Chapter 2

VISUAL ELEMENTS OF
ARTS
 ELEMENTS: THE LANGUAGE OF
THE VISUAL ARTS
 LINE AS AN ELEMENT OF ART
Lines make objects stand out against a background,
they challenge our perception, arouse emotion, and enhance or
lessen the aesthetic effects of our surroundings.
According to Paul Klee, “A line is a dot that went for a
walk.” In discussion of art elements, a line is usually described
as an extension of a dot.
Fichner, 2008 states that “Line serves as an important
building block of art and can be manipulated to stimulate an
intellectual or emotional response from the viewer.
DIFFERENT LINES

 Straight Lines are more technically described as

rectilinear lines. They are geometric, hard, and
impersonal. Straight lines differ in the directions
they take. Some straight lines may move from left
to right or vice versa. They are called horizontal
lines.
 Diagonal Lines have both positive and
negative implications.

Zigzag lines result when two straight lines meet to

form an angle. Zigzags indicate chaos, conflict as can
be perceived in pictures of war and anime characters.
CURVE
LINES
 Curve Lines are more technically curvilinear.
They are organic and natural.
Actual Lines and Implied
Lines
 ACTUAL LINES
 The artist intentionally shows the lines in an artwork, a
painting for instance, to give the viewer an interesting
aspect of the composition.

 IMPLIED LINES
 Are used by the artist to make the viewer feel their
involvement in interpreting the composition by seeing and
connecting lines where none actually exists. These lines
seem to fade, stop and or disappear and then reappear as
a continuation or extension of an edge (Ocvirk, 2002).
Line Quality and
Character
 Line qualities can described in terms of emotional
states that they seem to arouse. In a work of art,
however, such as states of feelings lack clarity. According
to Ocvirk, 2002, “The viewer of the art must be
receptive and perceptive to those feelings that the
artist through the different lines is trying to
convey.”

 Line Characteristics.short or long, thick or thin,

angular or curvy, scratchy or smooth, light or dark.
HATCHING CROSS-HATCHING

2D
ELEMENTS OF
COLOR
 Colors enhance the beauty in all things.
 Colors appeal to our emotions and interact with the physiology of
the visual system to amaze usinto the matter in which it is
perceived.
 Color are only seen when light surrounds an object.
 The absence of light equals no perceived color.
 Colors are the property of light.
 Sir Isaac Newton discovered/found that by passing a beam of
light through a triangular piece of glass called a prism, white light
breaks into the visible color spectrum. The colors separate into
the various wavelengths from the longest which is red to the
shortest, violet.
 Sir Isaac Newton realized that the colors of the rainbow come
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF
COLOR
 1. HUE. This pertains to the name for which the color is known. The
hue is determined by the wavelength of light physically given by the
color.
Ex: red, orange, yellow, green, violet, indigo, and blue.

 VALUE. This characteristics refers to the lightness or darkness of a

color. The value of colors pertain to the absence of white or black.
white + hue= tint Black + hue = shade

 INTENSITY OR SATURATION. This characteristics refers to how pure

the color is. Colors high in saturation (high intensity)- bright
Colors low in saturation (low intensity)- dull
ADDITIVE AND SUBRACTIVE
COLORS
 Colors of light are additive in the sense that when you combine
the colors the result will be white.
 Colors if pigments (paints) are subtractive. Combining these
colors result in black for each color in this mixture cancel out each
other’s brightness.
THE COLOR
WHEELSir Isaac newton was the first to conceptualize the color wheel to
discover relationships between and among color. Now the color wheel
can be described as a circle divided equally into twelve parts
representing the twelve colors and how they related to each other.
Other versions of the color wheel can now be seen but basically no
matter how the colors are presented, the arrangement will always be
the same.
TYPES OF
COLORS
Primary Colors. The color wheel is primary based on pigments
making the mixture subtractive. In the color wheel can be seen the
three primary colors which are red, yellow and blue.

 Secondary Colors. These colors result from the combination of two

primary colors in equal amount.

 Intermediate Colors. These colors result from the combination

of primary and a secondary colors
 Tertiary Colors. In the book entitled Art Fundamentals by Ocvirk
(2002), it was stated the tertiary colors are created by combining any
two secondary colors or by neutralizing one color by adding its
complement or opposite color in the color wheel. Ex. Browns and
olive green

 Neutrals. Black, white or gray

COLOR
RELATIONSHIP
 Complements and Split-Complements. It can be said that a color can
be as bright as its complement. Complementary colors are positioned
directly opposite each other in the color wheel. Examples: Red and
green, yellow and violet, orange and blue
 Split-Complements are a relationship between a color and the two
colors on either side of its complement.
 Triads and Tetrads. Triads composed of three colors that are equally
distant from in the color wheel forming an equilateral triangle. Tetrads
composed of four colors that are equally spaced on the color wheel, it is
also form a rectangle on the wheel.
 ANALOGOUS AND MONOCHROMATIC COLORS. Hues that are
found next to each other color wheel are analogous.
Monochromatic color scheme uses only one hue but with different
degrees of value.
 Warm Colors and Cool Colors. Red, orange and yellow are warm
colors. Any color containing blue such as green, violet and blue-
green are associated with air, sky, earth and water are considered
to be cool colors.

 Simultaneous Contrast. An important part of understanding color

relationships is to realize that the physical characteristics of one
color is affected by the presence of other colors around it. For
example gray would appear lighter when surrounded by black and
darker when surrounded by white.
COLORS AND
EMOTION
 The physiology of the brain reacts to the presence of colors
transmitted to it by the visual system.
 Warm, bright colors make us happy and excite us while cool colors
relax us and encourage us to take it slow.
 Reds, pinks and yellows stimulate us, making us feel warm and
passionate;
 Greens and blues suggest calmness and peace.
THE ELEMENT OF
SHAPE
 Shapes result from the coming together of lines enclosing an area
and separating it from its surroundings (Fichner,2013).
 In three-dimensional art like architecture and sculpture, the shape
can be discerned by viewing the artwork against its background.

KINDS OF SHAPE
• Geometric Shapes- are regular and preside and presents an
industrial feel to the viewer.
• Organic shapes are said to have a natural appearance and
are usually curvilinear and irregular.
• Biomorphic Shapes manifest some qualities of biological
organisms.
• Amorphous shapes exist without any basis from either
nature or geometry.
SHAPE GEOMETRIC
S SHAPES

AMORPHOUS
BIOMORPHIC SHAPE
SHAPE
SHAPES

 Two- Dimensional and Three- Dimensional Shapes

 Two-Dimensional shapes are flat. A circle, square or
triangle has two dimensions.
 Three-Dimensional shapes on a flat surface, however,
give the illusion of mass and solidity. A sphere, cube
and a pyramid gives the viewer three-dimensional
shapes on a picture plane.
 Shape and Content of the Composition
 Shapes like the other elements of art, suggest certain
meanings.
 SQUARES- stability, symmetry, independence and
monotony
 CIRCLES- confinement and self-reliance
 OVALS- creativity
 STARS- reaching out
GROUP 2

JAVIER
JOTOJOT
LAPU-LAPU
LEGASPI
LIBAO
LUMIGID