ELEMENTS OF

VISUAL ARTS

Prepared by:
Lady Angel Botardo
The Tools:
Elements of Visual Arts
 Texture
 Color
 Line
 Form
 Shape
 Perspective
 Space
 Texture
- texture is the surface quality or "feel" of an object, its smoothness, roughness,
softness, etc.

 Textures may be actual or simulated. Actual

textures can be felt with the fingers, while
simulated textures are suggested by an artist in
the painting of different areas of a picture —
often in representing metals, rocks, hair, etc.
 Thomson, Tom
The West Wind
1917
Oil on canvas
Oppenheim, Meret
Object (Swiss, 1913-1985)
http://www.moma.org/
 COLOR
It is the quality of an object with respect
to light reflected by it.
Every ray of light coming from the sun is
composed of color waves.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo,
and violet.
White, black and gray are neutral.
PROPERTIES OF COLOR
1. HUE – this is the particular identity
of a color.
2. VALUE – this denotes the lightness
and darkness of a color.
3. INTENSITY – this denotes the
brightness and dullness of a color.
1. HUES refer to the classification of
colors: primary, secondary, and
tertiary.
Primary: yellow, blue and red.
Secondary: orange, green and
violet.
Tertiary (intermediate): combining
two secondary colors.
Monochrome and Polychrome

 Monochromatic – only one color.

 Polychromatic – composition of many colors.
VALUES
refer to the lightness or darkness of
color.
Kinds of values are TINTS and
SHADES.
Tints are values above the normal.
Shades are values below the normal.
TINT LIGHT Pink sky-blue

Normal Normal Red Blue

SHADE DARK Maroon Navy blue

 · Value

Refers to the light and dark areas of

an art work.
Study of Arms and Hands,
Da Vinci 1474
INTENSITY refers to the brightness
and dullness of color.
It gives color strength.
Intensity may be described as full
intensity, two thirds intensity, two
thirds neutral and neutral.
When hue is found in the most vivid
form, it is in full intensity.
DULL BLUE

MIDDLE BLUE

BRIGHT BLUE
LINE
It is the simplest, most ancient, and
most universal means for creating
visual art.
A line is a prolongation of a point.
Line always has a direction.
According to direction, line may be
straight or curve.
Straight lines

Diagonal

Vertical

Horizontal
DIAGONAL LINES
Suggest motion: quick and sudden,
growth and reduction.
Signify confusion, disturbance,
violence, battle, war and death.
Almost every object in action
assumes a diagonal line.
VERTICAL LINES
Poised, balanced, forceful and
dynamic.
Suggest dignity, aspiration,
solemnity and height.
Ex: man standing, tall tree,
statues and monuments.
HORIZONTAL LINES
Suggest repose and serenity
(calmness and quiescence).
Also suggest a “sense” of infinity.
Mostly seen and found in
landscapes, calm bodies of water
and in the horizon.
Parthenon in Athens
CURVED LINES (Curvilinear)
 Single curve – single arch
 Double curve – it turns back
on itself like the letter “S”
 Spiral – spring-like
 Lines in the Artwork
Implied Line – line inside the object within the artwork.

Contour Line – line outside the object within the artwork.

Form
-refers to an element of art that is 3-D (height, width, and depth) and encloses
volume.

 For example, a triangle, which is 2-D, is a shape,

but a pyramid, which is three-dimensional, is a
form. Cubes, spheres, ovoids, pyramids, cones,
and cylinders are examples of various forms.
Natural forms are those we see in nature;
forms of leaves, animals, trees and
mountains.
Shape
- is an enclosed space defined and determined by other
art elements such as line, colour, value, and texture.

 In painting and drawing, shapes may take on the appearance of solid 3-

D object even though they are limited to two dimensions — length and
width. This 2-D character of shape distinguishes it from form which has
depth as well as length and width.
By joining lines together, you
can make shapes.
 Combination of Shapes:
 Adjacent shapes – shapes are right beside each other.

 Juxtaposed shapes – shapes that are overlapping or interconnected.

PERSPECTIVE
Deals with the effect of appearance
of objects.
It enables us to perceive distance and
to see the position of objects in
space.
3 kinds of perspective: linear
perspective, aerial perspective and
foreshortening.
Linear perspective -- The track appears to the
viewer as seeming to rise and meet in the
distance.
Linear perspective has to do with
the direction of lines and with the
size of objects.
SPACE

The distance around, between,

above, below, and within an object.
Exterior space is seen as it appears
in open space.
Interior space is seen by one who is
inside an enclosing space.
Positive and Negative Space.
 Piero della Francesca
Montefeltro Altarpiece
1465
Oil on panel

Violet shapes occupy positive spaces,

3-D space represented on a but a negative space between them forms
2-D surface a square.
The exterior of a building is
seen as it appears in space.
The interior is seen by one who
is inside an enclosed space.
Thank you for listening!