Arts Elementsand

Visual Principles

Arts Elements

• Are the visual, tactile, spatial (and sometimes the sonic) sensory qualities used when creating or talking about 2D, 3D and time based artworks.

• Arts elements are traditionally associated with particular arts disciplines and art forms. In visual arts, these elements include…

LINE

• Line is a mark on a surface that describes a shape or outline. It can create texture and can be thick and thin.

• ‘Cataract 3’ by Bridget Riley, 1967. PVA on canvas.

Shape

• Shape is a 2D line with no form or thickness.

• Shapes are flat and either ‘geometric’ (eg. a square) or ‘organic’ (eg. A swirl or ripple)

Space

• . • There are 2 types of space, positive and negative.

• Positive space is the space taken up an object in the area.

• Negative space is the space around the object, or space that is not taken up by an object.

Depth

• Depth is created by a visual perspective used to give the illusion of depth or distance on a flat surface. Sometimes depth is included as part of space.

– Linear Perspective is a way of showing depth where distant objects are made proportionally smaller than nearer ones.

– Horizon Lines and Vanishing Points determine the scale of objects within the artwork.

These images show two types of perspective linear perspective. Horizon lines and Vanishing points are marked with a H and V respectively

Texture

• There are 2 types of texture used to talk about the surface qualities of artworks, used to describe the roughness or smoothness in objects and surfaces

Detail of ‘Sunflowers’ by Van Gogh, (1888, oil on canvas) showing texture of impasto technique.

Optical Texture

• Optical TextureOptical Texture is the illusion of texture, created on a flat surface.

Graphite pencil drawings of fur by unidentified artist.

Graphite pencil and charcoal drawing of glass by Koo Hyunhee, a year 12 student from Westfield High (America)

Tactile Texture

Tactile texture is the roughness or smoothness of a surface.

In this image the ridges and peaks of thickly applied paint in works using a technique called impasto.

Detail of ‘Sunflowers’ by Van Gogh, (1888, oil on canvas) showing texture of impasto technique.

Colour

• Refers to specific hues (pure colours without tint or shade, which are created by adding white or black pigments respectively), and has three properties

CHROMA

INTENSITY

VALUE

ChromaChroma is about how vivid colours are perceived to be.

Essentially, it’s a measure of a colour’s purity compared to grey.

Chroma Wheel:

Intensity

The brightness or dullness of a colour is referred to as the colour’s intensity.

A pure colour is high intensity, whereas a colour that has been mixed with it’s complementary colour is called a low intensity colour.

Value

Value (sometimes called ‘tone’) is concerned with the LIGHTNESS and DARKNESS of a colour and is achieved by adding white or black to a colour to create tints (by adding white) and shades (by adding black).

Form

• Form is a 3D object having volume and thickness.

• The illusion of form (volume and thickness) can be implied with light and shade, but true 3D form can be viewed from multiple angles, as an object in physical space.

Movement

• Refers to a visual sense of motion used to establish the flow of the composition from one area to another.

• In this sculpture the artist makes effective use of movement. The eye is drawn through the form by the angles of the arm, legs and torso, and the direction of the subjects eye line.

Composition• The arrangement/placement of arts

elements according to visual principles. Examples of formal compositional devices are the ‘rule of thirds’, and the ‘golden section’.

The image at the top depicts a photograph composed using the traditional ‘golden mean’ compositional framework. In this type of composition, places where the guidelines intersect are key points for placing important elements of your image.

The image at the bottom depicts a photograph composed using the ‘rule of thirds’ compositional framework.

VISUAL PRINCIPLES

Are the ways that art elements are used, arranged, or organised to create artworks.

Arts principles are also referred to as ‘compositional’ or ‘structural’ devices or conventions. They include:

Balance• Refers to the way in which

visual weight is distributed throughout the art piece. A composition can be symmetrically or asymmetrically balanced, which means that both sides of an image are visually equal, or unequal, respectively.

The top image shows the difference between symmetrical and asymmetrical balance, while the image at the bottom shows ‘approximate symmetry’

Harmony

• When visual elements within an artwork interact well together in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

This principle is closely related to unity, and often concerned with combining similar art elements to create a pleasing appearance

Distortion

• The deliberate alteration or departure from a normal depiction of shapes, imagery and proportion.

This image shows a bookcase photographed with a fish eye lens.

Abstraction

• Refers to the deliberate departure from natural appearances.

• Images are simplified, modified or changed to varying degrees to emphasise certain qualities or content, or to convey meaning.

• This term also refers to art that is non-representational.

The ‘Riesenrad’ ferris wheel at the Prater, Vienna

Abstracted image of ferris wheel- details removed to emphasise line and shape.

Contrast

• The difference between two things.

• High contrast would be the difference between black and white or bright yellow and dark purple

• Low contrast would be the difference between middle value colours and greys.

• Contrast can also apply to size, shape, colour and texture etc.

Hierarchy

• Refers to the way objects and figures are placed to show relative importance of those objects or figures.

• In this image, the cyclist is at the top of the visual hierarchy, then the shadows of the other cyclists and then the landscape which serves as the backdrop.

Scale

• Scale is the size or apparent size of an object in relation to other objects and it’s environment

Proportion

• Refers to the way that elements and objects work together in an artwork. Using proportion, artists can make sure that the different parts of an artwork make sense within their composition.

• The Vitruvian Man • Leonardo DaVinci, • C.1487. Pen and ink with wash over metalpoint

Cropping

• When a selected image is improved by the removal of the outer parts to improve framing, accentuate the subject, mood or drama of a work, or to alter the aspect ratio.

‘Cropped portrait’

Sebastian Pettit

Photograph2008 http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ijPUljhTM7A/

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Emphasis

• Emphasis is produced by visually stressing the importance of one element over another in order to create a sense of hierarchy to control where the viewer looks first. Areas of emphasis may be planned using compositional devices such as the ‘rule of thirds’, or created using colour and so on.

• Henri de Toulouse Lautrec - "At the Moulin Rouge", 1892/1895 Oil on Canvas

Variation• A device used to make

key areas stand out, achieved by using differing lines, shapes, and colours within the artwork.

• This principle can be used to create movement and direct the eye of the viewer through the artwork. In this image, the variations displayed are primarily colour, shape and texture.

Variation (cont.)

• For example, if a warm orange dot is placed on an artwork that is mostly cool colours, the eye of the viewer is drawn to the orange spot.

Creating a Visual Loop

• By creating a Visual Loop, you are able to control where the viewer looks in your image, and keep them looking at your image for longer.

• A visual loop is made by using movement and composition.

• How has the artist led our eyes around the image?

‘Reptiles’, M. C. Escher, 1943, Lithograph.

What Arts Elements and Principles Can You Identify?

Cave paintings of Hyenas, Chauvet caves., estimated to be around 32000 year old.

Ansel Adams , ‘The Tetons and the Snake River’ (1942), photograph.

Caravaggio, ‘David with the head of goliath’ c. 1610, Oil on canvas

Banksy, ‘graffiti_removal’ May 2008 spray paint (removed in August 2008)

''Cataract 3'', Bridget Riley, 1967. PVA on canvas

‘Drawing Hands’, M C Escher, 1948, Lithograph

'Object', Meret Oppenheim, 1936, mass produced tea set and fur.

Francisco de Goya, ‘The Sleep.of Reason Produces Monsters’, c. 1797 , Etching, aquatint, drypoint and burin.

‘The Kiss’, Gustav Klimt, 1907-1908, oil on canvas

Hokusai, ‘Ejiri in the Suruga province’ 1832, woodblock print

‘Guernica’, Pablo Picasso. 1937. Oil on canvas

Horses heads, cave painting, Chauvet caves, estimated c.30,000 bc

''Movement in Squares'', Bridget Riley, 1961. Tempera on hardboard

Ah Xian, ‘Human human - Carved lacquer bust 3 - Flower and bird’, 2008

Hokusai, ‘Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa’ 1832, woodblock print.

‘Relativity’, M. C. Escher, 1953, Lithograph.

‘The Wizzard’s Hat’ (illustration for the Australian Discworld

Convention), Sarah Kinder, 2004, acrylic and oil on canvas

Hands cave paintings in SantaCruz, Argentina, estimated at 13,000 years old.

‘The Arnolfini portrait’, Jan Van Eyck, 1434, Oil on Panel