In the

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

, shape is a flat, enclosed

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an obje ...

of an

artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

created through lines, textures, or colours, or an area enclosed by other

shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external Surface (mathematics), surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, Surface texture, texture, or material type. A pl ...

s, such as

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three Edge (geometry), edges and three Vertex (geometry), vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, an ...

circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...

s, and

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...

s. Likewise, a form can refer to a

three-dimensional Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informal ...

composition or object within a three-dimensional composition. Specifically, it is an enclosed space, the boundaries of which are defined by other elements of art. Shapes are limited to two

dimension In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a Space (mathematics), mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any Point (geometry), point within it. Thus, a Line (geometry), lin ...

length Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Interna ...

and

width Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Interna ...

Form

A form is an artist's way of using elements of art, principles of design, and media. Form as an element of art is three-dimensional and encloses space. Like a shape, a form has length and width, but it also has depth. Forms are either geometric or free-form.

Categories

Geometric and organic

''Geometric shapes'' are precise edged and mathematically consistent curves, they are pure forms and so consist of circles, squares, spirals, triangles, while ''geometric forms'' are simple volumes, such as cubes, cylinders, and pyramids. They generally dominate architecture, technology, industry and crystalline structures. In contrast, ''organic shapes'' are free-form, unpredictable, and flowing in appearance. These shapes and ''organic forms'' visually suggest the natural world of animals, plants, sky, sea, etc... The addition of organic shapes to a composition dominated by geometric structures can add unpredictable energy. Bell Shaped Flowers

Positive and negative

A positive shape is a shape, that has details inside it, such as an outline of a human, with body features. Contrarily, a negative shape is a shape without any details; it's just an outline.

Representation

A shape that is representative is created by the flattening out of three-dimensional objects. Nothing is actually geometric, but can be interpreted as such by breaking it down to shapes that, when put together, form a recognizable silhouette.

References

External links

Basic 2D Vocabulary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shape And Form (Visual Arts) Artistic techniques Photographic techniques Sculpture techniques