Elements of Design

midterm

design

governing plan or approach by which various parts of an artwork are created and assembled

line, shape, mass/volume, perspective, texture, and color

six basic elements of design

line

an infinite series of points that are arranged in a direction

first order element of design

calligraphy

beautiful handwriting

tughra

calligraphic signature of a sultan, and the refined text

gesture

is the line produced by movement of the artist’s hand, arm, or body

contour

the line where differing areas meet and form edges

ability to detect edges in nature

follow the shapes of objects where they stand out from backgrounds

crosshatching

the use of uniformly spaced intersecting lines that create the perception of value of light and dark

implied

line suggested by an intentional alignment of shapes

psychic line

a line that’s not actually there

expressive

line has __________ content

by nature, a line compels the viewer to follow along its path

line can control the direction , speed, and attention of the viewer

true or false

Line is not just a two-dimensional design element.

shape

it has two dimensions, length and width

can be regular or irregular, simple or complex

this can have hard of soft edges

hard-edged shapes

shapes that have clear defined boundaries

soft-edge shape

shapes slowly fade into their backgrounds

two broad categories of shapes

geometric or organic shapes

geometric shapes

are regular and ordered shapes using straight lines and curves

organic shapes

are generally irregular and often chaotic shapes

Hans Arp

he used torn paper in his work called “Untitled”

ground

in two-dimensional artworks, shapes are figures placed on a two-dimensional surface that is known as?

figure/ground relation

ground creates a relationship between foreground and background known as the?

figure

is the object that appears to be in front of the ground

figure/ground reversal

what was seen is the positive shape of the figure can also be seen as the negative space of the ground

volume

has three dimensions

length, width, and height

three dimensions of volume

volumes

may have interior or exterior contours, and they may be closed or open in form

mass

quantity of matter, often meaning its weight

closed form

is a volume that is not pierced or perforated

last for eternity

one goal of ancient Egyptian sculpture

open form

these sculptures are closer in shape to the figures they represent and thus are more lifelike or “true” to the original reference

positive space

the space occupied by a given volume

negative space

the empty space within that volume

saddle

in the middle suggest an invisible weight pressing down on the form there

chiaroscuro

to convey the three dimensionality, mass and volume, of forms on a flat surface, artists use?

perspective

in art is the illusion of space on a flat surfacek

linear perspective

is based on the regular geometric recession of space

uses vanishing point and horizon line

horizon line

is the set of all possible eye-level vanishing points

orthogonal lines

are the lines that appear to meet at the vanishing point and imply the regular recession of space

Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci’s work that involves use of vanishing points

intuitive perspective

acknowledges that receding lines converge, but does not recognize that they converge at a single horizon line and vanishing point

one, two, three point perspective

main types of linear perspective

one-point perspective

uses a horizon line and one main vanishing point and is normally used when simple views are depicted, such as railway track

two-point perspective

uses a horizon line and two separated vanishing points to present the illusion of a space that recedes in two directions

three-point perspective

incorporates the recession of space in a third, vertical direction above or below the horizon line as well as the two horizontal directions in two-point perspective

atmospheric perspective

is the way in which the illusion of distance is created on a flat surface through the use of color and focus

texture

describes the surface quality of an artwork

an important element of design because it engages the sense of touch as well as vision

object

can be rough or smooth, wet or dry, sticky or slick, hard or soft, brittle or flexible

actual texture and implied texture

two main approaches to texture are?

actual texture

is primarily-though not exclusively-sculptural

implied texture

is the primarily used in two-dimensional works of art

telling the truth about the material world

one main goal of the painters from the northern renaissance and the dutch golden age

impasto

Rembrandt van Rijn is well known for his use of?

impasto

very thick application of paint, in order to heighten the sense of reality

color

the most prominent element of design and is one of the most powerful and yet subjective elements in art

visible light

small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be seen by humans

hue

wavelength of a given color

saturation

purity of a color and ranges from neutral gray to the pure color while holding brightness as a constant

brightness

lightness or darkness of a color and ranges from fully illuminated to fully darkened

subtractive color

occurs when light is reflected off a surface and all the colors of the spectrum are absorbed by that surface except for the color that is reflected back to the viewer

primary colors

red, yellow, blue

secondary colors

green, orange, purple

additive color

transmission color, occurs when light of different colors is projected

red, green, and blue

primary colors for additive color

Impression Sunrise

work by Claude Monet, an impressionist painting

local color

describes the body color of a given object

fauve

were group of artists in the early twentieth century who used intuitive color

color temperature

colors can be either warm or cool

warm

The ____ end of the spectrum includes red, orange, and yellow

cool

The ___ end of the spectrum contains green, blue, purple

monochromatic color scheme

a color scheme that uses single color

The Old Guitarist

Work of Picasso that uses monochromatic color scheme

complementary colors

uses colors opposite to each other on the color wheel

analogous color scheme

a color scheme that uses only one area of the color wheel

Life with a Glass and Oysters

example of application of analogous color scheme by Jan Davidsz