The 7 Formal Elements of Art Design - WOERMAN STUDENT …



Design in New Media I

Ms. Woerman

The 7 Formal Elements of Art Design

Line

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|Line is a record of vision and feeling. Line is a human invention which allows the ability to communicate what we see. |

|The path made by a moving point can be described as two basic line types: straight and curved. Line may also consist of actual marks that can be|

|drawn, or it can refer to the external edges of a shape or form. In paintings lines also occur by contrasts of light and shadow or through color|

|or shape. Whether seen or implied, line is unquestionably one of the artist's most articulate tools. It encloses or liberates space, expresses |

|feeling, conveys movement, suggests mass or volume and creates an image. It may be used evenly or in a modulated way to express a wide range of |

|qualities from fast to slow, from serene to frenetic, or rigid to relaxed. |

|Line in Graphic Design |

|Line art in computer graphics may have increased in popularity since line art uses vector graphics, which require significantly less computer |

|memory than raster graphics. |

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|Lines can be long or short, straight or curved. Lines can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. They create patterns. Lines in graphic design |

|can be solid, dashed, thick, thin, or of variable width. |

|Sometimes a designer uses a line alone to divide or unite elements on a page. Lines can denote direction of movement (as in diagonal lines and |

|arrows) or provide an anchor to hold elements on a page (such as lines at the top, bottom, or sides of a page). |

|You can use lines in conjunction with other elements of your design. One well-known example, the AT&T logo, is a pattern of thick and thin lines|

|arranged in a circular shape. |

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Design in New Media I

Ms. Woerman

Shape

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|Shape is an area that is contained within an implied line, or is seen and identified because of color or value changes. Shapes have two |

|dimensions, length and width, and can be geometric or organic. |

|Shapes are either positive or negative. The subject in a representational, or realistic, work is usually the positive shape, and the background |

|is the negative shape. In abstract or nonobjective art, positive shapes are usually central or featured elements; negative shapes surround them.|

|Abstraction often reduces things to their simplest shapes. |

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|All shapes can be described with two basic terms: geometric shapes (such as squares, triangles, or rectangles); and organic shapes (free-form or|

|curvilinear). Shapes in nature are usually organic: leaves, trees, mountains, clouds, animals, etc. |

|Like line, shape is an important element in both the rendering and seeing of art. It is used by the artist for three fundamental purposes: |

|1. To suggest or represent a physical form. |

|2. To achieve order, variety, and harmony in the composition. |

|3. To express different qualities of moods and feelings. The term shape refers to any area of a real or imagined object which is defined and |

|rendered by other elements such as line, texture, color, space or light. Shapes may be either organic, geometric, symmetrical, or |

|non-symmetrical or a combination of both symmetrical and non-symmetrical. Flat shapes may create the illusion of three dimensions on a two |

|dimensional surface and also appear on the surface of a three dimensional form. Unlike form, shape is actually two dimensional, possessing mass |

|but not volume. |

Design in New Media I

Ms. Woerman

Form

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|This term has multiple meanings and may be used in the following ways. |

|1. A verb meaning to shape or order as in " The ceramist formed the clay into a pot." |

|2. Organization or composition, as "The form of the work is elegant." |

|3. The illusionistic representation of a three dimensional form on a two dimensional surface. |

|4. A mold in which plaster or another material is poured. |

|5. A three dimensional solid or contained space. |

|For purposes here, the term form will be used to describe three dimensional solids and contained spaces. In this context, form has both |

|mass and volume, whereas, shape has only mass. To illustrate this, consider a flat piece of paper. It has two sides, each of which have |

|equal mass. When the same piece of paper is rolled into a cylinder, it possesses both mass and volume. |

Space

|Nothing exists without it. Space can be thought of as the distance or area around, between, above, below or within places. In art,|

|space can be described as either two dimensional or three dimensional. |

|The space in two dimensional artworks such as paintings, drawings, prints and photographs (flat space) is essentially limited to |

|height and width. While there is no actual depth or distance in such works, artists have created techniques to create the illusion|

|of depth or distance on these flat surfaces. The following represents some of those techniques: |

|a. |

|The most prominent of these techniques is the application of linear perspective. Through this application distant objects are |

|rendered proportionately smaller than closer ones. The determining factors of this space depends upon the horizon line and |

|vanishing points. |

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|b. |

|Another of the more prominent techniques is known as atmospheric perspective. This application renders distant objects and spaces |

|with less detail and intensity than closer objects. For example, the use of bluer colors for distant shapes can suggest space |

|between the viewer and the shapes. |

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|c. |

|The placement of objects can give the illusion of space. Distant shapes are higher and closer shapes are lower in the picture |

|plane. |

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|d. |

|Overlapping of objects on the picture plane can suggest space. |

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|Through the rendering of these techniques, the artist appears to destroy the flatness of the picture plane, transporting the |

|viewer into what appears to be a world of actual space. |

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|Three dimensional space is recognized as having height, width, depth, and is referred to as actual space. This would include |

|sculpture, furniture, architecture, ceramics and jewelry. In the setting of a three dimensional work of art the viewer can freely |

|move around and (in the case of architecture) through it. Three dimensional art may use both positive and negative space as a |

|means of revealing content and meaning. For example, in sculpture the spaces in and around the form can be described as negative |

|space. Whereas the form itself may be described as occupying a positive space. Another way to consider distinctions of positive |

|and negative space can be equated as the presence of physical material = positive; or in the absence of it = negative. The |

|consideration of how the artist uses both positive and negative space in the articulation of their expression is an important |

|factor. |

Texture

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|Texture can be both real and imagined. In two-dimensional artworks, the artist may produce a smooth or a rough surface in the |

|application of the medium. In the painting of Jan Van Eycks, The Marriage, the picture plane is mirror- smooth; nothing calls our |

|attention to the methods of paint application or the painted surface. Yet, the artist illusively creates a whole variety of |

|materials and textures through the application of delicate brush strokes and thin layers of oil paint. Conversely, in the painting|

|of Vincent Van Gogh, Wheat Field With Ravens, the paint application creates a consistently rough surface which draws attention to |

|the paint and its method of application. The high viscosity of the paint is apparent in this work and contributes significantly to|

|the aesthetic content of the painting. |

|Texture in sculpture is fundamentally important. It may vary from highly polished brass, as in the work of Constantine Brancusi's |

|Bird in Space; to that of Chinese bronzes during the Shang Dynasty. Although we can seldom touch or hold a sculpture, texture |

|often becomes an important clue to the material, its character, weight, and solidity. More importantly, the materials chosen by |

|the sculptor have a great deal to do with its aesthetic content and its expressive quality. |

Light

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|Primitive feelings about light and dark lie deep inside our subconscious. Light in our culture expresses goodness, intelligence, |

|clarity and completeness. Darkness is just the opposite, expressing mystery, ignorance, evil and emptiness. The contrast between |

|dark and light not only describes space and defines forms in art, it also conveys feelings, drama and a psychological as well as |

|an aesthetic dynamic. |

|Artists often want to create a three dimensional illusion on a two dimensional surface. One of the ways this can be done is by |

|rendering the effects of light and shadow as they fall on solid forms. A form that is lit by a single light source will be |

|brightest when it is closest to the source, while other forms will diminish in intensity as they recede from the light source. |

|Aspects of the forms, blocked from the light, will cast shadows. Perhaps nowhere is this effect more dramatic than in the work of |

|the Italian artist Caravaggio. This effect, called chiaroscuro, makes the forms and figures come alive through the dramatic |

|contrasting values of light and dark. |

|The effects of light are vitally important to our understanding and appreciation of the three dimensional art forms of sculpture |

|and architecture. Light and shadow define the forms of both sculpture and architecture. In Gaston Lachaise's sculpture, Standing |

|Woman, light striking the figure most directly creates highlights. As the contours of the forms curve away the reflected light |

|becomes dimmer making the surface change in contrast and tonal value. These strong value contrasts allow the viewer to witness the|

|drama of the figure swelling and receding back into space. Furthermore, in the work of Frank Gherys, the University of Minnesota |

|Gallery, light falling on the strong angular, geometric forms and shapes of the building heightens our sense of its structural |

|composition and its drama. |

Color

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|Color is the most emotional element of art. Our awareness of color is conditioned by our environment, our culture and our retinal |

|physiology. But color also effects us intuitively, arousing our most primitive instincts. It effects our emotions directly, |

|conditioning our moods, thoughts, actions and even our health. In previous centuries color was termed the sensual part of art |

|because it attacked emotions directly and had no boundaries or rules. Today terms like "seeing red" and "feeling blue" are part of|

|contemporary language. |

|For the artist color is most usually the light reflected from a surface; however, it may be generated from an electric source, |

|white light (sunlight) or even fire. Whatever the source, the color will have a certain hue, intensity and value. Hue is the named|

|color such as red or blue. Intensity refers to the purity of the color. Value refers to the amount of black or white mixed into |

|the pure color. The intensity of the color is proportionately reduced by the amount of black or white mixed into the color. The |

|quality or degree of the intensity can be referred to as tint or shade. |

|Sir Isaac Newton, the British scientist who discovered the color spectrum in the 17th century, turned it into the color wheel. |

|This circular color spectrum best describes our perception of and the continuous flow of colors, while it establishes opposites |

|across the diameters. The colors directly opposite of each other provide the greatest color contrast. They are called the |

|complimentary colors. In this way, the primary red is directly opposite the secondary green, which contains the primaries of red |

|yellow and blue. When placed near one another they accent each other, making the other appear more vivid. The color wheel enables |

|us to see colors that are similar; they lie next to each other. |

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