ELEMENTS OF THE VISUAL ARTS

LINE – Line is an important element at the disposal of every artist. Through the lines of a painting or sculpture, the artist can
make us know what the work is about. He uses lines to represent figures and forms.
- Lines always have direction. They are always moving. Lines, as used in any work of art, may either be straight or curved.
-
Different Line’s Emotional State:
1. Straight Lines – are always associated with the ideas of steadiness and force,
Movement of the straight lines:
a. Horizontal – are lines of repose and serenity. They express the ideas of calmness and quiescence. Horizontal lines are
found in reclining persons, in landscapes, calm bodies of water and in the distant meeting of the earth and sky in what is
commonly called the horizon.
b. Vertical Lines – are lines poised for action. They are balanced, forceful, and dynamic. They are seen in a person
standing straight, a tall tree, statues of saints and heroes give an expression of dignity. Vertical lines tend to express
as well as arouse emotions of exaltation and inquietude and this is evident in monumental architecture. The Gothic
cathedrals express sentiments of inquietude and exaltation that possessed the soul of Northern Europe in the later
Middle Ages.
c. Diagonal Lines – suggest action and movement. They give animation to any composition in which they appear. A running
person makes a diagonal line with his body and legs. The degree of the action is shown by the angel of the diagonal.
2. Curved Lines – suggest flexibility, buoyancy, movement, joyousness, and grace.
3. Repetition – occurs when two or more lines are drawn within a corner following lines of the corner. Lines that are in opposition
to each other form a contrast.
4. Transition – when a curved line cuts across the corner from an opposition line to another. Transitional lines modify the
sharpness of vertical and horizontal lines giving a harmonizing effect.

Classification of Lines:
1. Lines which follow or repeat one another
2. Transitional lines which modify or soften the effect of others
3. lines which contrast with one another

COLOR – is a property of light. When light goes out, color goes with it.
The white light of the sun contains all the colors of the spectrum; violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. The color
of an object is determined by the rays which are reflected to the eyes of the beholder. Objects that are appear to be black
absorb practically all the color rays and reflect none, while objects that appear white reflect all the color rays equally. Gray is
due to the partial reflection of the color rays. White, gray, and black have no color quality. They are called the neutral colors.

3 Dimension/ Attributes
1. Hue – is the dimension of color that gives color its name. Blue, red, yellow are the primary hues. If these primary hues are
mixed in equal parts, the secondary hues are produced. The secondary hues are orange, green and violet. Orange is produced by
mixing red and yellow; green by mixing yellow and blue; and violet by mixing blue and red. Any hue can be made by mixing two
neighbors. Orange and red will produce red- orange, yellow and orange will produce yellow orange. They are called intermediate
colors.

WARM and COOL COLORS – red, blue, orange and yellow are conspicuous, cheerful, stimulating, vivacious, joyous, and
exciting. They are called advancing colors.

2 Kinds of Color Harmonies:

a. Related Color Harmonies – may either be monochromatic or adjacent. Monochromatic harmony is made up of
several tones of one hue, like for instance orange, tan, brown and other tones from the orange family. In adjacent or
neighboring harmony, two or three neighboring hues on the color circle are used together. For example, tones of green,
yellow and orange can produce a delightful harmony. They have something in common because there is yellow in green
and in orange.
 b. Contrasted Color Harmonies – Colors which lie directly opposite each other in the color circle are called
complementary colors. Red and green, orange and blue, violet and yellow are complimentary colors.
2. Value – refers to the lightness or darkness of the color. It is a quality which depends on the amount of light and dark in color.
An understanding of values will help the artist to use colors to the best advantage. It will offer important suggestions for the
arrangement of color values in interior decoration. The floor should be the darkest in the room, the walls should be lighter, and
the ceiling, the lightest. Tints are values above the normal and shades are values below the normal. Pink is a tint of red, maroon
is a shade of red. Sky-blue is a tint, navy blue is a shade.

3. Intensity – it refers to the brightness or darkness of color. It gives color strength. Colors differ in intensity. Intensity
differences may be described as full intensity, tow-third intensity, two-thirds neutral and neutral.

PSYCHOLOGY OF COLORS
Black – is associated with death and gloom
White – stands for purity and innocence
Blue – is the color of heaven
Red – is associated with blood; signifies anger and provokes fear
Orange – helps a person to be assertive
Green – the color of nature and promotes the feeling of well- being

The Languages of Roses:

Red – ‘I love you” Pink – “Thank you” White – “You are heavenly”
Deep Pink – “I appreciate You” Yellow Roses – stand for joy and freedom

TEXTURE –is the element that deals more directly with the sense of touch. It has to do with the characteristic of surfaces
which can be rough or smooth, fine or coarse, shiny or dull, plain or irregular. Texture is best appreciated when an object is felt
with the hands. The aesthetic value of texture lies first of all in the fact that it makes gradation of color possible. Flat colors
are never beautiful. Texture gives a surface unevenness which causes the color of the surface to be broken into gradations of
light and shade, giving it a charm of its own.

PERSPECTIVE – deals with the effect of distance upon the appearance of objects, by means of which the eye judges spatial
relationships. It enables us to perceive distance and to see the position of objects in space.

2 Kinds of Perspective
1. Linear Perspective – is the representation of an appearance of distance by means of converging lines. Linear
perspective has to do with the direction of lines and with the size of objects. A facet of linear perspective which
applied chiefly to the human figure is foreshortening. Foreshortening is the representation of objects or parts of the
body as smaller from the point of view of the observer.
2. Aerial Perspective – is the representation of relative distances of objects by gradations of tone and color.
Objects become fainter in the distance due to the effect to the atmosphere. Objects appear to be lighter in color and
the outline more vague as they recede into the distance or into the atmosphere.

SPACE –an area that is used or available for a specific purpose.

FORM – applies to the overall design of a work of art. It describes the structure or shape of an object. All the visual arts are
concerned with form.

VOLUME – refers to the amount of space occupied in three dimensions. It refers to solidity or thickness. We perceive volume in
2 ways: by contour lines or outlines or shapes of objects, and by surface lights and shadows.