perspective

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Perspective in art is a way of showing how objects become smaller in space as they get farther away. The principle is that parallel lines, such as the edges of a highway as it recedes, get closer together and eventually converge at the horizon.

Activity 1 – Draw the following

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Activity 2 – Draw the following

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Space Two Point Perspective

• Two vanishing points on the horizon.

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Space Overlap is used to add dimension and perspective to objects against the background.

Color and Value can also be used to create the illusion of space.

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Positive and Negative Space

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Rule of Thirds

Originated from Golden Ratio, math formula used by architects and artists ancient Egypt/Greece. Pleasing to the eye. Object must be looking toward the center.

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Symmetrical Balance

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Asymmetrical Balance

Dominant Sub-dominant

Subordinate (Focal Point)

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Texture

The way the surface of an object feels.

1. Tactile (physical/actual) is the real feel of the surface (cotton, metal, wood, glass, sandpaper, fur).

2. Visual (illusion) is the imagined feel of the surface. Textures may look rough, smooth, or fuzzy.

Wheat Field with a Lark Vincent van Gogh

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Unity – p.1

What is it? When objects look like they belong together. Not disconnected.

How we see Unity:

we group similar shapes

together.

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Unity – p. 2

Ways to Achieve Unity:

1. Place similar objects together (proximity)

2. Repetition

3. Continuation – carries the eye in certain directions around the picture.

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Art History Lessons

Vincent Van Gogh

• Post-Impressionist

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Van Gogh is known for his bold colors and showing brushstrokes in his paintings. He used the complementary colors blue and orange a lot in his works.

Art History Lessons

Vincent Van Gogh

• Post Impressionist

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Post Impressionist artists are artists who were influenced by impressionism but rejected its constraints and embarked on their own artistic styles which were more emotionally based than impressionist work. Were notable for rough beauty, emotional honesty, and bold color.

Art History Lessons

Edvard Munch

• Expressionism

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Norwegian painter. The Scream. Munch is best known for his intensely-colored images of human anxiety and death. His work contains a very strong sense of emotion, brought out through brilliant colors. Most of his pieces contain an expressive orange-red color that is very dominant in the image. This color is often used with a black, bringing out the other colors for more contrast and expression. Munch's paintings of people often depict an image of death or suffering, which possibly reflects his trauma of having lost several members of his family in his youth. Oil, pastel and tempera on cardboard.

Art History Lessons

Pablo Picasso

• Cubism

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Pablo Picasso – Art Master

Cubism. Large blocks of solid color. Geometric shapes.

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Mixed Media Collage

Use Patterns, Contrast and Composition to compose a work of art.

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Pointillism

Seurat known for Pointillism

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Symbolism

What objects are symbols in The Storm, by Edvard Munch?

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Art Master: Gustav Klimt – p.1 Symbolism. Art Nouveau

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Art Master: Gustav Klimt – p. 2 Tree of Life

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Painting from a Photo

Try NOT to copy every detail of the picture. Challenge yourself to simplify shapes and choose different color schemes.

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Abstract Art

From painting things exactly as they appear to simplifying or exaggerating forms.

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4 Stages of a Cow into Abstract

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Piet Mondrian – Abstract Trees

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Emphasize: color, shapes, and line. Use large brush strokes of color and

geometric shapes.

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Abstract Methodology

Art Master: Kandinsky – p. 1

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Credited with painting one of the first abstract art works. Geometric flat planes of color. Biomorphic. Inner experience just as real as outer. Abstract art is real. Floating sensation of objects on the canvas.

Art Master: Kandinsky – p. 2

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Surrealism

Rene Magritte

• Fantasy images not based in reality. • Dream-like images which bring things together

that normally don’t go.

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Art Master: Salvador Dali (Surrealism)

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Art Master: Wayne Thiebaud (Pop Art)

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Commercial, ordinary, everyday things as art.

Andy Warhol Pop Art

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Screenprinted images used repetition to create effect of assembly line, mass production.

Roy Lichtenstein

Pop Art

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Inspired by comic strips. Blended mechanical reproduction with hand drawing/painting. Focused on high impact, iconic images.

Mixed Media Painting

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Mixed Media Painting

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Process: Mistakes & Risks

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

-Scott Adams

Discover new ways of looking at something by

taking a risk in..

..how you portray it.

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Process: Risk Taking for Imaginative Results

Henri Matisse He took the risk of being misunderstood by the Majority of mainstream people. Most people at the time didn’t understand his art. He is now regarded as the founding father of modern art.

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Balancing the Composition

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Balancing the Composition

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