Chapter 3: Principles and Elements of Arts

The visual art terms separate into the elements and principles of art. The elements of art are color,
form, line, shape, space, and texture. The principles of art are scale, proportion, unity, variety,
rhythm, mass, shape, space, balance, volume, perspective, and depth. In addition to the elements
and principles of design, art materials include paint, clay, bronze, pastels, chalk, charcoal, ink,
lightening, as some examples. This comprehensive list is for reference and explained in all the
chapters. Understanding the art methods will help define and determine how the culture created
the art and for what use.

Over the years, art methods have changed; for example, the acrylic paint used today is different
from the cave art earth-based paint used 30,000 years ago. People have evolved, discovering new
products and procedures for extracting minerals from the earth to produce art products. From the
stone age, the bronze, iron age, to the technology age, humans have always sought out new and
better inventions. However, access to materials is the most significant advantage for change in
civilizations. Almost every civilization had access to clay and was able to manufacture vessels.
However, if specific raw materials were only available in one area, the people might trade with
others who wanted that resource. For example, on the ancient trade routes, China produced and
processed the raw silk into stunning cloth, highly sought out by the Venetians in Italy to make
clothing.

1.24 Mondrian composition

The art methods are considered the building blocks for any category of art. When an artist trains
in the elements of art, they learn to overlap the elements to create visual components in their art.
Methods can be used in isolation or combined into one piece of art (1.24), a combination of line
and color. Every piece of art has to contain at least one element of art, and most art pieces have at
least two or more.

Elements of Art
Color: Color is the visual perception seen by the human eye. The modern color wheel is designed
to explain how color is arraigned and how colors interact with each other. In the center of the color
wheel, are the three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. The second circle is the secondary
colors, which are the two primary colors mixed. Red and blue mixed together form purple, red,
and yellow, form orange, and blue and yellow, create green. The outer circle is the tertiary colors,
the mixture of a primary color with an adjacent secondary color.

1.25 Color Wheel

Color contains characteristics, including hue, value, and saturation. Primary hues are also the
primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. When two primary hues are mixed, they produce secondary
hues, which are also the secondary colors: orange, violet, and green. When two colors are
combined, they create secondary hues, creating additional secondary hues such as yellow-orange,
red-violet, blue-green, blue-violet, yellow-green, and red-orange.

Value: refers to how adding black or white to color changes the shade of the original color, for
example, in (1.26). The addition of black or white to one color creates a darker or lighter color
giving artists gradations of one color for shading or highlighting in a painting.

1.26 Hue, saturation, and value

Saturation: the intensity of color, and when the color is fully saturated, the color is the purest
form or most authentic version. The primary colors are the three fully saturated colors as they are
in the purest form. As the saturation decreases, the color begins to look washed out when white or
black is added. When a color is bright, it is considered at its highest intensity.

1.27 Saturation

Form: Form gives shape to a piece of art, whether it is the constraints of a line in a painting or the
edge of the sculpture. The shape can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional restricted to height
and weight, or it can be free-flowing. The form also is the expression of all the formal elements of
art in a piece of work.
 1.28 Form

Line: A line in art is primarily a dot or series of dots. The dots form a line, which can vary in
thickness, color, and shape. A line is a two-dimensional shape unless the artist gives it volume or
mass. If an artist uses multiple lines, it develops into a drawing more recognizable than a line
creating a form resembling the outside of its shape. Lines can also be implied as in an action of the
hand pointing up, the viewer's eyes continue upwards without even a real line.

1.29 Line

Shape: The shape of the artwork can have many meanings. The shape is defined as having some
sort of outline or boundary, whether the shape is two or three dimensional. The shape can be
geometric (known shape) or organic (free form shape). Space and shape go together in most
artworks.

1.30 Shape
Space: Space is the area around the focal point of the art piece and might be positive or negative,
shallow or deep, open, or closed. Space is the area around the art form; in the case of a building, it
is the area behind, over, inside, or next to the structure. The space around a structure or other
artwork gives the object its shape. The children are spread across the picture, creating space
between each of them, the figures become unique.

1.31 Space

Texture: Texture can be rough or smooth to the touch, imitating a particular feel or sensation. The
texture is also how your eye perceives a surface, whether it is flat with little texture or displays
variations on the surface, imitating rock, wood, stone, fabric. Artists added texture to buildings,
landscapes, and portraits with excellent brushwork and layers of paint, giving the illusion of reality.

1.32 Texture

Principles of Art
Balance: The balance in a piece of art refers to the distribution of weight or the apparent weight
of the piece. Arches are built for structural design and to hold the roof in place, allowing for
passage of people below the arch and creating balance visually and structurally. It may be the
illusion of art that can create balance.
 1.33 Balance

Contrast: Contrast is defined as the difference in colors to create a piece of visual art. For instance,
black and white is a known stark contrast and brings vitality to a piece of art, or it can ruin the art
with too much contrast. Contrast can also be subtle when using monochromatic colors, giving
variety and unity the final piece of art.

1.34 Contrast

Emphasis: Emphasis can be color, unity, balance, or any other principle or element of art used to
create a focal point. Artists will use emphasis like placing a string of gold in a field of dark purple.
The color contrast between the gold and dark purple causes the gold lettering to pop out, becoming
the focal point.

1.35 Emphasis
Rhythm/Movement: Rhythm in a piece of art denotes a type of repetition used to either
demonstrate movement or expanse. For instance, in a painting of waves crashing, a viewer will
automatically see the movement as the wave finishes. The use of bold and directional brushwork
will also provide movement in a painting.

1.36 Rhythm/Movement

Proportion/Scale: Proportion is the relationship between items in a painting, for example,

between the sky and mountains. If the sky is more than two-thirds of the painting, it looks out of
proportion. The scale in art is similar to proportion, and if something is not to scale, it can look
odd. If there is a person in the picture and their hands are too large for their body, then it will look
out of scale. Artists can also use scale and proportion to exaggerate people or landscapes to their
advantage.

1.37 Proportion and Scale

Unity and variety: In art, unity conveys a sense of completeness, pleasure when viewing the art,
and cohesiveness to the art, and how the patterns work together brings unity to the picture or object.
As the opposite of unity, variety should provoke changes and awareness in the art piece. Colors
can provide unity when they are in the same color groups, and a splash of red can provide variety.
 1.38 Unity and Variety

Pattern: Pattern is the way something is organized and repeated in its shape or form and can flow
without much structure in some random repetition. Patterns might branch out similar to flowers on
a plant or form spirals and circles as a group of soap bubbles or seem irregular in the cracked, dry
mud. All works of art have some sort of pattern even though it may be hard to discern; the pattern
will form by the colors, the illustrations, the shape, or numerous other art methods.

1.39 Pattern

https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Art/A_World_Perspective_of_Art_Appreciation
http://deborahgustlin.academia.edu/
 Elements & Principles of Art
The elements and principles of art and design are the foundation of the language we use to talk
about art. The elements of art are the visual tools that the artist uses to create a composition. These
are line, shape, color, value, form, texture, and space.
The principles of art represent how the artist uses the elements of art to create an effect and to help
convey the artist's intent. The principles of art and design are balance, contrast, emphasis,
movement, pattern, rhythm, and unity/variety. The use of these principles can help determine
whether a painting is successful, and whether or not the painting is finished.
The artist decides what principles of art he or she wants to use in a painting. While an artist might
not use all the principles of design in one piece, the principles are intertwined and the use of one
will often depend on another. For example, when creating emphasis, the artist might also be using
contrast or vice versa. It is generally agreed that a successful painting is unified, while also
having some variety created by areas of contrast and emphasis; is visually balanced; and moves the
viewer's eye around the composition. Thus it is that one principle of art can influence the effect
and impact of another.

The 7 principles of art

 Balance refers to the visual weight of the elements of the composition. It is a sense that the
painting feels stable and "feels right." Imbalance causes a feeling of discomfort in the viewer.
Balance can be achieved in 3 different ways:
1. Symmetry, in which both sides of a composition have the same elements in the same position, as
in a mirror-image, or the two sides of a face.
2. Asymmetry, in which the composition is balanced due to the contrast of any of the elements of
art. For example, a large circle on one side of a composition might be balanced by a small square
on the other side
3. Radial symmetry, in which elements are equally spaced around a central point, as in the spokes
coming out of the hub of a bicycle tire.
See the article, Balance, for some visual examples of how the elements of art can be used to
achieve balance.

 Contrast is the difference between elements of art in a composition, such that each element is
made stronger in relation to the other. When placed next to each other, contrasting elements
command the viewer's attention. Areas of contrast are among the first places that a viewer's eye
is drawn. Contrast can be achieved by juxtapositions of any of the elements of
art. Negative/Positive space is an example of contrast. Complementary colors placed side by side
is an example of contrast. Notan is an example of contrast.

 Emphasis is when the artist creates an area of the composition that is visually dominant and
commands the viewer's attention. This is often achieved by contrast.

 Movement is the result of using the elements of art such that they move the viewer's eye around
and within the image. A sense of movement can be created by diagonal or curvy lines, either real
or implied, by edges, by the illusion of space, by repetition, by energetic mark-making.

 Pattern is the uniform repetition of any of the elements of art or any combination
thereof. Anything can be turned into a pattern through repetition. Some classic patterns are
spirals, grids, weaves. For examples of different pattern types see the Artlandia Glossary of
Pattern Design. A popular drawing practice is Zentangles, in which an abstract or representational
outline is divided into different areas, each of which contains a unique pattern.

 Rhythm is created by movement implied through the repetition of elements of art in a non-
uniform but organized way. It is related to rhythm in music. Unlike pattern, which demands
consistency, rhythm relies on variety.

 Unity/Variety You want your painting to feel unified such that all the elements fit together
comfortably. Too much unity creates monotony, too much variety creates chaos. You need both.
Ideally, you want areas of interest in your composition along with places for your eye to rest.

https://www.sandburgart.com/elements-principles