the visual elements
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The Visual Elements
When looking at works of art, you see different colors, values, lines, textures and shapes. You see countless ways artists combine and organize these elements so
their ideas and feelings can be communicated and understood by viewers. Looking at works of art, however,
doesn’t mean you “see” them. To fully understand a painting, a sculpture, or a building, you need to
understand a visual vocabulary and recognize how it is used to produce successful works of art.
Line
• Functions of Line
-Outline and Form
Kara Walker
Line
• Functions of Line -Movement & Emphasis
George Seurat
Line
• Functions of Line -Pattern and Texture
Piet Mondrian
• Functions of Line -Shading and Modeling
Rembrandt
Types of Line
• Actual Lines
Types of Line
• Implied Lines
gestalt theory
Types of Line
• Lines formed by an edge
Types of Line
• Active Lines contrapposto
Types of Line
• Static Lines
Types of Line
• Contour lines
-Convention
Henri Matisse
Characteristics of Line
• Direction
Tintoretto
Characteristics of Line
• Direction
-line of sight
-compositional lines
Characteristics of Line
• Linear Quality
-Calligraphic lines
Shape and Mass/Form
• Shape • Form
Types of Shapes and Forms
• Geometric (Hard-edge)
Types of Shapes and Forms
• Organic (biomorphic)
Paul Klee
Light, Value, and Color
Light
• Illusion of Light
-Chiaroscuro -Tenebrism
Georges de La Tour
Value
Color
• The spectrum and Sir Isaac Newton
• Reflected white light
Color Wheel
Primary Colors
Secondary Colors
Tertiary Colors
Intensity
• Value
-Tint
-Shade
Color Harmonies
• Monochromatic
Color Harmonies
• Complementary colors
-Simultaneous contrast
Color Harmonies
• Analogous
Color is relative
It is effected by the colors around it
So that a green next to blue looks more yellow
than the same green next to yellow (which looks
more blue)
The Psychology of Color
• Warm Colors • Cool Colors
The Psychology of Color
• statistics
The Psychology of Color
• Red Light -shown to increase
heartbeats
• Blue Light
-shown to decrease heatbeats
The Psychology of Color
• Local Color • Optical Color
Surface and Space
Texture
• Actual -bronze, stone, wood, glass, etc.
• Visual -trompe l’oeil
• Pattern
Space
• 3D Space • 2D Space
Illusions of Depth
• Overlapping• Placement• Scale• Converging Lines• Color
• Foreshortening
Principles of Art
• Unity• Variety• Balance
• Emphasis• Proportion and Scale
• Rhythm and Movement
Unity
Variety
Balance
• Symmetrical
• Asymmetrical
• Radial
Emphasis
• Focal Point -Golden Section
-Rule of Thirds
Proportion and Scale
• Golden Section
5:8
• Hieratic representation
Composition with the Golden Section
Rhythm and Movement