Vocabulary

This vocabulary list was pulled from https://westminsterschools.libguides.com/ & is a great reference for your artist statements & comments.   _______________________________________

ELEMENTS 

SPACE: Distance, area, volume; physical space independent of what occupies it; absolute space. 

LINE: The edge or outline of a form, the meeting of planes; linear materials include: wire, wood, metal rod, string or any materials with a long, thin shape.

PLANE: A flat or level surface. Planar materials include: foam core, cardboard, sheet metal, plastic sheets, and plywood.

MASS/VOLUME: Closed, independent, three-dimensional form - completely surrounded by space. Volumetric materials include: blocks of plaster, wood, or stone. Sometimes mass refers to a positive solid and volume refers to a negative, open space surrounded by material, as in a bowl or other vessel. 

SHAPE: Positive and negative -  

• Positive shape is the totality of the mass lying between its contours; in three-dimensional work, the visible shape or outer limit of a form changes as the viewer's position is changed. These outer limits are seen as shapes moving back and forth between major contours.
• Negative space is empty space defined by a positive shape. Sometimes referred to as occupied and unoccupied space. 

VALUE: Light and shadows on the surface of forms; quantity of light actually reflected by an object's surface. Value changes might be affected by the addition of color to the surface of a work. 

TEXTURE: The surface quality of a form: rough, smooth, weathered, and so on. 

COLOR: In 3D design, the actual color of the material being used. 

PRINCIPLES of 3D Design

PRINCIPLES

UNITY/HARMONY: Resolution of forces in opposition, everything in the artwork works together; everything seems to belong because of one common thing that all of the elements in the work share (example: lots of different shapes, but united through similar texture); (one or more elements in an artwork are similar, uniting the artwork). 

CONTRAST/VARIETY: Different qualities or characteristics in a form; interest generated in a work by using a variety of shapes, forms, textures, and so on. 

RHYTHM/REPETITION: Rhythm is the result of replication; three rhythmic devices include:

1. ​The duplication of the same form
2. Two forms used alternately, and
3. The sequential change of a form (large to small, for example)

EMPHASIS: Something in the work must dominate. A high point or climax occurring in the work, or the domination of a motif or design element. 

BALANCE: Ordered relationship of parts. Whether symmetrical or asymmetrical; equilibrium.

• Symmetrical Balance: Equal visual units right and left/top to bottom of an imaginary center point. 
• Asymmetrical Balance: Visual balance achieved by dissimilar visual units, for example: two or three small shapes on the right balancing one larger shape on the left.

PROPORTION/SCALE: Elements compared, one to another, in terms of their properties of size, quantity, and degree of emphasis.