Dots, lines, and planes are the basic elements of visual communication and artwork. Dots can be highly expressive when related to each other, suggesting order, dispersion, depth, and texture. Lines are the result of dots moving across a surface, closing spaces and defining forms. Different line types like straight, curved, and broken lines can express rigidity, movement, and imbalance. Planes are flat or three-dimensional surfaces that can take geometric or organic shapes. In art, dots, lines, and planes are used in techniques like pointillism and to create forms and suggest volume.

1. DOTS, LINES, AND PLANES

2. Dots are the basic element of visual communication and the unit of painting,
drawing and artwork.
DOTS
Different
representations of
dots:
•dots at an
intersection
•dots used to create
lines
•a dot as a
conventional circle

3. DOTS. Expressivity.
A single dot lacks dynamism, suggests little, has a static value and does not
create form or movement. However, when a dot is related to a and associated
with other dots, it can be highly expressive.
OrderOrder DisorderDisorder
ConcentrationConcentration DispersionDispersion Depth distance-
nearness
Depth distance-
nearness
TextureTexture

4. OrderOrder InstabilityInstability More visual weightMore visual weight
Less visual weightLess visual weight Movement to the
top
Movement to the
top
Movement to
bottom
Movement to
bottom
Dots used to help imagine a shapeDots used to help imagine a shape

5. Positive and negative dotsPositive and negative dots

6. DOTS USED TO CREATE VOLUME

7. DOTS USED IN GRAPHIC ARTS
Dots are used in printers to create the images.

8. PIXELS IN DIGITAL IMAGES
Pixels act as dots to create digital images.

9. DOTS IN ART

10. Mosaic.
Tile.
Cabeza de
medusa.

11. Seurat :Torre Effiel,
1886
POINTILLISM
Pointillism is a
technique used by
some post-
impressionist
painters at the end of
the nineteenth
century. With this
technique,
brushtrokes are
simplified by the use
of coloured dots.

12. Georges Seurat. Circus

13. Paul Klee.
Parnasumm

14. Sonia Delaunay.
Rythme. 1938

15. Roy Lichtenstein

17. • A. Miro: GATO, MARIPOSA
Y PÁJARO, 1940

18. • Vasarely “ Ilusión en relieve “

19. • W Kandinsky: Algunos círculos, 1926

20. • Adolph Gottlieb
• “Ráfaga nº 1”

21. Chrisian Faur

25. Anish Kapoor. Tall tree and the
eye.

26. LINES
•The line is the result of a point that moves across a surface.
•The line closes spaces and defines forms. The contour represents the border of
things.

27. DIFFERENT TYPES OF LINES
INCLINED LINES CURVED LINES
ZIG-ZAG LINES WAVY LINES COMBINATION
LINES

28. EXPRESSIVENESS OF THE LINE IN
COMPOSITIONS
Straight lines
They suggest rigidity, precision and constancy
Vertical
They express spirituality
and elegance
Horizontal
If they are paralell to the
ground they transmit
repose and stability.
Inclined
these denote
movement, decision and
willingness.

29. EXPRESSIVENESS OF THE LINE IN
COMPOSITIONS
Curved lines
These lines produce a feeling of
movement, action and dynamism
because they continously chage
direction
Radial lines
These suggest light, explossion
and luminosity

30. EXPRESSIVENESS OF THE LINE IN
COMPOSITIONS
Broken lines
These lines have a zigzag shape
and sharply change direction,
transmitting imbalance, chaos and
lack of organisation.
Concurrent
All the lines go towards a point or
area of maximum attention. They
force us to look directly at this
area and create a focal point
tension.

33. DIFFERENT WAYS TO USE LINES
• Basic straight lines to make sketches
• Expressive lines to make drawings
• Lines to create volume

34. Basic straight lines to make sketches

35. Expressive line
Alberto Giacometti
Tres cabezas de Diego: 1962

36. Lines to create volume

37. LINES IN
ART

38. “Rembrandt con la mirada
extraviada”
Engraving

41. Edward
Hooper,
grabado a
la punta
seca, Night
Shadows,
sombras
nocturnas

42. • Franz Marc
• “ Mountains”

44. MONDRIAN

45. Escher “ Estudio”

46. J. POLLOCK: Océano gris, 1953

47. Bernard
Bennet

48. PLANES

49. DIFFERENT TYPES OF PLANES
GEOMETRIC SHAPESGEOMETRIC SHAPES
ABSTRACT OR ORGANIC SHAPESABSTRACT OR ORGANIC SHAPES

50. THREE DIMENSIONAL PLANES
• Diego RIVERA:
Desfile de aniversario
de la revolución rusa,
1956

51. • David HOCKNEY: El
mar en Malibú, 1988
• VÍctor VASARELY:
Triond, 1973

52. WAYS TO USE SHAPES AS PLANES

53. •PLANES IN ART

54. • August
Macke
• “Tienda de
sombreros”

55. • H. Matisse

56. ROTHKO:
Sin título,
1952

57. Paul Klee.
Flowering. 1934

58. OUR NEXT TASK
• We need:
– Art Book, size A4
– Black or colored felt pens, and pencils (3B)
– Picture of yourself (portrait) in black and white

59. ACTIVITY 1: SPHERE
1- Draw a ball or a sphere
2- Use the line to create volume like this example:

60. ACTIVITY 2:
1- Copy your portrait with pencil (try not to press
too hard)
2- Use the line to create volume like you have
done with the sphere.
3- Trace the lines with fine feltpens.

61. EXAMPLES