The Elements of Art

The Elements of Art
 Line – the path of a moving point

 A line created through connecting points
 It is described as a moving dot
 It is a marked made by brush, pencil, paint, or your finger on paper, and canvas,
and various materials
 As length, width, and direction
 Line can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal, parallel, spiral, perpendicular or radial.
Straight, wavy, curly, curve, zigzag or clouds, long, short, thick, thin, broken,
continuous, doted, crisscross, light, dark, smooth, rough, sharp or blurry.
 Lines can be seen in cave painting as well as the work of many artists. You can
see how they use line of their art works.
 It creates texture and value
 Line can be outline objects
 Read the viewer’s eye
 Show emotions
 Shape – the contour a flat object
 Shape is enclosed two dimensions, they are length, width but no depth.
 They are always flat.
 They’re boundary are defines by differences of other elements such as line, color,
texture, and value.
 Two different shapes, Geometric and Organic Shape.
 Geometric Shape can be determined mathematically, they are knowns as regular
shapes and usually specific name such circle, square, rectangle, triangle, and oval.
They don’t often appear in nature.
 Organic shapes can find like nature or water. Regular or Curvy. Specific organic
names such as: stars, moon, and hearts.
 Form – a 3D object having depth
 It is height, width, and depth
 It is three dimensional
 Forms can be created in an actual or implied way.
 Free-standing sculpture take up three-dimensional space, so they can be viewed in
many angles. Some other sculpture consists of sculpture three dimensional
elements attached in solid background.
 In paintings form is implied, artist create the illusions of depth through the use of
techniques like shading and perspective.
 Two types of Form: Geometric and Organic Form
 When Geometric shape has depth, it become geometric form. Specific name such
as: cone, cube, spear, pyramid, and cylinder. Typically, man-made.
 Organic forms don’t have specific names and naturally forms.
 Space – an object’s internal/external areas
 Is the area where artwork is place. It can be within artwork like a drawing or
painting. It contains surrounding area of artwork like a mirror or insolation.
 Artist uses several techniques to create the illusion of space within the two-
dimensional artwork: Relative Size, varying hues of value, contrast of focus and
blur, overlapping, different placement, the use of one- or two-point perspective
give a sense of three-dimensional space.
 Perspective is a volume of space or three-dimensional object on a flat surface.
When a parallel line extends from the object and meet together on horizontal line,
that is the vanishing point.
 A drawing has a one-point perspective when it contains only one vanishing point
on a horizon line.
 A two-point perspective uses two vanishing point placed on the horizontal line
 Three types of space: Positive space, negative space, and white space.
 Positive space is created in the areas that are occupied by an object.
 Negative space is created by the space left around the object.
 White space is created by the space between the object.
 Using the space of the object is called Composition. Depended how you use
space, it can be crowded, open, orderly, chaotic or playful.
 Value – an object’s brightness/darkness
 Value is how light or dark a color is. It uses to make object look three-
dimensional.
 The Value scale shows you a full range of values from white to black. Tint is
color mix with white. So Red becomes pink, blue become light blue, so on.
 Shade is the color mix with black.
 Tone is produced by mixing with color of grey.
 You can change the value through tinting, shading, and toning.
 Successful artwork uses of values to create the illusions of light.
 Many of ways to create value in artwork: Hatching is putting line close together.
Cross-hatching uses line that cross over each other. The closer the line are all
together, the darker the area appears. You can use stippling or random mark in the
same way.
 Paint can be mixed to create a full range of value. Pencil or charcoal can be
blended smooth shading transitions. We can create an illusion of a form by
understanding how light reacts on the object. Light is understood on the object
through: highlight light, midtone, core shadow, shadow, reflected light, accent,
and cast shadow.
 The Highlight is where light is hiding the object directly. It is usually represented
by the lightest value of the color.
 The midtone is middle value of the color.
 The shadows are where the light is not hitting
 The core shadow is represented by a darker value of the color
 The cast shadow is where the shadow is casted surrounding objects and surfaces
because of blocked light? It is represented by the darkest value and the image.
 The reflected light is where an object is lighter because of light reflects off of
surrounding objects.
 Color – an object’s chromatic quality
 Color is created when light strikes an object and reflects back to your eyes.
 All Colors from the three primary colors and black and white: Red, yellow, and
Blue. Primary colors can be mix together to create other colors.
 Secondary colors are combinations of the two primary colors in equal amounts.
Red and yellow make Orange. Yellow and Blue make Green. Blue and Red make
purple.
 Tertiary Colors are combinations of a primary colors and a secondary color.
When you naming a tertiary color, the primary colors are name first. Such as Red-
Orange Yellow-Green.
 All together they form a color wheel. A color wheel organized colors in the circle
and show relationships between colors. The color wheel helps you choose an
appealing color scheme.
 Three most common type of color schemes: Monochromatic Colors, Analogous
Colors, Complementary Colors.
 Monochromatic Colors using one hue and adding white, black and grey to create
tints, tones, and shade.
 Analogous Colors are next to each other on the color wheel. Like Red-Oranges
and Blue-Greens.
 Complementary are each other on the color wheel. Like Red-Green or Blue-
Orange. When you put these next to each other because they create visual contrast
and interest.
 Colors has three properties: hue, value and intensity.
 Hue is the name that we give to a color. Like Red, Blue, Green, and yellow
 Value is how dark or light the color is.
 Intensity refers to saturation of purity of a color. High intensity means really
bright, low intensity mean the colors look greyed out.
 Colors represent temperature. Reds, oranges, and yellows are called warm colors.
Warm colors may appear bright, happy and cheerful. Blue, greens, and violets are
called cool colors. Cool colors appear dark, gloomy, and mysterious. Using these
color combinations, you can present feelings or moods and messages in your
artwork.
 Texture – a tactile quality of a surface

 Type – language in visual form
Light and Shadows
 Light reveals the world around us

 Shadow obscures it
 But without these two we wouldn’t the see the shape and forms at all.
 Artist use light in a variety of ways: to tell a story, to create mood or even as the medium
itself.
 Traditional etching involves scratching lines into cold metallic plates
 Tanner depictions of light as holy symbol, to moody shadows cast by Kollwitz, and
Flavin’s sculpting of fluorescent tubes. Our perceptions depends on an artist’s use of
light.
Collector Basics: Who Are the Main Players?
1. Primary Art Market - refers to the first time an artwork is purchased. Usually, this is
fresh from the studio or in a gallery for the first time. Price is determined by factors like
material and labor costs, demand, prices of comparable artwork, as well as the reputation
of the artist.
Some of these key players are:
 Collectors - Young or old, emerging or experienced, art collectors are looking to buy art
to build their personal collections. They buy for a myriad of reasons, from aesthetic value
to financial investment.
 Interior Design Market - is vast and the need for new art is endless. Many designers
become repeat buyers when their style meshes well with an artist’s design aesthetic.
 Consumers – it represents a significant segment of buyers. Individual sales are the new
gallery representation when it comes to making or breaking an artist’s career. Social
media is making it easier and faster to connect with consumers online.
2. Secondary Market - it focuses on reselling an artist’s work—a piece that has been
purchased at least once before. Sellers will try to make a profit on the artwork, but prices
can be affected by how much of the artist’s work is available and how quickly it sells.
The more in demand and less attainable it is, the better.
Main players in this market are:
 Auction houses - accept art that they think has a good chance of selling—because they
are trying to stay in business, too. Each sold piece brings them a commission. Unless it’s
a piece by a world-famous artist whose name alone beckons collectors, these sellers will
review how well art has sold in previous auctions or galleries. Artists with little auction
experience may have their pieces sold for bargain prices, so auction houses can be sure to
gain a profit.
 Museum curators - are always on the lookout for new artwork to display. Many times,
they are approached by the gallerists and dealers they know who have exciting
possibilities. Curators must consider how critics, other curators, and museum goers will
react to the pieces based on their studied knowledge of the arts. Find these players at
community cultural events and speaking engagements for arts programs.
3. Both Markets - Some main players in the collecting world have a hand in both the
primary and secondary markets. They’ll buy directly from hot, emerging artists, but they
don’t intend to hold onto the art for very long.
These players include:
 Gallerists - can display works straight out of an artist’s studio, or they can choose
to bring in artwork from their own collections and other dealers. Experienced
gallerists will have their own aesthetic, interests, and focus, and they’ll choose art
that has a story and aesthetic that they can connect with—and sell. Then when a
piece of art is sold, the gallery takes a commission on the sale.
 Retailers - who are involved in wholesale will buy an artwork directly from the
artist (usually at half the retail value). Then, they put the piece up for sale in their
own retail shop trying to make a profit.
 Art dealers - have to be on the cusp of what is exciting, new or collectible. They
stay in tune with the changing trends and tastes of the art world. They buy from
both markets—auction houses and artists alike. They then sell the works they
acquire in their galleries or find collectors who are interested.
 Art Consultant - is to find the exact art their client is looking for while making
sure that is also within their budget. They do so by maintaining relationships in
the art world and using the discounts they receive to cover the fee for their
services.

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The Elements of Art

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The Elements of Art

 Line – the path of a moving point

 Texture – a tactile quality of a surface

 Light reveals the world around us

Collector Basics: Who Are the Main Players?

These players include:

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