The Elements of art are the basic components of art-marking. It is impossible to create a work of art without using at least one of the seven elements of art. Artworks can also be analyzed according to the use of the elements in a work of art.

The Elements of art are stylistic features that are included within an art piece to help the artist communicate.

Form: every three dimensional object, which has a length, width and height, has a form. We can Identify two different types of forms: the Geometric ones and the Organic forms. The Geometric forms falls into a specific category and are typically man-made; some examples are the cone, tube, sphere or cylinder. On the other hand an organic form does not have a specific name associated with it since they are compared to naturally occurring forms. An artist goal is the one of recreating the illusion of a down form and he or she can accomplish that by observing how light reacts on the specific object in real life. There can be different elements to identify: highlight – the area where light is hitting the object directly-, midtone – the middle value of the local colour of the object-, core shadow – area shaded on the object-, cast shadow – areas shaded on the surfaces surrounding the object itself because the object blocks the light from it, reflected highlight – area on the object that is lighter because of reflected light off of surrounding objects.

Colour: in Art has a very important role and features, it has an effect on our mood and behaviour and refers to reflected light. In Art and films too colour has the ability to subtly manipulate the audience, affecting them physically (altering mood and feelings since it affects the centre of emotions in the hypothalamus), has a psychological effect (colours have a different impression of weight and size). the theory behind colour is split in three parts and each part is built upon the previous:

• The colour wheel, theorised by Isaac Newton which offers a visual representation of the colours separating them into a spectrum found in prism they are arranged in a circle and the primary colours (yellow, red and blue) are equally spaced; the colour wheel is composed by Primary, Secondary and Tertiary colours. Primary colours (yellow, red and blue) can only be created through the use of natural pigments and are used to create the colours on the colour wheel. Secondary colours (orange, green and purple) are generated by mixing equally any of two primary colours so the combination of yellow and blue would create green, or mixing red and blue creates purple and red plus yellow is equal orange. Tertiary colours (red-purple, red-orange, blue green, yellow-green, blue-purple, yellow-orange) are, instead, created by mixing equally a primary colour with a secondary colour.
• The colour values, a value of a colour determines the darkness or lightness of it. A hue, pure colour, can be affected by adding white, producing a tint, or black, producing a shade, to it.
• The colours schemes, which are patterns with which colours are put together an a clever way. The monochromatic scheme represents none colour with its shades and tints. The analogous scheme, shows colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel. The complementary colour scheme, showing colours found directly across from each other on the colour wheel and offers great contrasts. Three colours found on the colour wheel which are equally spaced apart from each other are part of a colour triads scheme. Warm colours scheme is associated with warm things and cool colours scheme is associated with cool things.

Space: in art space can be the area around, above and within an object. An artist accomplishment can be recreate the illusion of space in his or her artworks. There are several techniques to achieve so: overlapping, positioning closer object and one prevents the view of the other creating the illusion of depth; placement, for example, an object placed higher within the picture it will appeal further away; size, smaller object will appear further away from the viewer; detail, having less detail on an object further away is more realistic; colour and value, further away objects tends to be cooler in temperature and lighter in value the closer they are the warmer darker in value they appear; perspective, a drawing created using linear perspective using lines to create the illusion of space on flat surfaces, all the parallel lines (orthogonals) in a painting or drawing using this system converge in a single vanishing point on the composition’s horizon line – we can identify 4 major types of perspective defined by the number of vanishing points lying on the horizon line: 1 point perspective, 2 point perspective, 3 point perspective and multi-point perspective; positive space, in the shapes or forms of interest; negative space, which is the empty space between the shapes or forms.

Texture: alludes to the way an object may feels to the touch or looks as it may feel if it were touched. A texture can be: Visual, 3D surface imitating a real texture; invented, 2D pattern created by using lines and shapes repeated; rough texture, which reflect light unevenly; smooth textures, instead reflect light evenly; matte, a surface that reflects a soft, dull light (shiny surfaces are the opposite); impasto, a painting technique in which the paint is built up on the surface to create a texture. Values are very useful in revealing the illusion of texture.

Line: the most basic element of art: a moving dot that controls a viewer’s eye it can describe edges it can indicate form as well as movement. Such techniques are hatching and cross hatching which are linear drawing techniques that can be used to create texture, value, and the illusion of form and light and is mostly used to create a full range of value. Contour lines help showing where an object ends. Line quality refers to the thickness or thinness of a line helping create the illusion of form in a drawing. Vertical lines move up and down without any slant, whereas horizontal lines are parallel to the horizon. Diagonal lines are lines that slant and zigzag lines are a combination of diagonal lines. Curved lines change direction gradually. A line variation helps adding interest to the lines. Lines can also be long or short and wide or skinny but also rough or smooth (texture).

Shape: when a line is enclosed a shape is created: they contribute to the balance within a work. They have a length and a width. Shapes can be geometric, regular shapes following math rules, and organic shapes which are freeform and seem to follow no rules.

Value: deals with the lightness or darkness of a colour. Showing full range of colours in an artwork is very good where there is an ample amount of light values (called tints) and dark values (called shades). Using a value scale, helps to create a full range of value.