Elements and Principles of Art

Students are expected to utilize the Elements and Principles of Art in all of their design, production and theory work. To achieve this they must be able to define each of these concepts and explain their use in Art.

Elements and Principles of Art

Students are expected to utilize the Art Elements and Principles in all of their design, production and theory work. To achieve this they must be able to define each of these concepts and explain their use in Art.

The Elements of Art are the basic properties of a work of art that may be perceived through the senses. In a painting, for instance, the properties that may be perceived through our senses are line, shape, form, colour, tone texture and light. Other elements, for instance sound and time, may be perceived in other art forms that include music and film/animation.  

The way the elements of an artwork relate to each other and are organised in the artwork are referred to as the Principles of Art. The Principles are concepts used to organize or compose the structural elements of design. Again, the way in which these principles are applied affects the expressive content, aim or message of the work.

Art Literacy

The Elements and Principles of Art are also used to discuss and write about art. These terms guide formal writing tasks, assisting in the explanation of compositions and the message or ideas the artist is trying to convey. It is equally important to write about your own perspectives and interpretations of art works.

Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and to instill moral values.

The Australian Aboriginal people painted symbols from stories on cave walls as a means of helping the storyteller remember the story. The story was then told using a combination of oral narrative, music, rock art and dance, which bring understanding and meaning of human existence through remembrance and enactment of stories. People have used the carved trunks of living trees and ephemeral media (such as sand and leaves) to record stories in pictures or with writing. Complex forms of tattooing may also represent stories, with information about genealogy, affiliation and social status.

With the advent of writing and the use of stable, portable media, stories were recorded, transcribed and shared over wide regions of the world. Stories have been carved, scratched, painted, printed or inked onto wood or bamboo, ivory and other bones, pottery, clay tablets, stone, palm-leaf books, skins (parchment), bark cloth, paper, silk, canvas and other textiles, recorded on film, and stored electronically in digital form.

Students should save or print the following document for ongoing reference.

Some common ways to appreciate and analyse art using language:

• saturation- refers to the brightness of colour.
• geometric – refers to the shapes such as circles, triangles, squares, etc.
• organic – free flowing or rounded, related to nature.
• symmetry – meaning it is equal on both sides.
• asymmetrical – unequal proportioned elements, not equal on both sides.
• flat tones – no tonal effect in the colour
• positive space – the space used/covered by the main figure in the artwork.
• negative space – the space around the main figure in the artwork.
• depth – the illusion of space.
• broken colour – dabs or small amounts of colour.
• focal point – the part that draws the most attention.
• distorted – a shape or image that is altered and no longer looks proportional.