Elements of Design 

The elements of design is the jumping off point for drawing and painting. To thoroughly understand these elements they are all interchangeable with other art forms such as dance, music, theater. Even though these elements have similar if not same names, they are very specific to visual arts. I always equate the elements and principles to baking a cake. The elements are the ingredients, the principles are the how to put it together. The very beginning to any piece of artwork is line, or more specifically dot – a line has to start from somewhere.

You may not use every element in every piece of artwork you create and that is fine. As you are working think about which elements you are using, and more progressively the principles as well. But you don’t have to sit down and think of the elements first, they will fall into place as your piece grows. As we work through this course you will learn the elements singularly, with both the terminology and practice.