Arts

Quarter 1 – Module 1:
Elements of Arts and
Principles of Design
Elements
of Arts
Medium and elements together are the
materials the artist uses in creating a
work of art. The distinction between
them is easy to see but hard to define.
An element can be known only in some
medium, but as an element it is
independent of medium.

When we study elements, we consider

them with no attention to the means
by which we can come into contact
with a work of art. The elements are its
qualities or properties.
The seven elements of art
are:
1.Line
2.Shape
3.Space
4.Value
5.Color
6.Texture
7.Form

We now look with greater

care at the elements of the
visual arts as a kind of
“basic language” with which
the artist’s work.
1. LINE
• Line is our basic
means for recording and
symbolizing ideas,
observations, and
feelings;
• it is a primary means
of visual communication.
• Lines always have
direction. They are always
active.
 The following illustrates the line
variations (Preble, 1999)

a. Actual Line
b. Implied line and implied curved
line
c. Actual straight line and implied
curved line
d. Line created by an edge
e. Vertical line (attitude of alert
attention); horizontal line (attitude of
rest)
f. Diagonal lines (slow action, fast
action)
g. Sharp jagged lines
h. Dance of curving lines
i. Hard line; soft line
j. Ragged, irregular line
2. SHAPE
• Shape refers to the expanse
within the outline of a two-
dimensional area or within the
outer boundaries of a three-
dimensional object. It may be
geometric which tends to be
precise or regular (circles,
triangles, squares) or organic
which are irregular, often
curving or rounded and seem
relaxed and more informal. Most
common shapes in human-
made world are geometric while
most shapes in nature are
organic.
• Mass is a physical bulk of a
solid body material, and it has a
three-dimensional area.
Recumbent
figure

Mass in
three
dimension
Head of a young man

•Mass in two
dimension
• 3. SPACE
• Space is the indefinable, general receptacle of all
things. It is continuous, infinite, and ever present.
The visual arts are sometimes referred to spatial
arts, because most of the art forms are organized
in space.
• Architects are especially concerned with space.
With three-dimensional objects such as in
architecture and sculpture, one has to move
around to get a full experience of three-
dimensional space. With two-dimensional works,
such as drawings, prints, photographs, and
paintings, the actual space is defined by its edges-
usually the two-dimensions of height and width.
The illusion of third-dimension in two-dimensional
works is spatial depth.
• Diagrams of
clues to
Spatial Depth
in two-
dimensional
surface
(Preble, 1999)
•Overlap and
size
Vertical placement
diminishing

Overlap, vertical
placement, and
size
4. VALUE
• Value refers to the
lightness and darkness
of surfaces. It ranges
from white to various
grays to black. It can
be a property of color
or an element
independent color.
 • Chiaroscuro is the use of gradations of
light and shade, in which the forms are
revealed by the subtle shifting from light
Value scale from to dark areas. This technique was
white to black developed during the Renaissance Period
to create illusion that figures, and objects
depicted on a flat surface appear as they
do in the natural light conditions.
5. COLOR
•Color is a component of light, affects us
directly by modifying our thoughts, moods,
actions, and even our health. Color exists
only in light, but light itself seems colorless
to the human eye. The so called “color” is
the effect on our eyes of light waves of
differing wavelengths or frequencies.
Properties of a Color

Hue is wavelength of spectral

color to which we give name.
• In 1666, British scientist Sir Isaac
Newton discovered that when the
light of the sun passes through a
glass prism. It is separated into the
bands of colors that make up the
visible spectrum. The sequence of
the spectral colors is red, orange,
green, blue, indigo, and violet.
 • Primary Hues are: Red,
Yellow, and Blue

• Secondary Hues: Orange,

Green, and Violet. This
are produced by the
mixture of primary hues.

• Intermediate Hue are red-

orange, yellow-green, blue-
green, and red-violet. Each
are located between the
primary and the secondary
hues of which they are
composed.
• Colors affects our
feelings about size
and distance as well
as temperature.
Yellow-green and
red-violet are the
poles dividing the
color wheel into cool
and warm hues.
Cool colors found at
the blue-green side
of the wheel, while
the warm colors at
the red-orange side,
appear to expand
and advance.
•Objects that appear to be
black absorbs all the colors;
while objects that appear
white reflects all the colors of
the spectrum. Black and
white are not true colors and
their combination, gray is
achromatic, and they are
often referred to as neutrals.
• Value refers to the
relative lightness
and darkness from
white through
grays and black.
• Intensity also
called saturation,
refers to the
purity of a hue or
color. The pure
hue is the most
intense form of a
given color; the
hue at its highest
saturation; and
the hue in its
brightest form
6. TEXTURE
• The textile qualities of
surfaces or to the visual
representation of those
qualities is referred to as
texture, in visual arts.
Actual textures are those
we can feel by touching.
Simulated textures are
those created to look like
something other than
pain on a flat surface.
Painters simulate texture,
while sculptors and
architects make use of
actual texture.
7. FORM
• The term form can mean
several different things in
art. Form is one of the
seven elements of art and connotes
a three-dimensional object in
space. A formal analysis of a work
of art describes how the elements
and principles of artwork together
independent of their meaning and
the feelings or thoughts they may
evoke in the viewer. Finally, form is
also used to describe the physical
nature of the artwork, as in metal
sculpture, an oil painting, etc.
• When used in tandem with the
word art as in art form, it can also
mean a medium of artistic
expression recognized as fine art
or an unconventional medium
done so well, adroitly, or creatively
as to elevate it to the level of fine
art.
• Geometric forms

• These are forms that are

mathematical, precise, and can be
named, as in the basic geometric
forms: sphere, cube, pyramid, cone,
and cylinder. A circle becomes a
sphere in three dimensions, a square
becomes a cube, and a triangle
becomes a pyramid or cone.
• Geometric forms are most often
found in architecture and the built
environment, although you can also
find them in the spheres of planets
and bubbles, and in the crystalline
pattern of snowflakes, for example.
Organic forms
Organic forms are those that
are free-flowing, curvy, sinewy,
and are not symmetrical or easily
measurable or named. They most
often occur in nature, as in the
shapes of flowers, branches,
leaves, puddles, clouds, animals,
the human figure, etc., but can
also be found in the bold and
fanciful buildings of the Spanish
architect Antoni Gaudi (1852 to
1926) as well as in many
sculptures.
Lesson Principles of
2 Design
Art can be
seen in all
aspect of life.
It is
everywhere. It
can be seen in
our
surroundings.
The popular feeling
about art is that it
exists only in concert
halls, museums, and
art galleries in a world
by itself, which are
accessible only to those
who can afford to pay
for its enjoyment or to
the critics and scholars
who take time to study
the art and objects of
the art.
The word design
indicates both the
process of organizing
visual elements and the
product of that process.
It is a result of our basic
need for meaningful
order. Some designs are
so well integrated that
they have qualities
beyond a mere sum of
their parts. Such are said
to be beautiful,
interesting, absorbing, or
surprising.
Art and beauty
can be expressed
in many ways- in
natural beauty of
huge old trees or
in the created
beauty of a
painting of those
trees like in the
work of Van Gogh
“Large Plane
Trees”.
Depicted in his works are
the principles of design
that made his work
beautiful, fascinating and
expressive. There are six
principles of design: unity
and variety, balance,
emphasis and
subordination, contrast,
repetition and rhythm,
and scale and proportion
The Immigration
Series by Jacob
Lawrence

Going Home

A. UNITY
Unity refers to the appearance or condition of
oneness of an artwork. All the elements such
as line, color, texture, and others belong
together that result in having a coherent and
harmonious whole. As variety provides
diversity yet it acts as counterbalance to
extreme unity.
• The visual themes
were established
with the use of
lines, shapes, and
colors. The many
figures and the
objects in the
complex
compositions of
Lawrence formed a
unified design
through the artist’s
skillful use of
abstraction, theme,
and variation.
B. BALANCE
• Balance is the
condition in which acting
influences are held in
check by opposing forces
or what is in the left side
should appear on the
right side also in order to
achieve equilibrium.
• The near or exact
matching of left and right
sides of a three-
dimensional form or a
two-dimensional
composition is called
symmetrical balance.
Two sides which are not
the same is
asymmetrical balance.
 • The Evening
Glow Of The
Ando, Suzuki
Haranobu

• Chariot, Alberto
Giacomett
• A symmetrical balance can
be seen on the wheels of the
chariot in Giacometti’s
bronze, where the slim figure
that serves as a vertical
attached on an elevation. On
the other hand, Haranobu’s
figures on a woodblock print,
asymmetrical balance was
achieved with one figure
sitting and the other
standing. Both heads of the
figure bends to the center.
RADIAL SYMMETRY
ASYMMETRICAL
BALANCE
(Color)
ASYMMETRICAL
BALANCE
(Position)
ASYMMETRICAL
BALANCE
(Texture and
Pattern)
C. EMPHASIS
• To draw our attention
to an area or areas, the
artist uses emphasis. To
create emphasis,
position, contrast, color
intensity, and size can
all be used. Neutral
areas of lesser interest
are created by artist
through subordination
to keep us from being
distracted from the
areas of emphasis. •
Yacht Approaching the
Coast, Joseph Mallord
William Turner
 •
Luster-Painted Bowl Spain. Tin-
glazed earthenware painted in cobalt
D. CONTRAST blue and luster

• The juxtaposition of
strongly dissimilar
elements is called
contrast. Dark set against
light, large against small,
bright colors against dull
are examples of contrasts.
Visual experience becomes
monotonous without
contrast. Contrast can be
seen also in the thick and
thin areas of a single
brushstroke.
The Maestà, or
Maestà of Duccio, E. REPETITION
Duccio di • The repetition of visual elements gives a
Buoninsegna composition of unity, continuity, flow, and
emphasis. Rhythm in the visual art, is
created through the regular recurrence of
elements with related variations.
 • Patterns are nothing
more than a repetition
of multiple design
elements working
together. Wallpaper
patterns are the most
ubiquitous example of
patterns that virtually
everyone is familiar
with.
Ornaments and Chromolithography,
Owen Jones

F. PATTERN
G. MOVEMENT
• Movement refers to the way the
eye travels over a design. The
most important element should
lead to the next most important
and so on. This is done through
positioning (the eye naturally
falls on certain areas of a design
first), emphasis, and other
design elements already
mentioned.
Untitled by Jean-Michel Basquiat
Activity 1 Directions. Analyze the image at the center, then
answer the questions provided in each quadrant.
Write your answer in your test notebook.
•Starry Night
•Vincent Van
Gogh, 1889
•Oil Paint
•
Description: Analysis:
•What are the things do you see in the •What elements of arts were used by the
artwork? artists?
•Describe each of the things seen in the •Which among the principles of design
artwork. were used by the artist? Did he use unity
and variety, repetition and rhythm,
balance, contrast, scale and proportion or
emphasis and subordination?

Interpretation: Judgment:
•What do you think does Vincent Van •Is this piece of artwork worthy of
Gogh wants to imply in his artwork? appreciation? Why? Why not?
•Is the title “Starry Night” appropriate
to the image? Why?
ACTIVITY 2:
Let’s Paint It!

Materials:
• Oslo Paper/Bond
Paper Color
Pastel
• Crayons
Watercolor
• Acrylic Paint/any
paint available
 Procedure:
1.Look and observe your friends,
family and your neighbor or your
environment.
2.Describe them through a drawing
or painting, apply the principles of
design based on what you see in
their faces or actions as they
exercise the freedom of expression
in their daily lives.
3.Do this in an Oslo paper/bond
paper. You may use crayons, color
pastel, watercolor, acrylic paint or
any available resources that you
have.