Living with Art Ch. 4

Elements of Art

Line, shape, mass, light, value, color, texture, and space.

Line

a path traced by a moving point. Can be implied.

conturing lines

one continuous line

diagonal lines

draw our attention to a certain point

horizontal lines

strong and powerful.

Contour and Outline

contour lines are the lines we draw to record boundaries.

Direction and Movement

Our eyes tend to follow lines to see where they are going; artists can use this tendency to direct our eyes around an image and suggest movement.

Implied Lines

Lines such as dotted lines that aren't strictly considered lines.

Shape and Mass

A shape is a 2D form. Mass is a 3D form.

Figure

The shape we detach and focus on.

Ground

The surrounding visual information a figure stands out from, the background.

Positive shapes

Shapes we perceive as figures.

Negative shapes

Shapes of the ground.

Light

a type of radiant energy.

Model

the way light gives something a 3D appearance.

Values

shades of light and dark

chiaroscuro

Italian for light/dark

hatching

areas of closely spaced parallel lines, as the front of the forehead or the sides of the nose.

cross-hatching

darker values were achieved through additional sets of parallel lines laid across the first.

Color

a function of light

refracted

a ray of sunlight broken into different colors

hue

name of a color according to the categories of the color wheel.

value

a color's relative lightness or darkness.

tint

a color lighter than the hue's normal value

shade

a color darker than a hue's normal value. Ex. Maroon is a shade of red.

Intensity/chroma/saturation

the relative purity of a color.

monochromatic

90% one color

complementary

colors directly opposite on the color wheel

analogous

contain colors adjacent to one another on the color wheel.

triadic

harmonies composed of any three colors equidistant from each other on the color wheel

simultaneous contrast

when complementary colors seem more intense when placed by each other

afterimage

prolonged staring at any saturated color fatigues the receptors in our eyes, which compensates when allowed to rest by producing the color's complementary as a ghostly afterimage.

optical color mixture

when small patches of different colors are close together, the eye may blend them to produce a new color.

pointillism

placing many thousands of tiny dots of pure color next to each other.

texture and pattern

texture refers to surface quality

tactile

actual texture

pattern

any decorative, repetitive motif or design

space

works with all the other elements, and can be implied

futurism

art that would celebrate motion, speed, energy, and daring.

kinetic

art that moves