1.1 | Design Elements Exercises

Go through the design revision process to create abstract designs for 4 of the Elements of Art

Line Assignment

Process

Create Thumbnails

  • Use letter size plain paper to sketch small ideas. (Thumbnails worksheet)

  • Using a pencil, draw a variety of lines with varying thickness and distance from each other across the thumbnail box. Repeat for each thumbnail box.

  • As you work on your thumbnails, experiment with as many different types of line as they can think of—thick, thin, wavy, dotted, etc.

  • You should create 16 unique thumbnails, then evaluate their work, and select the three strongest sketches. What makes a strong idea could be composition, great movement, eye-catching contrast, or a host of other qualities. You will usually know when a design is successful, but may not have the ability to create a successful design themselves until you have practiced many times.

Create Roughs

  • Make your own rough sketch on plain letter-sized paper, (Roughs worksheet)

  • Continuing to work in pencil with their three chosen thumbnails, you should develop each thumbnail sketch into a more developed design (roughs). A rough is drawn more neatly and with more care than a thumbnail, and can be started in pencil and completed with a pen.

  • When roughs are complete, evaluate your work and select the strongest rough. If they don’t know which is the strongest, you can ask other students for help. Continually refining your work strengthens and develops your design sense.

Document/Save

  • Photograph your roughs for use during the elements of design final project.

Shape Assignment

Go through the Design revision process to create an abstract composition based on the element of shape.

Process

Create Thumbnails

  • You may use the pre-printed thumbnail sheets , or work on plain, letter-size paper if you prefer.

  • Using a pencil, draw four shapes that have similar qualities (e.g. four geometric shapes or four organic shapes) in each thumbnail box.

  • As you work on your thumbnails, challenge yourself to arrange the shapes in each thumbnail so as to allow the viewer’s eye to move from one shape to the other with ease.

  • You should create 16 unique thumbnails, and then evaluate their work using the same process you did in the line assignment, selecting the three sketches you feel are the strongest or most successful.

Create Roughs

  • You should create 16 unique thumbnails, and then evaluate their work using the same process they did in the line assignment, selecting the three sketches they feel are the strongest or most successful.

  • Continuing to work in pencil with their three chosen thumbnails, you should develop each thumbnail sketch into a more developed design (roughs). A rough is drawn more neatly and with more care than a thumbnail, and can be started in pencil and completed with a pen.

  • When roughs are complete, evaluate your work and select the strongest rough. If they don’t know which is the strongest, you can ask other students for help. Continually refining your work strengthens and develops your design sense.

Document/Save

  • Photograph your roughs for use during the elements of design final project.

Texture Assignment

Go through the Design revision process to create an abstract composition based on the element of line.

Process

Create Thumbnails

  • Use letter size plain paper to sketch small ideas. (Thumbnails worksheet)

  • Using a pencil, draw a variety of lines with varying thickness and distance from each other across the thumbnail box. Repeat for each thumbnail box.

  • As you work on your thumbnails, experiment with as many different types of line as they can think of—thick, thin, wavy, dotted, etc.

  • You should create 16 unique thumbnails, then evaluate their work, and select the three strongest sketches. What makes a strong idea could be composition, great movement, eye-catching contrast, or a host of other qualities. You will usually know when a design is successful, but may not have the ability to create a successful design themselves until you have practiced many times.

Create Roughs

*Make your own rough sketch on plain letter-sized paper, (Roughs worksheet)

*Continuing to work in pencil with their three chosen thumbnails, you should develop each thumbnail sketch into a more developed design (roughs). A rough is drawn more neatly and with more care than a thumbnail, and can be started in pencil and completed with a pen.

*When roughs are complete, evaluate your work and select the strongest rough. If they don’t know which is the strongest, you can ask other students for help. Continually refining your work strengthens and develops your design sense.

Document/Save

  • Photograph your roughs for use during the elements of design final project.

Color Assignment

Go through the Design revision process to create an abstract composition based on the element of line.

Process

Create Thumbnails

  • Use letter size plain paper to sketch small ideas. (Thumbnails worksheet)

  • Using colored pencil, draw thumbnails for 16 different abstract patterns.

  • As you work on your thumbnails, look at your previous designs, and try to create designs that make different use of line, shape, and texture, and that create different focal points for the viewer.

  • Once you have 16 unique thumbnails in pencil, apply two contrasting colors of the purest hue (e.g. purple as opposed to violet red, green as opposed to yellow green) to their thumbnails. Consider what could happen when the colors overlap, or how the design might change if they leave certain areas white.

  • With two colors applied, evaluate your work, selecting the three sketches you feel are the strongest.

Create Roughs

  • Working from your three chosen thumbnails, develop each sketch into a more developed design. In each rough, have students use different hues of their chosen colors (e.g. adding violet red to purple, or lime to green) to create a sense of motion or energy, calm or stillness in each design.

  • When your roughs are complete, evaluate your work and select the rough you feel is the strongest.

Document/Save

  • Photograph your roughs for use during the elements of design final project.</text>

Organize (File Management)

  1. Ensure that Google Drive for Desktop is syncing to your computer.
  2. Create a Project Directory (Folder) in your Google Drive Google Drive/My Drive/Digital Design/YYYY-MM PROJECT NAME
  3. Try to keep all of your project files for this project together, so your work is not interrupted due to technical issues.

Storing all your files in the /Downloads folder in your computer is a BAD idea. If any of these files are lost/deleted you will have to reconnect them. Put them in your project folder directly. This will also be helpful in the event of any computer issues.

  1. In your project directory, maintain subdirectories for every category of resource you will be using.
YYYY-MM Project Name
📁 Graphics
📁 Sketches
📁 Photos
📁 Notes
  1. It’s also good to include directories for related files
📁 Project Files
📁 Exports