Art

Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artifacts artworks,
expressing the author's imaginative or technical skill, intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional
power.[1][2] In their most general form these activities include the production of works of art, the criticism of art,
the study of the history of art, and the aesthetic dissemination of art.

Elements of art
A work of art can be analysed by considering a variety of aspects of it individually. These aspects are often
called the elements of art. A commonly used list of the main elements include form, line, color, space and
texture.

Form

The form of a work is its shape, including its volume or perceived volume. A three-dimensional artwork has
depth as well as width and height. Three-dimensional form is the basis of sculpture.[1] However, two-
dimensional artwork can achieve the illusion of form with the use of perspective and/or shading or modelling
techniques.[2][3] Formalism is the analysis of works by their form or shapes in art history or archeology.

Line

Lines and curves are marks that span a distance between two points (or the path of a moving point). As an
element of visual art, line is the use of various marks, outlines and implied lines in artwork and design. A line
has a width, direction, and length.[1] A line's width is sometimes called its "thickness". Lines are sometimes
called "strokes", especially when referring to lines in digital artwork.

Color

Color is the element of art that is produced when light, striking an object, is reflected back to the eye.[1] There
are three properties to colour. The first is hue, which simply means the name we give to a colour (red, yellow,
blue, green, etc.). The second property is intensity, which refers to the vividness of the colour. A colour's
intensity is sometimes referred to as its "colourfulness", its "saturation", its "purity" or its "strength".The third
and final property of colour is its value, meaning how light or dark it is.[4] The terms shade and tint refer to
value changes in colours. In painting, shades are created by adding black to a colour, while tints are created by
adding white to a colour.[2]

Space

Space is an area that an artist provides for a particular purpose.[1] Space includes the background, foreground
and middle ground, and refers to the distances or area(s) around, between, and within things. There are two
kinds of space: negative space and positive space.[5] Negative space is the area in between, around, through or
within an object. Positive spaces are the areas that are occupied by an object and/or form.

Texture
Texture, another element of art, is used to describe either the way a work actually feels when touched, or the depiction
of textures in works, as for example in a painter's rendering of fur.
Principles of Art
The principles of design are mechanisms of arrangement and organization for the various elements of design
in artwork. Please note that different sources might list slightly different versions of the Principles of Design,
but the core fundamentals are essentially the same.

Harmony

Harmony in art and design is the visually satisfying effect of combining similar, related elements. For instance:
adjacent colors on the color wheel, similar shapes etc.

Balance

A feeling of equality in weight, attention, or attraction of the various visual elements within the pictorial field as
a means of accomplishing organic unity.

There are a few types of balance:

Symmetry: A form of balance achieved by the use of identical balance compositional units on either side of a
vertical axis within the picture plane.
Approximate Symmetry: A form of balance achieved by the use of similarly balanced compositional units on
either side of a vertical axis within the picture plan
Radial Symmetry: A form of balance than is even, radiating out from a central points to all four quadrants of the
shapes constraining plane.
Asymmetry: A form of balance attained when the visual units on balance either side of a vertical axis are not
identical but are placed in positions within the picture plane so as to create a felt equilibrium of the total form
concept.

Proportion

Proportion is the comparison of dimensions or distribution of forms. It is the relationship in scale between one
element and another, or between a whole object and one of its parts. Differing proportions within a composition
can relate to different kinds of balance or symmetry, and can help establish visual weight and depth

Dominance/Emphasis

The principle of visual organization that suggests that certain elements should assume more importance than
others in the same composition. It contributes to organic unity by emphasizing the fact that there is one main
feature and that other elements are subordinate to it. In the below examples, notice how the smaller elements
seem to recede into the background while the larger elements come to the front. Pay attention to both scale and
value of the objects that recede and advance.
Variety

Variety is the complement to unity and harmony, and is needed to create visual interest. Without unity and
harmony, an image is chaotic and unreadable; without variety it is dull and uninteresting. Good design is
achieved through the balance of unity and variety; the elements need to be alike enough so we perceive them as
belonging together and different enough to be interesting.

Movement

Movement is the path our eyes follow when we look at a work of art, and it is generally very important to keep
a viewers eyes engaged in the work. Without movement, artwork becomes stagnant. A few good strategies to
evoke a sense of movement (among many others) are using diagonal lines, placing shapes so that the extend
beyond the boundaries of the picture plane, and using changing values.

Rhythm

A continuance, a flow, or a feeling of movement achieved by the repetition of regulated visual information.