The 7 Elements of Art
The elements of art are sort of like atoms in that both serve as “building blocks” for creating something. You know that atoms combine and form other things. Sometimes they’ll casually make a simple molecule, as when hydrogen and oxygen form water (H2O). If hydrogen and oxygen take a more aggressive career path and bring carbon along as a co-worker, together they might form something more complex, like a molecule of sucrose (C12H22O11).
A similar activity happens when the elements of art are combined. Instead of elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, in art you have these building blocks:
- Line- A line is an identifiable path created by a point moving in space. Line is one-dimensional and can vary in width, direction and length.
- Shape– A Shape is a line that is “closed”. They have an interior (inside) and an exterior (outside). All shapes are two-dimensional, meaning that they have only length and width.
- Form– Form describes objects in three-dimensional space. All forms have, height, width and depth.
- Space– Space is the area between and around objects. It describes how the artist uses the area to arranges things within a picture.
- Texture Texture is another element, like form or space, that can be real (run your fingers over an Oriental rug, or hold an unglazed pot), created (think of van Gogh’s lumpy, impasto-ed canvases) or implied (through clever use of shading).
- Value– Value is the darkness or lightness of a color. When dealing with pure color (hue), value can be affected by adding white or black to a color.
- Color- Color is the element of art that refers to reflected light. Over many years, artists and scientists together have created general theories about how colors work together in art. This is called Color theory.