ST. PAUL COLLEGES FOUNDATION PANIQUI, TARLAC INC.

SAMPUT, PANIQUI, TARLAC

A.Y 2025-2026

Arts
Module 1: Principles of
Design and Elements of
Arts
 Lesson

1 Principles of Design

What is It

Lesson

2 Elements of Arts

Medium and elements together are the materials the artist uses in creating a work
of art. The distinction between them is easy to see but hard to define. An
element can be known only in some medium, but as an element, it is independent of
the medium.
When we study elements, we consider them with no attention to how we can
come into contact with a work of art. The elements are its qualities or properties.
The seven elements of art are:

1. Line 5. Color
2. Shape 6. Texture
3. Space 7. Perspective
4. Value
We now look with greater care at the elements of the visual arts as a kind of
basic language with which the artist's work.

1. LINE

The line is our basic means for recording and symbolizing ideas, observations,
and feelings; it is a primary means of visual communication. Lines always have
direction. They are always active.

The following illustrates the line variations (Preble, 1999)

A. Actual Line
B. Implied line and implied curved line
C. Actual straight line and implied curved line
D. Line created by an edge
E. Vertical line (attitude of alert
attention); horizontal line (attitude of
rest)
F. Diagonal lines (slow action, fast action)
G. Sharp jagged lines
H. Dance of curving lines
 I. Hardline; soft line
J. Ragged, irregular line
2. SHAPE

a. Vertical line- basic framework of all

forms, power & delimination, strength,
stability, simplicity, and efficiency.
b. Horizontal line- creates an impression of
serenity and perfect stability. Rest,
calmness, peace, and reposed.
c. Diagonal line- it shows movement and
instability. Portrays movement action.

d. Zigzag line- it shows violence, confusion,

and conflict.
e. Curve line- it shows a gradual change of
direction and fluidity. It signifies subtle
form.
 2. SHAPE
Shape refers to the expanse within the outline of a two-dimensional area or within the outer boundaries of a
three-dimensional object. It may be geometric, which tends to be precise or regular (circles, triangles, squares)
or organic, which are irregular, often curving or rounded, and seem relaxed and more informal.
Most common shapes in the human-made world are geometric, while
most shapes in nature are organic.

Mass is a physical bulk of solid body material, and it has a three-

dimensional area.

Mass in Three-Dimension Mass in Two-Dimension

RECUMBENT FIGURE, Tete de Jeune Homme

Henry Moore, 1938 Green Hornton stone Pablo Picasso, 1923. Grease Crayon Drawing

Source: Alice Correia “Recumbent Figure” Source: Carll H. de Silver Fund “Tete de Jeune
accessed Homme” 24 ½ x 18 5/8 inches (62.1 x 47.4 cm).
August 13, 2021 1923, European Art. Brooklyn Museum
https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollectio
Alice Correia “Recumbent Figure” catalogue n/objects/49217
entry January 2013
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-
publications/henry-moore/henry-moore-om-ch-
recumbent-figure-r1147451

3. SPACE

Space is the indefinable, general receptacle of all things. It is continuous,

infinite, and ever-present. The visual arts are sometimes referred to as spatial arts
because most of the art forms are organized in space.

Architects are mainly concerned with space. With three-dimensional objects

such as in architecture and sculpture, one has to move around to get a full
experience of three-dimensional space. With two-dimensional works, such as
drawings, prints, photographs, and paintings, the actual space is defined by its
edges- usually the two- dimensions of height and width. The illusion of third-
dimension in two-dimensional works is spatial depth.

Diagrams of clues to Spatial Depth in two-dimensional surface (Preble, 1999):

a. Overlap b. Overlap and

diminishing size

c. Vertical
d. Overlap,
placement
vertical
placement,
and
dimini shing size
4. VALUE

Value refers to the lightness and darkness of surfaces. It ranges from white to
various grays to black. It can be a property of color or an independent element
color.

Chiaroscuro is the use of gradations of light and shade, in which the forms are
revealed by the subtle shifting from light to dark areas. This technique was
developed during the Renaissance Period to create an illusion that figures and
objects depicted on a flat surface appear as they do in the natural light conditions.

VALUE SCALE from White to Black

Source: Aurelius Jennings, “Value”, Pinterest, N.D.
https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/424323596117916373/

5. COLOR

Color is a component of light, affects us directly by modifying our thoughts,

moods, actions, and even our health. Color exists only in light, but light itself
seems colorless to the human eye. The so-called "color" is the effect on our eyes of
light waves of differing wavelengths or frequencies.

Properties of a Color
• Hue is a particular wavelength of spectral color to which we give names.
- In 1666, British scientist Sir Isaac Newton discovered that when the light of
the sun passes through a glass prism. It is separated into the bands of colors
that make up the visible spectrum. The sequence of the spectral colors is:
red, orange, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Illustrated by: Jasper Etrata, “Glass

Prism” October 7, 2020

Red
Orang
e
Yello
White Light w
Glass Prism Green
Blue
Indig
o
Violet
 - Primary Hues are: Red, Yellow, and Blue
- Secondary Hues are: Orange, Green, and Violet. This is produced by a mixture
of primary hues.
- Intermediate Hues are: red-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, and red-violet.
Each is located between the primary and the secondary hues of which they are
composed.

intermediate Primary
intermediate
(tertiary) (tertiary)
RED
RED-
RED-
VIOLET
ORANGE
Secondary Secondary
VIOLET ORANGE

intermediate
BLUE- YELLOW- intermediat
(tertiary) VIOLET ORANGE e
(tertiary)

YELLOW
BLUE
Primary
Primary
BLUE- YELLOW-
GREEN GREEN
GREEN
intermediate intermediate
(tertiary) Secondary (tertiary)

Colors affect our feelings about size and distance as well as temperature.
Yellow- green and red-violet are the poles dividing the color wheel into cool and
warm hues. Cool colors found at the blue-green side of the wheel, while the warm
colors at the red-orange side appear to expand and advance.
Color Meaning
Black - Death, despair, gloom, sorrow,
Blue - Infinity, Freedom, Calmness, Peace
Brown - Humility
Green - Nature, Freshness, Prosperity, Hope, Money
Orange - Sweetness, Cheerfulness,
Pink - Feminity, love,
Red - Bravery, Energy, Passion, War, Warm
Violet - Royalty, Dull
White - Purity, Clarity, Simplicity, Virginity, Peace
Yellow - Joyful, Life, Vibrant, Sunshine, Happiness

Objects that appear to be black absorbs all the colors; while objects that
appear white reflects all the colors of the spectrum. Black and white are not true
colors and their combination. Gray is achromatic, and they are often referred to as
neutrals.
 Value refers to the relative lightness and darkness from white through
grays and black.
  Intensity, also called saturation, refers to the purity of a hue or color.
The pure hue is the most intense form of a given color, the hue at its
highest saturation, and the hue in its brightest form.

Illustrated by: Abihail A. Agcaoili,

“Intensity of Color” May 27, 2020

6. TEXTURE

The textile qualities of surfaces or to the visual representation of those

qualities is referred to as texture, in visual arts. Actual textures are those we can feel
by touching. Simulated textures are those created to look like something other
than pain on a flat surface. Painters simulate texture, while sculptors and architects
make use of actual texture.

Illustrated by: Abihail A. Agcaoili, “Paint Texture” May 27, 2020

7. PERSPECTIVE
Perspective is a point of view. In visual arts, it can refer to any means of
representing three-dimensional objects in space on a two-dimensional surface. It
is a system designed to depict the way objects in space appear to the eye. In linear
perspective, objects appear smaller at a distance, because parallel lines appear to
converge as they recede into the distance, and the last meeting of the lines on the
horizon is called the vanishing point.

 TIME AND MOTION

- Time is nonspatial in which events occur in succession. Our experience of
time depends upon the movements we experienced and vice versa. A sense of
motion can be created by an actual change in position.
 LIGHT
- The source, color, intensity, and direction of light greatly affect the way
things appear; as light changes, surfaces illuminated by it also seem to
change. To suggest the way light reveals form, artists use changes in value.
Assessment 1
Create something beautiful and useful artwork to make your life more meaningful
by applying the different principles of design that you have learned concerning the
talent that God has given you.