ELEMENTS OF DRAWING

Line

LINE is straight or curved, heavy or light, soft or hard or a mixture of them all.


LINE can characterise a shape by being the edge of an area or surface, colour, tone or pattern – it becomes an outline or contour.


LINE can show MOVEMENT.


LINE can suggest RHYTHM.


LINE can create TEXTURAL results.


LINE can indicate EMOTIONAL effects.


Shape  


SHAPE can be bordered by a LINE.


SHAPE can be defined by COLOUR, TEXTURE or TONE.


SHAPE can suggest movement or emotions.


SHAPE in 3-D is called FORM.


SHAPE can be sharp and clear or hazy and suggesting something.


SHAPE can be NEGATIVE or POSITIVE.



Colour 




COLOUR is an element of design with endless variety.


COLOUR is a mixture of 3 primary colours, red, yellow and blue.


SECONDARY COLOURS are a mix of 2 primary colours, orange, green and purple.


TERTIARY COLOURS are a mix of the 3 primary colours, red, yellow and blue. Many different colours can be made by changing the amount of primary colours used. Colour has TEMPERATURE – reds and oranges feel warm like the sun or desert. Cooler colours like blues and greens go more with water and ice.


INTENSITY of colour is its strength and purity.


HUE is the quality that separates one colour from another.


TONE VALUE is the degree of lightness or darkness of a colour, yellow is light, blue is dark.


TINTS are made by adding white to a colour.


SHADES are made by adding black to a colour.

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ANALOGOUS COLOURS are hues lying near each other on the colour wheel, red-orange, red-purple.


COMPLIMENTARY COLOURS are hues opposite each other on the colour wheel, red and green, purple and yellow.


DISCORD is where opposite colours are together and one is a tint, so that the original tone of the hue is different.


Tone








TONE is light and dark. Light reveals, shows the world to us, and shadow gives meaning to the things we see.


TONE can give solidity, volume and weight to an image


TONE gives the impression of distance. Darker tones come forward and lighter tones go back into the image.


TONE can give emotion to an image. Highly contrasting tones give life and energy, softer tones give a gentle mood.


TONE can create rhythm, with the eyes jumping from one dark tone to another.


TONE is the property of colour. Yellow is light, blue is dark.


TONE in sculpture is the way it catches the light, so that sharp changes are made by deep corners, and gentle ones by smooth gradual changes.

Texture 





TEXTURE is the part of the surface that can be felt or seen.


TEXTURE is concerned with touch, how something feels.


TEXTURE can be rough, smooth, spiky, soft, velvety, regular or irregular.


TEXTURE can suggest emotions by linking with the memory of how things feel.


TEXTURE can be real, the surface is actually rough or smooth or it can be suggested by the way the surface is treated.

Direction 


DIRECTION is about how our eyes move around the artwork.


DIRECTION can be horizontal, vertical, curved, sloped or straight.


DIRECTION can suggest movement by the speed at which it is changed.


DIRECTION can be balanced to give stability or imbalanced to give tension


DIRECTION can have an emotional impact. Using rapid changes in direction or use of diagonals, can cause anxiety while horizontals and verticals bring about calm.

Size 





SIZE is about the bigness or smallness of an area.


SIZE can give space, it can make closer objects appear larger and make distant objects appear smaller.


SIZE can be given by comparing one element that is larger or smaller than the other.


SIZE can make a particular element look important.


Mass  


MASS is the amount of material in any sculptural work.


MASS can be suggested in a painting or drawing.


MASS can be heavy or light in effect.


SPACE or VOID refers to the lack of mass.

TYPES OF PERSPECTIVES

Definition: Perspective drawing is a system of representing the way that objects appear to get smaller and closer together, the further away they are.

What Does Perspective Look Like?

Imagine driving along a very straight open road - the road, the fences and power-poles all diminishing towards a single spot far ahead of you. That's single-point perspective. Single- or one-point perspective is a simplest method of making objects look three-dimensional. It is often used for interior views or trompe l'oeil (trick-the-eye) effects. Objects must be placed to that the front sides are parallel to the picture plane, with the side edges receding to a single point.

Is that the same as Linear Perspective?

When we talk about perspective drawing, we usually mean linear perspective. Linear Perspective is a geometric method of representing the apparent diminishing of scale as the distance from object to viewer increases. Each set of horizontal lines has its own vanishing point. For simplicity, artists usually focus on correctly rendering one, two or three vanishing points.

One Point Perspective

In One point perspective, the horizontals and verticals which run across the field of view remain parallel, as their vanishing points are at 'infinity', with horizontals which are perpendicular to the viewer vanish towards a point near the center of the image.

Two Point Perspective

In Two point perspective, the viewer is positioned such that objects (such as boxes or buildings) are viewed from one corner, so that two sets of horizontals diminish towards vanishing points at the outer edges of the picture plane, while only verticals remain perpendicular. It is slightly more complex, as both the front and back edges, and side edges, of an object must be diminished towards vanishing points. Two-point perspective is often used when drawing buildings in the landscape.

Three Point Perspective

In Three point perspective, the viewer is looking up or down so that the verticals also converge on a vanishing point at the top or bottom of the image.

Atmospheric Perspective

Atmospheric perspective is not linear perspective, but rather attempts to use control of focus, shading, contrast and detail to duplicate the visual effect of near objects being crisp and clear, while distant objects may be less distinct and muted.