The 7 Elements of Design Every Artist Should Know
- 21 hours ago
- 4 min read
Sometimes simply knowing a few definitions can make everything so much clearer.
See, it wasn't until I was in college that I actually heard about the Elements of Design.
I learned the words as a kid, of course: line, shape, form, color, value, texture, space.
But it wasn't until I was an adult that I heard them together called the Elements of Design!
And seeing these terms laid out simply, as the 7 building blocks of art, helped me so much!
It helped me finally understand what I was working with when creating art. And more importantly, what I was missing when something felt “off.”
So here’s a friendly little refresher on the 7 elements of design. (Or you could say, the 7 building blocks that make up a piece of art.)
Line
Lines are the marks you make on a page.
They can be thick, thin, delicate, bold, flowing, jagged. Each line choice will impact the feeling of your piece. For example, a swirly line can feel dreamy or whimsical, while a sharp zigzag line can feel intense.
Shape
A shape is a flat, 2D enclosed area.
There are two main kinds of shapes in art: organic and geometric.
Organic shapes are irregular and free-flowing. Think leaves, clouds, etc. You see them everywhere in nature!
Geometric shapes are the ones you learned as a kid. Circles, squares, triangles, and so on. They're simpler and easier to work with, which is why many artists use them as a starting point. Breaking a complex subject down into basic geometric shapes first makes it easier to get everything onto the page before adding details.
Form
Forms are 3D versions of shapes.
Using basic geometric shapes as examples, you could think of them like this:
circle → sphere
square → cube
triangle → cone or pyramid
rectangle → cylinder or rectangular prism
When you work with 3D forms like these, you can bring realism and structure into your work if you wish to.
Color
Color is what gives your art mood, harmony, and contrast.
Here are the three properties of a color:
Hue - The “color family” itself (think red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)
Saturation - How intense or muted a color is
Value - How light or dark a color is (we'll get more into this in a sec)
Value
Value is how light or dark something is. It plays a big role in creating contrast and balance in a composition, and it helps show form through light and shadow. Value can also totally affect the mood of a piece. Even though it's a property of color, it gets its own place in the elements of design because even without color, value is still there.
Texture
Texture is the surface quality of something. Smooth, rough, scratchy, soft, etc.
In art, texture comes in two forms:
Real texture is texture you can actually feel. This is mainly a traditional art thing. Think thick impasto paint, rough cold-press watercolor paper, the texture of a real canvas, etc.
Implied texture is the illusion of texture on a flat surface. Your mark-making techniques can trick the eye into giving the appearance of a texture, even though the paper (or screen) is completely flat. For example, a drawing of fur, of tree bark, curly hair, or a shiny metal surface can all show implied texture.
For digital artists, implied texture is pretty much what you're working with! And for traditional artists, you're likely using both real and implied texture.
Space
Space is how you arrange things in your composition and how much room they have to breathe. This includes both positive space (the stuff you draw) and negative space (the empty areas around it). Both are important in creating balance and focus.
If you look at the black shape in the image above, you can see it as a sort of vase or goblet. That's the positive space. If you look at the cream colored space around that black shape, you can see two faces looking at each other. That's the negative space. The cool part is your brain can flip-flop back and forth! Negative space isn't just the background- it's important!
You don't need to master all 7 of these elements of design all at once! Just knowing the basic vocabulary can give you a whole new way of looking at your art.
This week, while you're creating, see if you can notice some of these elements working in your own art.
Are your lines bold or more delicate?
Is your palette really vivid, or do you prefer more muted colors?
What kind of textures do you find yourself hinting at with your work?
It's really amazing how simply having words and definitions for these things can give you more confidence in your art-making process!
And if you want to keep going, I've got a bunch of free resources to help you take your next step, whatever that looks like for you 🎨
