Using the Elements of Art for Digital Image Making.

Applying the Elements of Art to your Digital Image Making. The following tips are paraphrased from the book, "Launching the Imagination," by Mary Stewart. My words are italicized.

LINE. Think on the below variations of line when making art on the computer. Which tools in Photoshop and/or Illustrator give the opportunity to make variations of lines?

Line Orientation and continuity: diagonal line, horizontal line, vertical line, continuous curved line.
Line direction, repeating and intersecting line, line expression and psychology, implied and suggested line, contour line, cross-contour line, hatching line, cross-hatching line, undulated (thick and thin or calligraphic) line, line weight (thickness or thinness), line value (dark and light), line material (pen or charcoal).

SHAPE. The shapes you use in creating computer art should come from an understanding of figure-ground relationships. Shapes should not be created arbitrarily (just playing around with the paint brush, airbrush, or pen tool). As an artist, and as a student of art, you should be planning mature artworks. Digital art is no exception to that goal. Making art in a digital world should reflect your best effort.

A shape is a flat, enclosed area. Create shapes by a continuous line, surrounding an area with other shapes, filling an area by other shapes, or filling an area with broken color or texture. A three-dimensional enclosure is called a volume, not a shape (a square is a shape, a cube is a volume).

Gradations and shading can be used to make a two-dimensional shape have the illusion of a three-dimensional volumetric. This is especially important in computer art because the common tendency to paint in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator is to create flat, uninterested shapes that have no relationship to each other.

Figure-ground relationship:
Figure is generally referred to as the positive shapes within a composition, and the ground refers to the negative shapes. They must be in balance with each other. A reversal is where the shapes trade places. Color combinations, such as complementary colors, create the most dynamic figure-ground reversals.

TEXTURE. still under construction.

VALUE.

COLOR.

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