Elements of DesignThe elements of Design are the building blocks used by artists to create a work of art.

Contents

1 Line 2 Space 3 Shape 4 Form 5 Value 6 Color 7 Texture

Line

Lines are marks that span a distance between two points or could be said the path of a moving point. In short It is a dot that takes a walk A line has a width, direction, and length. Lines are sometimes called "strokes", especially when referring to lines in digital artwork.

It is a mark with greater length than width.The line can be; thick or thin, straight, swirly, wavy, jagged, dotted, dashed, broken, thick, thin,  zig zag, diagonal, vertical, horizontal, curved, bold, parallel or perpendicular.The line is probably the most fundamental of all the elements of design. It is the starting place for most artistic creation, whether one is starting a fine drawing or painting or even sketching ideas for a sculpture. Most designs begin with a line. So what is the line?

A math teacher would say that line consists of only one dimension, length. In the real world of creating art though a one dimensional line would not be practical. A more usable definition might be that line is the path of a dot, point, etc. through space and that is always having more length than thickness. Lines are not all the same, especially in art.

Types of Lines

Vertical lines: are straight up and down and perpendicular to horizontal lines

Horizontal lines: are straight up and down and perpendicular to vertical lines

Diagonal lines: are lines that straight in any direction except vertical or horizontal

Zigzag lines: are a series of diagonal lines joined end to end

 

 

Curved lines: are lines that bend in any amount of degree; they may be gently wavy to tightly wound spirals

Variations of Lines

The lines come in many varieties. They may:

Be long, short or anything in between Be thick, thin Be smooth or rough Be continuous, implied, dotted, dashed Change direction Change in degree of curve (curved Lines) Be any of the above combined

Some Ways Artists use the line

To outline; a starting place for many drawings or paintings To suggest moods or emotion; lines can appear calm, nervous,

angry, etc. To lead the viewer's eye through a work of art To create lightness or darkness; lines placed close together appear

darker than those placed further from each other To create texture; roughness or smoothness

Common types of line drawings

Contour line drawing; drawings that use a fairly continuous line to represent the edges and surface detail of shape or objects being

drawn

Gestural line drawing; drawings that use quick pencil strokes (or other drawing instruments) to capture a scene. Gestural drawings

imply action and movement. Hatched cross hatched lines drawing; drawings that consist or

Space

Space; The element of art that refers to the emptiness.When an artist provides an area for a particular purpose is called Space. It is the area between and around objects. Space can also refer to the Feeling of depth. It includes the background, foreground and middle ground, that refers to the distances or area(s) around, between and within things.. Real space is three-dimensional; in visual art,

The space around objects is of-ten called negative space. Positive space refers to the part of the artwork that takes up space. or area around or  within objects

Shape

Shape is a two-dimensional (2D), flat enclosed area. It pertains to the use of areas in two-dimensional space that can be defined by edges. It is created when a line becomes connected and creates an enclosed space.In short shape is a closed line.

Shapes can be 2 types.

Geometric Shape

:Can be described using mathematical terms They are very regular or precise They are more often found in man-made things because they are easier to reproduce and

make things with Examples of geometric shapes are: squares, rectangles, triangles, circles, oval, pentagons

and so on.

(E.g., square, circle, hexagon, etc.)

Free-form or Organic Shapes

Are difficult to describe using the definition. Are irregular or uneven Are most often found in nature The example could include the shape of clouds, puddles, trees, leaves, rocks and so on.

1. (Such as the shape of a puddle, blob, leaf, boomerangs, etc.). Shapes are flat and can express length and width.

Positive and Negative Shapes

In most forms of art shapes may be considered positive or negative depending on how they are used. Positive shapes are usually those

which are the subject matter within a work of art. Negative shapes (or space) are those in the background or around the positive shapes. By viewing the images as silhouettes.It is easier to understand what the

positive shapes and the negative shapes are. See if you can identify the positive and negative shapes (space) in the silhouette images below

Form:

Form is very similar to the element of the design shape. The difference is that the term is form is used in artwork that has three dimensions instead of two as shapes. The three dimensions are

length, width and depth.The form pertains to the volume . Three-dimensional form is the basis of sculpture. However, two-dimensional artwork can achieve the illusion of form with the use of perspective and/or shading techniques.

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Geometric Forms

As with geometric shapes. Geometric forms are based on mathematical descriptions. Since they are three dimensional (3D) instead of two dimensional, they are objects such as cubes, cylinders, cones and spheres. They are often the type of form that man made objects are constructed with.

 

Free-form or Organic Forms

Organic forms are irregular and are the type of forms that most things in nature are. Cloud formations, mountains, trees and bushes are all relatively free- form. Animals and even humans

tend to be a more free-form too, as they are ever changing forms.

 

. Examples of form can include Balls, cubes, boxes , cylinders, pyramids, and spheres.

 

Value

Value refers to the use of lightness and darkness of a color in a piece of artwork. Value makes objects appear more real because it imitates natural light. When showing the value of a work of art, one 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.

Why is value important?

Value is very important to drawing and painting because value changes are what create contrast. Contrast is needed to help us see and understand a two dimensional work of art. For example, if there was no value contrast between the words on this page and the background; you would have

difficulty reading what is here.

Value contrasts can also create interest in art works. Our eyes tend to be drawn to areas of high contrast, so artists use this to show us what they think is important.

.. Value is the degree of lightness or darkness. The effect of light and shade in a picture.

Value vocabulary includes tint (adding white to make something lighter), shade

Shade – Base color plus black.

Tint – Base color plus white.

Color:

It is the element of art that is produced when light, striking an object, is reflected back to the eye.

There are three properties to color. The first is hue, which simply means the name we give to a color (red, yellow, blue, green, etc.)The second property is intensity, which refers to the vividness of the color. For example, we may describe an intense blue color as "bright, rich, and vibrant".[6] We may conversely describe a low-intensity blue color as "dull, subtle and grayed". A color's

intensity is sometimes referred to as its "colorfulness", its "saturation", its "purity" or its "strength". A color's perceived intensity is related to its perceived brightness (brighter colors are more intense). The third and final property of color is its value, meaning how light or dark it is. The terms shade and tint are in reference to value changes in colors. In painting, shades are created by adding black to a color, while tint is created by adding white to a color. Color originates from a light source, that is either view directly or as reflected light. Daylight or white light contains light waves for all colors. There is no color without light! The absence of light is complete darkness or black. The mixture of all visible light is a white light. White light is made up of all the colors in the rainbow. Water droplets in the air act like a prism do when light passes through. It organizes random color light waves in the order of their wavelength. We see that organized pattern as a rainbow. These colors are always in the same order and are called the Color Spectrum. When organized in order around a circle; the color spectrum is called a Color Wheel.

How do we see color?

In order to see color there must be light and there must also be color receptors, such as eyes. We see colored light or light reflected off objects. So why do we see some things as red and other

things as blue. The answer is that when light waves strike an object they are either absorbed or reflected by the object. The reflected light waves mixed in varying proportions are what we see as different color[in a summery Color is light reflected off of objects. Color has three main characteristics or

properties as discussed above:

Hue(The name of the color, such as red, green, blue, etc. ),

Intensity(How bright or dull it is).

Value(How light or dark it Is), White is pure light; black is the absence of light.

Primary colors are the only true colors (red, blue, and yellow). All other

Colors are mixes of primary colors.

Secondary colors are two primary colors mixed

together (green, orange,violet).

Intermediate color is made by mixing Primary and secondary color together. Some examples of tertiaryColor is yellow, green, blue, green, and blue violet.

Tone

is created by adding both White and Black which are grey. Any color that is "greyed down" is considered a Tone. Tones are somehow more pleasing to the eye. They are more complex, subtle and sophisticated.

Artists usually mix a little grey in every paint mixture to adjust the value and intensity of their pigment. Tones are the best choice for most interior decorating because they're more interesting. They work well in any Color Scheme one might plan.

G radation

is a slow transition between opposites where Light changes slowly to dark, large becomes small, one color unfolds into another. These are all examples of gradation. But really, any visual element—whether it be size, shape, direction, edges, value, hue, intensity, temperature or texture—can be gradated just as they can be contrasted.

Gradation in art is a visual technique of gradually transitioning from one color hue to another,

 

 

Color Schemes:

Monochromatic colors Monochromatic colors are all the colors (tints, tones, and shades) of a single hue. Monochromatic color schemes are derived from a single base hue and extended using its shades, tones and tints. Tints are achieved by adding white and shades and tones are achieved by adding a darker color, gray or black.

Analogous Colors: Analogous color schemes use colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. They usually match well and create serene and comfortable designs.

Analogous color schemes are often found in nature and are harmonious and pleasing to the eye.

Make sure you have enough contrast when choosing an analogous color scheme.

Choose one color to dominate, a second to support. The third color is used (along with black, white or gray) as an accent.

Complementary Colors that are opposite to each other on the color wheel are considered to be complementary colors (example: red and green).

The high contrast of complementary colors creates a vibrant look especially when used at full saturation. This color scheme must be managed well so it is not jarring.

Complementary colors are tricky to use in large doses, but work well when you want something to stand out. Complementary colors are really bad for text.

When complementary colors are mixed together, they neutralize each other to make Brown.

Triad A triadic color scheme uses colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel.

Triadic color harmonies tend to be quite vibrant, even if you use pale or unsaturated versions of your hues.

To use a triadic harmony successfully, the colors should be carefully balanced - let one color dominate and use the two others for accent.

 

Split-Complementary The split-complementary color scheme is a variation of the complementary color scheme. In addition to the base color, it uses the two colors adjacent to its complement.

This color scheme has the same strong visual contrast as the complementary color scheme, but has less tension.

The split-complimentary color scheme is often a good choice for beginners, because it is difficult to mess up.

Rectangle (tetradic)The rectangle or tetradic color scheme uses four colors arranged into two complementary pairs.

This rich color scheme offers plenty of possibilities for variation.

The tetradic color scheme works best if you let one color be dominant.

You should also pay attention to the balance between warm and cool colors in your design.

Square The square color scheme is similar to the rectangle, but with all four colors spaced evenly around the color circle.

The square color scheme works best if you let one color be dominant.

You should also pay attention to the balance between warm and cool colors in your design.

Neutral

color schemes include only colors not found on the color wheel (various tones of brown and gray)

Accented Neutral

color schemes include neutral colors as above and one or more splashes of colors found on the color wheel.

One last type of color scheme we can talk about are those found in nature. As you might guess they are color schemes based on what you see occurring in nature. You might create a natural color scheme based on the colors you find in a photograph.

Te xture

Texture, another

element of art, is used to describe either the way a three-dimensional work actually feels when touched, or the visual "feel" of a two-dimensional work. It is the surface quality that can be seen and felt. Textures can be rough or smooth, soft or hard. Textures do not always feel the way they look; for exam-ple, a drawing of a porcupine may look prickly, but if you touch the drawing, the

paper is still smooth.

There are two kinds of texture:

Real (how something actually feels, such as a sculpture) and Implied (when an artist paints or draws a texture , but it is artificial.

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PREPARED BYAshrafur RahmanBUFT