ART BASICS: The 7 Formal Elements of Art Design
What Kind of Art Is It?
The 7 Formal Elements of Art Design
Line
The 20th century German artist, Maholy Nage described line as "a record of a path of motion." However, line can be much more than that. It is also a record of vision and feeling. Line is a human invention which allows the ability to communicate what we see. The path made by a moving point can be described as two basic line types: straight and curved. Line may also consist of actual marks that can be drawn, or it can refer to the external edges of a shape or form. In paintings lines also occur by contrasts of light and shadow or through color or shape. Whether seen or implied, line is unquestionably one of the artist's most articulate tools. It encloses or liberates space, expresses feeling, conveys movement, suggests mass or volume and creates an image. It may be used evenly or in a modulated way to express a wide range of qualities from fast to slow, from serene to frenetic, or rigid to relaxed.
Shape
Like line, shape is an important element in both the rendering and seeing of art. It is used by the artist for three fundamental purposes.1. To suggest or represent a physical form. 2. To achieve order, variety, and harmony in the composition. 3. To express different qualities of moods and feelings. The term shape refers to any area of a real or imagined object which is defined and rendered by other elements such as line, texture, color, space or light. Shapes may be either organic, geometric, symmetrical, or non-symmetrical or a combination of both symmetrical and non-symmetrical. Flat shapes may create the illusion of three dimensions on a two dimensional surface and also appear on the surface of a three dimensional form. Unlike form, shape is actually two dimensional, possessing mass but not volume.
Form
This term has multiple meanings and may be used in the following ways.
1. A verb meaning to shape or order as in " The ceramist formed the clay into a pot."
2. Organization or composition, as "The form of the work is elegant."
3. The illusionistic representation of a three dimensional form on a two dimensional surface.
4. A mold in which plaster or another material is poured.
5. A three dimensional solid or contained space.For purposes here, the term form will be used to describe three dimensional solids and contained spaces. In this context, form has both mass and volume, whereas, shape has only mass. To illustrate this, consider a flat piece of paper. It has two sides, each of which have equal mass. When the same piece of paper is rolled into a cylinder, it possesses both mass and volume.
Nothing exists without it. Space can be thought of as the distance or area around, between, above, below or within places. In art, space can be described as either two dimensional or three dimensional.
The space in two dimensional artworks such as paintings, drawings, prints and photographs (flat space) is essentially limited to height and width. While there is no actual depth or distance in such works, artists have created techniques to create the illusion of depth or distance on these flat surfaces. The following represents some of those techniques:
a. 
The most prominent of these techniques is the application of linear perspective. Through this application distant objects are rendered proportionately smaller than closer ones. The determining factors of this space depends upon the horizon line and vanishing points.
b. Another of the more prominent techniques is known as atmospheric perspective. This application renders distant objects and spaces with less detail and intensity than closer objects. For example, the use of bluer colors for distant shapes can suggest space between the viewer and the shapes.
c. The placement of objects can give the illusion of space. Distant shapes are higher and closer shapes are lower in the picture plane. d. Overlapping of objects on the picture plane can suggest space. Through the rendering of these techniques, the artist appears to destroy the flatness of the picture plane, transporting the viewer into what appears to be a world of actual space.
Three dimensional space is recognized as having height, width, depth, and is referred to as actual space. This would include sculpture, furniture, architecture, ceramics and jewelry. In the setting of a three dimensional work of art the viewer can freely move around and (in the case of architecture) through it. Three dimensional art may use both positive and negative space as a means of revealing content and meaning. For example, in sculpture the spaces in and around the form can be described as negative space. Whereas the form itself may be described as occupying a positive space. Another way to consider distinctions of positive and negative space can be equated as the presence of physical material = positive; or in the absence of it = negative. The consideration of how the artist uses both positive and negative space in the articulation of their expression is an important factor.Texture
Texture can be both real and imagined. In two-dimensional artworks, the artist may produce a smooth or a rough surface in the application of the medium. In the painting of Jan Van Eycks, The Marriage, the picture plane is mirror- smooth; nothing calls our attention to the methods of paint application or the painted surface. Yet, the artist illusively creates a whole variety of materials and textures through the application of delicate brush strokes and thin layers of oil paint. Conversely, in the painting of Vincent Van Gogh, Wheat Field With Ravens, the paint application creates a consistently rough surface which draws attention to the paint and its method of application. The high viscosity of the paint is apparent in this work and contributes significantly to the aesthetic content of the painting.
Texture in sculpture is fundamentally important. It may vary from highly polished brass, as in the work of Constantine Brancusi's Bird in Space; to that of Chinese bronzes during the Shang Dynasty. Although we can seldom touch or hold a sculpture, texture often becomes an important clue to the material, its character, weight, and solidity. More importantly, the materials chosen by the sculptor have a great deal to do with its aesthetic content and its expressive quality.
Light
Primitive feelings about light and dark lie deep inside our subconscious. Light in our culture expresses goodness, intelligence, clarity and completeness. Darkness is just the opposite, expressing mystery, ignorance, evil and emptiness. The contrast between dark and light not only describes space and defines forms in art, it also conveys feelings, drama and a psychological as well as an aesthetic dynamic.Artists often want to create a three dimensional illusion on a two dimensional surface. One of the ways this can be done is by rendering the effects of light and shadow as they fall on solid forms. A form that is lit by a single light source will be brightest when it is closest to the source, while other forms will diminish in intensity as they recede from the light source. Aspects of the forms, blocked from the light, will cast shadows. Perhaps nowhere is this effect more dramatic than in the work of the Italian artist Caravaggio. This effect, called chiaroscuro, makes the forms and figures come alive through the dramatic contrasting values of light and dark.
The effects of light are vitally important to our understanding and appreciation of the three dimensional art forms of sculpture and architecture. Light and shadow define the forms of both sculpture and architecture. In Gaston Lachaise's sculpture, Standing Woman, light striking the figure most directly creates highlights. As the contours of the forms curve away the reflected light becomes dimmer making the surface change in contrast and tonal value. These strong value contrasts allow the viewer to witness the drama of the figure swelling and receding back into space. Furthermore, in the work of Frank Gherys, the University of Minnesota Gallery, light falling on the strong angular, geometric forms and shapes of the building heightens our sense of its structural composition and it's drama.
Color
Color is the most emotional element of art. Our awareness of color is conditioned by our environment, our culture and our retinal physiology. But color also effects us intuitively, arousing our most primitive instincts. It effects our emotions directly, conditioning our moods, thoughts, actions and even our health. In previous centuries color was termed the sensual part of art because it attacked emotions directly and had no boundaries or rules. Today terms like "seeing red" and "feeling blue" are part of contemporary language.
For the artist color is most usually the light reflected from a surface; however, it may be generated from an electric source, white light (sunlight) or even fire. Whatever the source, the color will have a certain hue, intensity and value. Hue is the named color such as red or blue. Intensity refers to the purity of the color. Value refers to the amount of black or white mixed intothe pure color. The intensity of the color is proportionately reduced by the amount of black or white mixed into the color. The quality or degree of the intensity can be referred to as tint or shade.
Sir Isaac Newton, the British scientist who discovered the color spectrum in the 17th century, turned it into the color wheel. This circular color spectrum best describes our perception of and the continuous flow of colors, while it establishes opposites across the diameters. The colors directly opposite of each other provide the greatest color contrast. They are called the complimentary colors. In this way, the primary red is directly opposite the secondary green, which contains the primaries of red yellow and blue. When placed near one another they accent each other, making the other appear more vivid. The color wheel enables us to see colors that are similar; they lie next to each other.
ART BASICS: The 7 Formal Elements of Art Design
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