This document discusses key elements of art and design including point, line, shape, mass, volume, texture, and value. It defines each element and provides examples. Point is the simplest element that can suggest lines or density. Line can be actual, implied, gestural, contour, or variations thereof. Shape can be geometric, organic, figure/ground, positive/negative. Mass refers to physical bulk while volume is the measurable space an object occupies. Texture can be actual, implied, or invented. Value refers to degrees of lightness and darkness, with contrast being the difference in values.

1. Point, Line,
Shape, Mass and
Volume, Texture,
and Value

3. POINT
• The simplest of elements
– Used singularly to highlight
– Series can suggest lines
– Clusters can suggest density

11. LINE
• Line types
– Actual
– Implied
• Line in Two-
dimensional Art
• Line in Three-
dimensional Art

12. Line Variations. a. Actual line.

13. Line Variations. c. Actual straight lines and implied curved line.

14. Line Variations. d. Line created by an edge

15. Line Variations. e. Vertical line (attitude of alert attention); horizontal line
(attitude of rest).

16. Line Variations. f. Diagonal lines (slow action, fast action).

17. Line Variations. g. Sharp, jagged line.

18. Line Variations. h. Dance of curving lines.

19. Line Variations. i. Hard line, soft line.

22. GESTURAL LINE
• Line that conveys the energy of the artist’s hand as
it moves across the drawing surface.

24. Jackson Pollock. Drawing. 1950.
11 1/8" x 60".

31. Curvilinear lines

36. IMPLIED LINE
• A series of points that the eye recognizes as a line;
a perceived line where areas of contrasting color or
texture meet.

37. Line Variations. b. Implied line.

39. CONTOUR LINE
• An actual line or implied line that defines the outer
limits of a three dimensional object or two-
dimensional shape; used synonymously with
“outline”.

61. Mysterious Marks Near Dunhuang, China

64. Zander Olson

67. SHAPE
• Geometric or Organic
• Figure and Ground
• Positive and Negative
Shape
• Amorphous Shape
• Three-dimensional
Shape

68. POSITIVE SHAPE
• A dominant shape on a ground.

69. NEGATIVE SHAPE
• A shape “left over” or around a dominant shape.

71. FIGURE
• A shape on a background.

72. GROUND
• A background on which marks, shapes, or figures
are placed.

77. Figure (or ground) can be either dark or light…

90. Geometric Shapes

97. Organic Shape

98. Amorphous (irregular) shape

106. MASS and VOLUME
• Mass: the physical bulk
• Volume: the measurable area that an
object occupies
• Mass and volume can be actual or implied

107. http://www.lisahamilton.net/

110. MASS
• An actual or illusory three-dimensional bulk.

117. VOLUME
• The measurable area that an object occupies-its
height, width, and depth.

119. Jen Stark

122. TEXTURE
• Actual Texture
• Implied Texture
– Visual texture: an illusion of tactile qualities
• Invented Texture

123. TEXTURE
• INVENTED TEXTURE:
The illusion of tactility
through the arrangement
of lines, colors, and other
design elements.
• ACTUAL TEXTURE: The
tactile quality of the
material used to make an
artifact.
• IMPLIED TEXTURE:
• The tactile quality of
elements in an artifact
rendered in a way that
gives the impression of
texture.

137. VALUE
• Highlights
• Shadow
• Contrast

138. VALUE
• The relative degree of light or dark.

139. VALUE

148. CONTRAST
• The degree of value difference in an image; high
contrast is a wide separation between dark and
light; low contrast is a narrow range of values in an
image.