STUDY OF VISUAL ARTS

(SOVA)
Elements of Design
LINE
•Line can be considered in two ways.

•The linear marks made with a pen or brush or

the edge created when two shapes meet.
SHAPE
•A shape is a self contained defined area of
geometric or organic form.

•A positive shape in a painting automatically

creates a negative shape.
DIRECTION
All lines have direction - Horizontal, Vertical or
Oblique. Horizontal suggests calmness, stability
and tranquility. Vertical gives a feeling of balance,
formality and alertness. Oblique suggests
movement and action
The element of direction can have a powerful
influence on the mood of a painting. It is something
often overlooked, but making a conscience decision
about the dominant direction in a painting can
have a noticeable effect on the atmosphere of the
work.
 In the paintings below the subject dictates the
direction. The strong horizontal lines of the water,
boats and buildings give a feeling of stillness and
calm.
 The diagonal lines of
the shoreline and the
rocks reinforce the
feeling of movement.
 This painting has a dominant vertical
direction which adds a static orderly influence
to what might be a random chaotic painting.
A horizontal A Emphasizing
emphasis diagonal a vertical
tends to make dominanc direction
the buildings e maintains
look sleek and reinforces the random
clean and the chaos, but
creates a gives a solid
formal
SIZE
Size is simply the relationship of the area
occupied by one shape to that of another.
TEXTURE
Texture is the surface quality of a shape - rough,
smooth, soft hard glossy etc. Texture can be
physical (tactile) or visual.
Texture is an obvious and important element in a
painting. To save confusion it can be broken into
two parts.
Physical Texture is the texture you can actually
feel with your hand. The build up of paint,
slipperiness of soft pastel, layering of collage - all
the things that change the nature of the papers
surface.

Visual Texture is the illusion of physical texture,

created with the materials you use. Paint can be
This detail shows the In this detail patches of
use of visual texture. Japanese rice paper,
gesso and thick swipes
The surface appears of soft pastel add a
fractured and broken strong three
but this is an illusion
created with the paint.

The paper in this area

of the work is smooth
Colour Wheel
•Divided in 12 Parts
•Based on 3 Primary Colours: Red / Yellow / Blue
•In between primaries are the Secondary
Colours: Green / Orange
Violet
•Tertiary Colours are colours in between
Primary and Secondary
Colours. (Eg. In Between Yellow and Orange is
Yellow Orange)
•Colours outside the Colour Wheel are called
Saturated Colours. They
contain no black, no white and none of their
complimentary or opposite
colour.
•Complementary colors are pairs of colours
Colour Wheel
Tonal contrast is simply the difference between the
light and dark areas in a painting. The greater the
difference the more attention the area attracts.

In the example above the eye goes straight to the

area of contrast between the white and black
shapes. When the tonal range is reduced, as in the
second example, the eye still goes to the area of
maximum contrast, but the design looses impact.
Tonal contrast is one of the most powerful tools we
In this painting of a
fly, the strong tonal
contrast between
the flies body and
wings, cause
attention to go
immediately to this
area. The abstract
lines and marks in
the foreground lead
the eye back up to
the center of
interest. Having
less tonal contrast