Elements & Principles of Design

You can find lines everywhere you look. Artists use many different kinds of lines. Some common lines are:

• What’s your sign?
• curved, straight, dotted, and zig zag
• red, blue, and yellow
• for drying clothes

Shapes are flat. Some shapes are geometric, like:

• little, economical cars.
• circles, squares, triangles and rectangles.
• pancakes, shoe boxes and soup cans.  

Space is an empty place or surface in or around a work of art. Space can be 

• the final frontier.
• positive and/or negative.
• personal

Texture is the way something ___________. Artists create the illusion of texture in paintings, drawings and prints.

• sounds
• smells
• tastes
• feels

Balance describes how artists

• keep from tipping their easels over.
• juggle work and play.
• create visual weight.

Symmetrical (formal) balance means both sides of an imaginary line are the same. An example of an object with symmetrical balance is...

• a Valentine heart
• your hand
• a mud puddle

Asymmetrical (informal) balance means each side of an imaginary line are __________ yet equal. 

• different
• invisible
• messy

Radial balance means lines or shapes grow from a center point. These are examples of radial balance - 

• a Valentine heart and a teeter-totter
• a sunburst and a pizza

Contrast creates excitement and interest in artworks. Two things that are very different have a lot of contrast. In art ______________________ have the greatest contrast. 

• pickles and ice cream
• cats and dogs
• black and white

Artists use emphasis to make certain parts of their work stand out and grab your attention. The center of interest or _________________ is the place the artist draws your eye to first.

• focal point
• compass point
• pencil point