Using the Formal Elements

Lines are marks which move through a space and describe or outline a shape. They are created by a moving point, for example a pencil or a paintbrush and can have different qualities depending on the intention of an artist. Lines could be short, rough and fast moving, or long curving and smooth each of these will have a different impact on the feeling of an artwork. Lines could also be implied, rather than being immediately visible they could become, for example, part of a landscape and affect the viewer subconsciously implying perspective in the image.

Shape is a space which is defined by a line, whether it is a hard outline or it is a shaded in area. A shape could be geometric like a square or a circle or it may be irregular. A shape in a flat art work may stay two-dimensional or appear three-dimensional with the addition of tone and/or colour. shapes can make a viewer feel differently about an artwork, triangles are considered stable, although sharply pointed shapes may feel dangerous.

Form often refers to a three-dimensional object with a depth, width and height. This term is often used to describe aspects of a three-dimensional artwork as they can be viewed from any angle. An objects size and shape may be discussed alongside its form, large objects can be domineering and small objects make a viewer lean in to view them. Form is shown in flat artworks through shading and highlights which show depth.

Colour in artworks can be broken down in to three properties, hue, intensity and value. Hue describes the type of colour, for example blue or red. Intensity is the strength or weakness of the colour, it could be muted or bright. Value is the lightness or darkness of the colour. Colour in art can heavily influence the feel of the piece, reds feel warm, blues cold, often colours have emotional influences too. Historically some of the most expensive pigments to buy were blue shades and so in paintings from certain periods blue was used sparingly or for wealthy clients.

Space refers to the relationship of depicted objects in an an artwork to the foreground and background of the work. Space can be created in artwork in many ways, through perspective, intensity of colour or the size of objects depicted. Objects in nature will often appear smaller and lighter in the distance. There is also positive and negative space, positive space is where an object is depicted in an image and negative space is the space which surrounds that object, in sculpture the positive space contains the sculptural material and the negative space does not.