🎨 Year 7 Art & Design

Elements of Art

The elements of art are the fundamental building blocks used to create any artwork. Understanding them allows you to both analyse and create art more effectively.

• Line: a continuous mark made on a surface. Lines can be: straight, curved, broken, zigzag, thick, thin. They create shape, texture, movement, and direction. Hatching and cross-hatching use lines to create tonal value.
• Shape: a 2D area enclosed by a line. Geometric shapes (circles, squares, triangles) vs organic shapes (irregular, natural forms like leaves or clouds).
• Form: a 3D object or the illusion of 3D on a flat surface. Forms have height, width, and depth. Can be shown through shading and perspective.
• Colour: the visual property of light reflected by an object. Described by hue (the colour name), value (lightness/darkness), and saturation/intensity (brightness).
• Tone / Value: the degree of lightness or darkness. A tonal scale runs from white through greys to black. Tonal contrast creates the illusion of three dimensions.
• Texture: the surface quality — how something feels or looks like it feels. Actual texture (real), implied texture (the illusion of texture in 2D work).
• Pattern: repetition of a motif, shape, line, or colour. Can be regular (repeating) or irregular.
• Space: the area between and around objects. Positive space = the subject; negative space = the background around it.
• Composition: the arrangement of elements within the picture plane. Key principles: rule of thirds, balance, focal point, leading lines.

Colour Theory

The Colour Wheel

• Primary colours: Red, Yellow, Blue — cannot be created by mixing other colours
• Secondary colours: created by mixing two primaries. Red + Yellow = Orange; Yellow + Blue = Green; Blue + Red = Purple
• Tertiary colours: mixing a primary and an adjacent secondary (e.g. red-orange, yellow-green)

Colour Relationships

• Complementary colours: opposite on the colour wheel (red/green, blue/orange, yellow/purple). When placed side by side, they create maximum contrast and vibrate visually.
• Analogous colours: next to each other on the wheel (e.g. blue, blue-green, green). Create harmony and a sense of calm.
• Warm colours: reds, oranges, yellows — appear to advance (come forward) in a composition; associated with energy, warmth
• Cool colours: blues, greens, purples — appear to recede (go back); associated with calm, sadness
• Monochromatic: using tints (colour + white), tones (colour + grey), and shades (colour + black) of a single colour
• Neutral colours: black, white, grey, brown — do not appear on the colour wheel; used to modify and balance other colours

Properties of Colour

• Hue: the actual colour name (red, blue, etc.)
• Value: how light or dark the colour is. Adding white = tint; adding black = shade
• Saturation / Intensity: how vivid or dull a colour is. Highly saturated = bright; desaturated = muted/grey

Drawing Skills

Observational Drawing

• Drawing what you actually see, not what you think something looks like
• Look more at your subject than at your paper
• Identify negative space and draw that, not just the object
• Start with light construction lines; add detail gradually

Tonal Shading

• Shading creates the illusion of 3D form by showing light and shadow
• Identify your light source first — the side facing the light is lightest, the opposite is darkest
• Techniques: blending (smooth gradients), hatching (parallel lines), cross-hatching (overlapping lines), stippling (dots)
• A full tonal range from white through mid-grey to dark black is called chiaroscuro

Perspective

• Linear perspective creates the illusion of depth on a flat surface
• One-point perspective: all parallel lines converge at one vanishing point on the horizon line. Used for buildings viewed from the front.
• Two-point perspective: two vanishing points. Used for corners of buildings or objects viewed at an angle.
• Objects appear smaller the further away they are (foreshortening)

Proportion

• Proportion is the size relationship between parts of an object
• The human head fits approximately 7–8 times into the height of an adult body
• Eyes are roughly halfway down the head (not near the top as beginners often draw)
• The "sight sizing" technique: hold your pencil at arm's length to measure relative proportions

Painting & Art Media

Watercolour

• Transparent; water dilutes the paint. Work light to dark (you cannot paint white over dark)
• Wet-on-wet: apply paint to wet paper for soft, blurred edges (good for skies)
• Wet-on-dry: apply paint to dry paper for crisp, sharp edges
• Washes: large, flat areas of diluted colour applied quickly

Acrylic

• Water-based but dries quickly and permanently; very versatile
• Can be used thick (like oil paint) or diluted thin (like watercolour)
• Work dark to light (you can paint white over dark)
• Clean brushes immediately — dried acrylic is very hard to remove

Pencil and Charcoal

• Pencil grades: H range (hard, light marks, 2H–9H) to B range (soft, dark marks, 2B–9B). HB is in the middle.
• Charcoal: soft, powdery; great for large-scale drawings and quick sketching; easy to blend and erase

Collage and Mixed Media

• Collage: assembling pieces of paper, fabric, photographs, and other materials
• Mixed media: combining different materials and techniques in one artwork
• Monoprint: a single print made by drawing into ink on a flat surface, then pressing paper onto it
• Relief print: cutting into a surface (lino, polystyrene) then rolling ink over the raised surface and printing

Famous Artists & Styles

Key Art Movements

• Renaissance (c.1300–1600): rebirth of classical ideas; realistic representation; key artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael
• Impressionism (c.1860s–1880s): capturing light and atmosphere with loose brushwork; painting outdoors; key artists: Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir
• Post-Impressionism (c.1880–1900): more subjective, emotional use of colour and form; key artists: Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne
• Cubism (c.1907–1920s): breaking objects into geometric facets and showing multiple viewpoints at once; key artists: Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque
• Surrealism (c.1920s–1940s): dream-like, subconscious imagery; unexpected combinations; key artists: Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Frida Kahlo
• Abstract Expressionism (c.1940s–1950s): spontaneous, emotive, non-representational; key artists: Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko
• Pop Art (c.1950s–1960s): imagery from popular/commercial culture; bold colours and graphic style; key artists: Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein

Analysing an Artwork (ASCRIB)

• Artist, title, date — who made it, and when
• Subject — what can you see (description)?
• Composition — how are the elements arranged?
• Research — cultural/historical context; what was happening at the time?
• Interpretation — what meaning or message do you think the artist intended?
• Brush/mark — what techniques, materials, and style were used?