Basic elements of the visual language

We are going to talk about... The shape as one of the basic elements

of visual language. Types of shapes. Edge, outline and inside contour lines. Expressivity of the shape. Spatial relationship between shapes. Shapes in Art Style.

Before beginning...

Which of these images is the most simple?

¿Where can you see flat shapes?

And volume shapes?

¿Which of these images is realistic? And which is not?

Piet Mondrian: Composition I

Picasso: Man with moustache

Antonio López: La Gran Vía

The shape The shape is the look/appearance of the objects. The shape delimits the edge and parts of the things. Shapes can have different qualities:

STRUCTURE

SIZE SIZE SIZE SIZE

TEXTURE

COLOUR

Types of shapes

DEPENDING ON THEIR ORIGINNATURAL: we can find them in nature.ARTIFICIAL: made by human hands.

Types of shapes DEPENDING ON

THEIR STRUCTURE: GEOMETRIC: they

have perfect, uniform measurements and they don’t offen appear in nature. For example: triangles, circles, squares...

ORGANIC: they are associated with things from the natural world, like plants and animals.

Polynesia, by Henri Matisse

Types of shapes FLAT SHAPES:

Two-dimensional

VOLUME SHAPES: Three-dimensional

Flat shapes are made with dots, lines and spots, while volume shapes are made with lines, planes and shadows.

Types of shapes POSITIVE /

NEGATIVE SHAPES: positive shapes occupy positive space. The area around positive shapes, the background, is negative space.

How can we represent shapes? Using the OUTLINE, the EDGE, and the

INSIDE CONTOUR LINE.

OUTLINE EDGEINSIDE CONTOUR LINE

Outline, Edge and Inside Contour Lines Outline is the line we use to draw something. We also

call it outside contour line. Edge or silhouette is the representation of a person,

an object or a scene that is backlit, and appears black when we put a light behind it.

Inside Contour Lines are the colours, lines and textures used to draw inside the shapes.They help us to

describe something in detail.

Expressivity of shapes CLOSED SHAPES: they have got defined edges. We

can percieve them clearly. OPENED SHAPES: they haven’t got defined edges.

Colours and textures mix themselves with other

surfaces.

Claude Monet - London ParliamentMalevich – Three female figures

Relationship between shapes

Size: big shapes seem to be near, and small shapes seem to be far.

Overlaping: by drawing shapes that cover partially other shapes, we create a tridimensional effect.

Relationship between shapes Contrast:

Colour contrast: warm coloured objects seem to be nearer than cold coloured objects. We’re going to talk about colours in the next lesson. Intense colours also seem to be nearer than soft colours.

Shape contrast: closed shapes seem to be nearer than openend shapes.

Shapes in Art Styles

Every Art Style has its own way to represent the shape.

REALISM: images look like photographs.

Andrew Wyeth – Christina’s WorldOscar Durand - Flowers

Shapes in Art Styles

FIGURATIVE STYLE: when the image doesn’t look like a photo, but we can recognize what it is.

Fernando Botero - Musicians

Ivano Stocco – Urban Landscape

Shapes in Art Style

ABSTRACT ART: shapes don’t look like real ones.

Vassily Kandinsky – Composition n. 8

Joan Miró – The singer

Shapes in Art StyleMODERNISM: modernist artists use mainly

organic shapes.

Anglada – Camarasa – The pink puss

Shapes in Art Style

CUBISM: cubist artists use geometric shapes.

Pablo Picasso – Three music players

Activities

1. Choose an image of a person in a magazine. Cut it carefully and stick it in a cardboard.

Activities

2. Trace the outline in a new cardboard, search for a sentence or a world related to the image and write it outside the outline. Erase the outline and colour the closed shapes of the letters.

Activities

3. Draw and paint the edge in another cardboard.

Activities

4. Copy the figure and draw the inside contour with abstract shapes.

Activities

The Artist’s Toolkit Create your own flowers