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Elements of an Effective Art Piece

Line

Lines can strongly affect the path that the eyes view within an art piece. The movement of the line which the eye follows is one way to express an idea or emotion in art. Some examples of line are Vertical, Horizontal, Diagonal, and Curved, and each supports particular emotions or ideas.

Horizontal lines create calmness.	Diagonal and curved lines create movement and activity.	Vertical lines create stability and strength.

Core Content

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Shape

Lines create shapes which in turn create symbols. These symbols help convey a narrative for an art piece. Like line, different shapes create different emotions. Two types of shapes are Geometric and Organic.

Geometric shapes imply man made objects.	Organic shapes imply objects from nature.

Core Content

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Color

Color plays a large part in conveying emotions. Cool colors such as blue, green and purple create feelings of calm or sadness, while Warm colors such as red, yellow, or orange create active or happy feelings. Here are two examples:

Warm colors	Cool colors

Core Content

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Value

Value is the lightness or darkness of a color. A large use of differing values creates high contrast in a piece of art. High contrast often creates a sense of drama and deep space. A small amount of differing values creates low contrast. Low contrast often is less dramatic and has less perception of depth.

Core Content

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Texture

Texture is the surface appearance of an object or objects within a piece of art. Texture can be experienced in sculpture through actual touch, or it can be experienced in 2-dimensional art through the illusion of touch.