The Elements are the building blocks used to create a work of art.

Good or bad - all graphic design work or paintings will contain most of if not all, the seven elements of design.

The Principles of design can be thought of as what we do to the elements of design. How we apply the Principles of design determines how successful we are in creating a work of art.

Visual elements of composition: Point Line Plane or shape Value or tone Texture Volume or form Colour

Point A point marks position in space. It has no mass at all. Graphically a point takes form as a dot, a visible mark. A point can be an insignificant fleck of a matter or concentrated locus of power.

Point

LINE
A line is the track made by the moving point W. Kandinsky

A line is an infinite series of points. It is the connection between two points, or it is the path of a moving point. A line can be a positive mark or negative gap. Lines appear at the edges of objects and where two planes meet. Lines are drawn with a pen, pencil, brush, mouse or digital code.

LINE

LINE

LINE

LINE

LINE

LINE

LINE

Example of expressive possibilities of pure line.

Calligraphy is the art of fine writing, so highly developed in Arabic cultures, Japan and China.

LINE

LINE

Edges may be read as lines in 3D as well as 2D works

Christo the 24-mile (39 km)-long artwork Running Fence, Sonoma, California

LINE

The reclining rocking chair suggests, by its long, flowing lines, the restful feeling that one expects to experience when lying in the chair. As the lines flow thought the lengthened curves, it is difficult to follow the single line, rather, we are visually drawn into the abstract expressive quality of the lines.

LINE typographic illustration

Plane or Shape
A plane is a flat surface extending in height and width. A plane is the path of moving line. A line closes to become a shape, a bounded plane. Shapes are planes with edges. Ceilings, walls, floors, and windows are physical planes. A plane can be solid or perforated, textured or smooth.

Plane or Shape

Plane or Shape

Plane or Shape typographic illustration

SHAPE (2D areas, flat)

A shape is a self contained defined area of geometric or organic form. A positive shape in a painting automatically creates a negative shape.

SHAPE (2D areas, flat)

A positive shape in a painting automatically creates a negative shape.

SHAPE (2D areas, flat)

A positive shape in a painting automatically creates a negative shape.

VALUE or TONE
the relative lightness or darkness of an area. Values are most easily perceived when colour hues are subtracted. Black and white photographs of coloured artworks translate hues into a range of grays from very dark to very light.

VALUE or TONE

Black and white photographs of coloured artworks translate hues into a range of grays from very dark to very light.

Caravaggio The Fortune Teller

VALUE or TONE typographic illustration

TEXTURE
Texture is the surface quality of a shape - rough, smooth, soft, hard, glossy etc. Texture can be physical (tactile) or visual. From experience in the world, we are quite familiar with great range of textural qualities: coarse, slimy, bristly, smooth , furry, matted, scratchy, wrinkled, and so on.

TEXTURE

TEXTURE typographic illustration

TEXTURE
Texture can be physical (tactile) or visual.

Rendering a drawing plane

TEXTURE
Texture can be physical (tactile) or visual.

Rendering a drawing plane

TEXTURE
Certain artists have gone to great lengths to capture the visual effects of textures. One of the masters in this respect is Dominique Ingres. In his Portrait of the Princesse de Broglie, the facial skin and hair are rather stylized and simplified, in dramatic contrast to the extreme attention to detail in rendering textures of the fabrics. The lush satiny dress fabric is so realistically painted that we can guess exactly how it feels.

VOLUME or FORM

The volume of any solid, liquid, plasma, vacuum or theoretical object is how much three-dimensional space it occupies, often quantified numerically. One-dimensional figures (such as lines) and twodimensional shapes (such as squares) are assigned zero volume in the threedimensional space.

VOLUME or FORM

VOLUME or FORM
Although term VOLUME and FORM apply to 3D objects, sometimes two-dimensional works may create on flat surface the illusion of forms. In many three-dimensional works, distinguish both outer, or PRIMARY CONTOURS and SECONDARY CONTOURS developed within the primary contours. Often the primary contour is the outline that allows us to identify the subject of the work, if it is representational.

In the ancient Fish from Vettersfelde, found in Germany, primary contour is the shape of a fish. The secondary contours are the raised and engraved areas across the body.

COLOUR

BALANCE

Balance is a fundamental human condition: we require physical balance to stand upright and walk; we seek balance among the many facets of our personal and professional lives. In design, balance acts as a catalyst for form it anchors and activates elements in space.

BALANCE

Balance implies that the visual elements within the frame have a sense of weight. Large objects generally weigh more than small objects and dark objects weigh more than light colored objects. The position of the elements is also critical. We unconsciously assume the center of a picture corresponds to a fulcrum. A heavy weight on one side can be balanced by a lighter weight on the other side if the lighter weight is located at a greater distance from the fulcrum.

BALANCE
Balance in design is similar to balance in physics

A large shape close to the center can be balanced by a small shape close to the edge. A large light toned shape will be balanced by a small dark toned shape (the darker the shape the heavier it appears to be)

BALANCE
There are three different types of balance:
- symmetrical - asymmetrical - radial

BALANCE typographic illustration

REPETITION or PATTERN

Repeating visual elements such as line, color, shape, texture, value or image tends to unify the total effect of a work of art as well as create rhythm. Repetition can take the form of an exact duplication (pattern), a near duplication, or duplication with variety.

REPETITION or PATTERN

REPETITION or PATTERN

Repetition without variation appears dull and monotonous

Repetition with variation appears stimulating and visually attractive

REPETITION or PATTERN

GRADATION
Gradation of size and direction produce linear perspective. Gradation of colour from warm to cool and tone from dark to light produce aerial perspective. Gradation can add interest and movement to a shape. A gradation from dark to light will cause the eye to move along a shape.

GRADATION

CONTRAST
Contrast is the combination of opposing elements e.g. opposite colours on the colour wheel - red / green, blue / orange etc. Contrast in tone or value - light / dark. Contrast in direction - horizontal / vertical. The major contrast in a painting should be located at the center of interest. Too much contrast scattered throughout a painting can destroy unity and make a work difficult to look at. Unless a feeling of chaos and confusion are what you are seeking, it is a good idea to carefully consider where to place your areas of maximum contrast.

CONTRAST

CONTRAST

Contrast enhances appearance

DOMINANCE
Dominance gives a painting interest, counteracting confusion and monotony. Dominance can be applied to one or more of the elements to give emphasis.

DOMINANCE

UNITY
Relating the design elements to the idea being expressed in a painting reinforces the principal of unity; e.g. a painting with an active aggressive subject would work better with a dominant oblique direction, course, rough texture, angular lines etc. whereas a quiet passive subject would benefit from horizontal lines, soft texture and less tonal contrast. Unity in a painting also refers to the visual linking of various elements of the work.

UNITY

HARMONY
Harmony in painting is the visually satisfying effect of combining similar, related elements, e.g. adjacent colours on the colour wheel, similar shapes etc.

HARMONY
Harmony: brings together a composition with similar units. If your composition was using wavy lines and organic shapes you would stay with those types of lines and not put in just one geometric shape. (Notice how similar Harmony is to Unity).

PROPORTION or SIZE

Proportion refers the size relationship of visual elements to each other and to the whole picture. One of the reasons proportion is often considered important in composition is that viewers respond to it emotionally. Proportion in art has been examined for hundreds of years. One proportion that is often cited as occurring frequently in design is the Golden mean or Golden ratio.

PROPORTION or SIZE

PROPORTION or SIZE

PROPORTION
Golden Ratio: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 etc. Each succeeding number after 1 is equal to the sum of the two preceding numbers. The Ratio formed 1:1.618 is called the golden mean - the ratio of bc to ab is the same as ab to ac. If you divide each smaller window again with the same ratio and joining their corners you end up with a logarithmic spiral. This spiral is a motif found frequently throughout nature in shells, horns and flowers.

PROPORTION
Many artists are aware of the rule of thirds, where a picture is divided into three sections vertically and horizontally and lines and points of intersection represent places to position important visual elements. Moving a horizon in a landscape to the position of one third is often more effective than placing it in the middle, but it could also be placed near the bottom one quarter or sixth. There is nothing obligatory about applying the rule of thirds. In placing visual elements for effective composition, one must assess many factors including color, dominance, size and balance together with proportion.

PROPORTION

PROPORTION

DIRECTION

All lines have direction Horizontal, Vertical or Oblique. Horizontal suggests calmness, stability and tranquility. Vertical gives a feeling of balance, formality and alertness. Oblique suggests movement and action.

MONOCHROMATIC
Having or appearing to have only one color or composed of radiation of only one wavelength: monochromatic light.

Red Square Composition

MONOCHROMATIC

MONOCHROMATIC

POLYCHROMATIC
Having or exhibiting many colors, or composed of radiation of more than one wavelength: polychromatic light.

Klee, Paul-Red_Balloon-1922

POLYCHROMATIC

Kandinsky, Composition VII

POLYCHROMATIC

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STATIC
"static" has nothing to do with electricity -- it simply means unmoving, or without force. By contrast, "dynamic" means forceful, or moving.
Static composition in a picture is quite often centered and almost always well balanced.
Mondrian Composition

STATIC

Rafael Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione

STATIC

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DYNAMIC

Delacroix - Liberty Leading the People

DYNAMIC

Salvatore Dali -tuna - polychromatic, dynamic,

DYNAMIC

DYNAMIC

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OPEN
Objects, shapes, colour and value extend beyond picture plane/shape boundaries.

OPEN

CLOSED

OPEN

OPEN

Wassily Kandinsky Composition V

OPEN

Matisse Fruit and Coffee

OPEN

Edggar DegasDancer adjusting her shoe

CLOSED

Vincent Van Gogh - Sunflowers

CLOSED

Claude Monet Madame Monet and Son

CLOSED

E.C. Tarbell Three Sisters

LINE
The technique of the brush drawing with white highlights on blue paper was one Drer became acquainted with in Venice. The interplay of white and dark parallel and crosshatchings which gently follow the curves of the face create the plastic effect of the light and dark shades.

A. Durer - Head of an Angel 1506 Brush drawing on blue Venetian paper, 270 x 208 mm, Vienna

LINE

Albrecht Durer - Study of Drapery

Brush drawing on a dark ground with white highlight, 400 x 235 mm Staatliche Museen, Berlin

LINE

Albrecht Durer Hands Study

LINE

LINE

Rembrandt van Rijn - A Woman Sleeping paint brush drawing - 1655

LINE

Carp paint brush drawing

The quality of your line is very important and it can make or break a gesture drawing. Emphasize the complex rhythms of en object by alternating thick and thin strokes, saving your strongest lines for the dominant rhythms. You can also reinforce the interlocking, sculptural quality of the shapes by emphasizing the lines on forms that cross over and in front of other forms. You may want curves in your drawing to evolve one into the other, not start and stop like a sputtering car.

Five brush-strokes

Not Anything
by Jan Zaremba

Contour Drawing

Blind Contour Drawing

Blind Contour Drawing

Continuous Line

Continuous Line Drawing

Gesture Drawing

Gesture Drawing

Silhouette Drawing

Silhouette Drawing

Orchid o a Hills

Line and spatial effects

line and stroke expressive qualities and variations

LINE

LINE

LINE

LINE

Two studies of the head of an old Man by Rembrandt, pen and brown ink