Art, Craft and Design Notes

Visual Vocabulary :

Definition and Structure:

Line
the path of a point moving through space.

Value
the relative lightness or

darkness of areas in a design.

Colour
the rainbow of spectrum hues and combinations.

Shape
a closed two-dimensional figure described or delineated by a line or edge.

Form
shape translated into three-dimensional volume.

Texture

the surface of any object, natural or manufactured.

Space
the boundless expanse within which all things are contained.

Interaction and Order:

Proportion
the relative visual ratios within one image, or between a configuration of images.

Emphasis
The creation of visual importance through use of selective stress.

Movement
the way in which the eye moves across an image that symbolizes vitality in living organisms.

Balance
the visual equilibrium between the parts of the image.

Repetition

Recurring shapes, lines, colours, and values that create rhythmic linkage.

About the Formal Elements of Art

The formal elements of art and their design helps to describe the art you see. Many artworks use a complex arrangement of visual elements. The formal elements of art include: lines and shapes, light and color, space, and time. Each element of art can be defined and divided into subcategories or types.

Elements of art may also have qualities. For example, line can be expressive by creating powerful emotions. Analytic or classical line is precise, controlled, mathematically rigorous, and rationally organized.

Elements of Art-Line

There are several varieties of line. The edge of two- or three-dimensional shapes or forms is called an outline. A contour line is the visible border of an object in space. Another variety of line that depends upon perception is implied line in which we visually follow through the composition.

Elements of Art-Space

Space is defined by shape and mass. A shape occupies a two-dimensional area whereas mass occupies a three-dimensional volume. Our perceptual experience fundamentally depends upon our recognition of the spatial relationships between an object and what lies beside and behind it. Perspective is a system that allows the picture plane to function as a window through which a specific scene is presented to the viewer and often helps us to identify space and form.

Elements of Art-Light

Light helps us define spatial relationships and the artists strive to manipulate in their works. Our experiences can be deeply affected by the quality of light whether natural or artificial. One of the chief tools employed by artist to render the effects of light is chiaroscuro. Other techniques included hatching, an area of closely spaced parallel lines, and cross-hatching, one set of hatches crossed at an angle by a second or third set.

Elements of Art-Colour

The visible spectrum of light defines the range of colour of the elements of art. By reorganizing the visible spectrum into a circle, we have what is recognized as the conventional colour wheel. The three primary colours are those that cannot be made by any mixture of the other colours. These colours are yellow, red, and blue. Orange, green, and violet are secondary colours or mixtures of the two primaries that each lies between. The intermediate colours are mixtures of a primary and a neighbouring secondary such as yellow-orange. However, this refers to the mixing of pigments in a medium only or a subtractive process of light. From the conventional colour wheel comes colour schemes. These are used by artist to achieve a wide variety of effects. The colour schemes used in the elements of art include: analogous, complementary, and polychromatic. The artist can use these schemes for the symbolic use of colour instead of actual. Symbolic colour is often used for emotional emphasis in a composition. For example, a strong use red might mean “death,” “blood,” or “anger” in the context of a war image.

Elements of Art-Time and Motion

Time and motion might be one of the most important element of the elements of art. A photograph or image often implies that we are witness to a “frozen moment,” an instant of time taken form a larger sequence of events. Some works viewed in series are about time itself, the ways in which our sense of place changes over time. Some works are created to give us merely the illusion of movement. This gives us a sense that time is passing within the art itself. Time and motion gives the viewer a true sense of connection to a work of art. They viewer may feel as if they are there at that time within the piece of art.

Keywords and Definitions of the Elements of Art

Elements of Art:

The formal Elements of Art and definitions.

Dominant Horizontal Line - images that have strong visual lines relative to the horizon.

Dominant Vertical Line - images that have strong visual lines relative at a right angle to the horizon.

Dominant Diagonal Line - images that have strong visual lines at angles to the horizon that are not parallel or perpendicular.

Dominant Organic Shape - images that have strong visual shapes relating to, derived from, or characteristic of living things.

Dominant Geometric Shape - images that have strong visual shapes relating to the laws of mathematics, Geometry.

Prominent Figure/Ground Relationship - Images in which the shape or mass defining the figure is set logically into the space defining the environment.

Figure: The main focus of the composition (positive space) Ground: The secondary portion of the composition (negative space)Our ability to separate elements based upon contrast--that is, dark and light, black and white. In this discussion, we'll expand this definition from one of simple biological perception to one that includes abstract concepts such as subject/background and positive/negative space.

Figure Ground

Linear Perspective - A system for depicting three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface that depends on two related principles: that things perceived far away are smaller than things nearer the viewer, and that parallel lines receding into the distance converge at a vanishing point on the horizon line.

Atmospheric Perspective

a technique, often employed in landscape painting, designed to suggest three-dimensional space in the two-dimensional space of the picture plane, and in which forms and objects distant from the viewer become less distinct, often bluer or cooler in colour, and contrast among the various distant elements in greatly reduced.

Chiaroscuro - Drawing and painting, the use of light and dark to create the effect of three-dimensional modelled surfaces.

Implied Texture - The use of a medium, such as a pencil or paint, to create the visual representation of the surface of any object.

Achromatic Colour Scheme - images in which differing values of black and white are the only colours used.

Monochromatic Colour Scheme - images in which differing values of a single hue are the only colours used.

Analogous Colour Scheme - images in which differing values of pairs of colours that are adjacent to each other on the colour wheel, such as yellow and orange, are the only colours used.

Complimentary Colour Scheme - images in which differing values of pairs of colours that are directly opposite each other on the colour wheel, such as yellow and purple, are the only colours used.

Polychromatic Colour Scheme - images in which differing values of multiple colours are used.

Dominant Primary Colours - images in which differing values of yellow, red, and blue are the main colours used.

Light Used for Emotional Impact - the use of lighting in an image to create strong feelings in the viewer.

Implied Motion - the placement of figures and objects in an image that suggests action.

Large Scale - when an object which is normally, or expected to be, small is constructed at an enormous size.

Repetition - recurring shapes, lines, colours, and values that create rhythmic linkage.

Rhythm - an effect achieved when shapes, colours. Or a regular pattern of any kind is repeated over and over again.

Pattern - a repetitive motif or design.

Symmetrical Balance - when two halves of a composition correspond to one another in terms of size, shape, and placement of forms.

Asymmetrical Balance - achieved in a composition when one side it visually smaller with intense colour while the other is larger with moderate colour.

Radial Balance - a circular composition in which the elements project outward form a central core at regular intervals like the spikes of a wheel.

Strong Focal Point - when the central of visual attention, often different from the physical center of the work, is clearly distinguished.

Lack of Focal Point - When the central of visual attention is unclear.

Strong Directional Force - when the implied movement of the composition drives the viewer towards a location or place.

Representational - any work that seeks to resemble the world of natural appearance.

Abstract - the rendering of images and objects in a stylized or simplied way, so that though they remain recognizable, their formal or expressive aspects are emphasized.