Free WACE Visual Arts Flashcard Review

Line, colour, shape, texture, space, value (tone) and form. These are the building blocks of visual language; learn the list exactly, because examiners penalise principles offered as elements.

Unity, balance, hierarchy, scale, proportion, emphasis, similarity, repetition and contrast. Recent marking keys also credit pattern, variety and movement.

An element is an ingredient you can point to (a line, a colour, a texture); a principle is a relationship or arrangement of elements (balance, emphasis, contrast). If the word describes how parts are organised, it is a principle.

A mark or path with length and direction; it can be actual or implied, contour or gestural, thick or thin, straight, curved, broken or continuous, and can lead the eye or describe edges.

A line the eye completes without it being drawn, such as a gaze between figures, a row of objects or the edge where two areas of colour meet. Implied lines often create visual pathways.

A line that describes the outer edge or inner edges of a form, defining its shape and sometimes suggesting volume through changes in weight.

A loose, energetic line that records the movement of the artist's hand, conveying speed, energy or emotion more than precise description.

Building tone with closely spaced parallel lines (hatching) or layered intersecting sets of lines (cross-hatching); denser lines read as darker values.

The element produced by light reflecting from surfaces, described by hue, value (lightness) and intensity (saturation).

The name of a colour family, such as red, blue or yellow-green, as found on the colour wheel.

A hue mixed with white, making it lighter, such as pink from red.

A hue mixed with black, making it darker, such as maroon from red.

A hue mixed with grey, reducing its intensity. Do not confuse with value (tone) as the element of lightness and darkness.

How pure or vivid a hue is. Highly saturated colours are strong and bright; desaturated colours are dull, greyed or muted.

Red, yellow and blue in the traditional painter's colour wheel; they cannot be mixed from other pigments in that model and combine to make secondaries.

Orange, green and violet, each mixed from two primaries in the traditional colour wheel.

Hues opposite each other on the colour wheel, such as red and green or blue and orange. Placed side by side they intensify each other and create strong contrast.

Hues that sit next to each other on the colour wheel, such as blue, blue-green and green. They create harmony and unity.

A scheme using one hue in a range of tints, tones and shades. It produces strong unity and lets value carry the composition.

Warm hues (reds, oranges, yellows) tend to advance and feel energetic; cool hues (blues, greens, violets) tend to recede and feel calm or distant.