Elements of Design
The elements of design can be thought of as the things that make up a painting, drawing, design etc. Good or bad – all paintings will contain most of if not all. There a seven elements of design that we need to understand:
- Line
- Colour
- Texture
- Shape
- Size
- Value
- Space
Line
A line is the most basic element there is. It can be as small as a single dot or as large as an infinite line (of dots). It is essentially the linear marks made with a pen or brush or the edge created when two shapes meet. Lines can be straight, squiggly, curved, dotted, continuous, or more. It can stress a word or phrase, it can connect pieces of content together, or even create patterns that form areas or backgrounds. Every piece of art contains lines and your work will be no exception. Even a blank canvas will have lines at each edge.
Colour
Colour is light reflected off objects and has three main characteristics:
- Hue or its name (e.g. red, green, blue, yellow)
- Value or how light (white) or dark (black) it is
- Saturation (how bright or dull it is, often called intensity)
Colour is also in every piece of art for everything has a colour.
Texture
Texture is the surface quality of a shape – rough, smooth, soft hard glossy etc.
Shape
A shape is a self contained defined area of geometric (squares and circles), or organic (free formed shapes or natural shapes). A positive shape automatically creates a negative shape.
Size
Size is simply the relationship of the area occupied by one shape to that of another.
Value
VALUE is how light or dark an area is. Everything from dark to light and every
shade in-between, has a VALUE. Use Value to:
- create depth and light
- create a pattern
- lead the eye
- emphasize
Space
In two-dimensional design, space is essentially flat; it has height and
width, but no depth. It is the distance or area around or between elements of an artwork. The illusion of motion and/or depth is created on a flat surface through the use of perspective, overlapping elements, size, level of detail, colour and value for example