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The Principles of Design 

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Difference Between The Elements and Principles of Art

It's easy to get confused when discussing the elements and principles of art and group them all together as one big group of abstract terms.  It's much easier to understand when you compare them to cooking.

When you are cooking something, you have a list of ingredients that are organized by the recipe.  The elements of art are the ingredients.   If you are a good cook, then you care about quality ingredients. The same is true if you are a good artist.  You care about the quality of elements that you chose to put in your artwork. 

The lines, shapes, forms, values, colours, textures, and spaces that are incorporated must all work to make your artwork great.  The elements must be used as quality ingredients in an artwork.

So you must spend some time exploring them, understanding them, and learning how to use them together effectively. 

 

The same is true of cooking - you cannot just throw a list of great ingredients together and expect to create a great dish.  You must follow the recipe. 

The recipe is the principles of art.  The principles of art are an organized way that the elements of art are arranged in a work of art. 

The elements can be arranged in an artwork to produce balance, harmony, unity, rhythm, proportion, variety, emphasis, and movement. 

So the principles of art are dependent on the elements.  No elements - no principles.  No ingredients - no recipe.

So you must explore the principles as well.  Creating good artwork is not just a skill.  It is definitely not luck or trial and error.  It is knowledge. 

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Movement & Pattern

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Proportion 

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Balance 

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Variety

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Emphasis

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Unity

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