Elements and Principles of Visual Art and Design – Class 8 Arts Chapter 15 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 8ArtsChapter 15NCERT book: Kriti - Arts Class 8

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 15 of the NCERT Class 8 Arts book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 15: Elements and Principles of Visual Art and Design (Visual Arts)

Introduction

The Visual Arts section opens with a verse from the Chitrasutra of the Vishnudharmottara Purana (Adhyāya 40):

"The five basic colours are white, yellow, red, blue and black. But, O King, there are hundreds of others. By combining the primary colours, using one's imagination and discretion one could make hundred, even thousands of colours."

This chapter compares making art to cooking. Just as halwā is made by combining flour, sugar, ghee and water, a visual is made by combining elements — and just as good food needs the right proportions, a good artwork follows principles.

Key Ideas

The Seven Elements of Visual Art and Design

Point — a dot; the smallest element in any visual.

Line — the visible path joining two points. Lines can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal, dashed, wavy, zig-zagged, and can vary in thickness.

Shape and form — a shape is a flat, two-dimensional area enclosed by a line (geometric or organic). A form is three-dimensional: it occupies space and has depth. The book shows the Lion Capital (Mauryan period, circa 250 BCE) as an example of form.

Texture — can be physical (felt by touching: soft, rough, grainy, silky, prickly) or visual (seen through patterns of lines and dots).

Colour — visible when light is reflected and perceived by our eyes. Colours are extracted from nature or made synthetically as dyes and pigments.

Value or Tone — the lightness or darkness of a colour. Adding white gives tints; adding black gives shades. Together they create colour gradations.

Space — where elements are organised and composed. It has positive and negative space, and a foreground and background (seen in the Bodhisattva Vajrapani mural in Ajanta Cave 1).

Modern Indian Artists and Their Inspirations

Jamini Roy (1887–1972) — Mother and Child, tempera on canvas; inspired by East Asian calligraphy, terracotta temple friezes, folk arts and crafts.

Meera Mukherjee — Spirit of Daily Work, bronze; inspired by Dhokra metal work.

Syed Haider Raza — Untitled, aquatint; inspired by Indian forest landscapes and the concept of Bindu (point or dot) from Indian philosophy.

Shadanga — The Six Limbs of Art

Codified in the Vishnudharmottara Purana, Shadanga guides how to combine elements tastefully:

Roopabhedah pramānāni bhāva-lāvanya-yojanam | Sādrishyam varnikābhangam iti chitram shadāngakam ||

Roopabhedah — difference between forms

Pramānāni — measurement and structure

Bhāva — expression and emotion

Lāvanya Yojanam — aesthetic composition and grace

Sādrishyam — similitude and resemblance

Varnikabhangam — use of tools and colours

The Six Principles of Visual Art and Design

Explained using Jamini Roy's Mother and Child:

Unity and Harmony — elements brought together pleasingly (the combination of colours; the plant stem echoing lines on the mother's clothes).

Balance — visual stability, either symmetrical (a similar large image) or asymmetrical (many small images). Seen in the mother's Tribhanga posture and the child's position.

Rhythm and Movement — guide the eye through pattern and repetition.

Emphasis — making one element stand out (the coloured palm holding the flower).

Proportion — the relationship between sizes (the baby's size compared with the mother).

Hierarchy — the order of importance (the mother gets the most space, then the child, then surroundings).

Activities

15.1 Identify the Visual Elements — study a maandana painted on a hut wall, a Thanjavur-style plate and an embroidered tapestry.

15.2 Make a Journal of Visual Elements — sketch objects, plants, textiles and architectural details daily for a week and label the elements.

15.3 Identify the Principles — analyse a 5th-century terracotta Ganga sculpture (rhythm in the legs and water-like cloth) and Jyoti Bhatt's etching 'Devi' (emphasis from the red bindi).

15.4 Apply the Principles — design a personal symbol or motif; make multiple iterations using symmetry/asymmetry, repetition, proportion, emphasis and hierarchy, then bring it together in harmony.

Key Terms

Element — a basic ingredient of a visual (तत्त्व)

Principle — a rule for combining elements (सिद्धांत)

Point — a dot (बिंदु)

Line — path joining two points (रेखा)

Shape — flat 2D area (आकार)

Form — 3D shape with depth (रूप)

Texture — surface feel or look (बनावट)

Tint — colour + white (हल्का रंग)

Shade — colour + black (गहरा रंग)

Negative space — empty space around subjects (रिक्त स्थान)

Balance — visual stability (संतुलन)

Emphasis — making something stand out (बल)

Proportion — size relationship (अनुपात)

Hierarchy — order of importance (पदानुक्रम)

Shadanga — six limbs of art (षडंग)

Connect to Your Life

Look at a festival rangoli, a textbook cover or a shop sign: which element grabs your attention first? That is emphasis at work. Your school uniform's pattern shows rhythm; a well-arranged notice board shows balance and hierarchy.

Common Mistakes

Confusing shape (flat, 2D) with form (3D, has depth).

Mixing up tint (add white) and shade (add black).

Thinking balance must always be symmetrical — asymmetrical balance is equally valid.

Treating elements and principles as the same: elements are ingredients, principles are how you combine them.

Let's Reflect

Which element did you notice most often in your visual journal?

In your personal motif, which principle changed your design the most?

The book says observations can differ between friends and "they can all be valid" — explain your reasoning with evidence from the artwork.

💡 Key Learning Points

✓Name and explain the seven visual elements: point, line, shape/form, texture, colour, value/tone and space.
✓Understand Shadanga, the six limbs of art from the Vishnudharmottara Purana.
✓Identify the six principles: unity and harmony, balance, rhythm and movement, emphasis, proportion and hierarchy.
✓Recognise how Jamini Roy, Meera Mukherjee and S. H. Raza drew on Indian traditions.
✓Apply elements and principles to design and refine a personal motif through iterations.

👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

→Start with the halwā recipe analogy: list ingredients (elements) and then discuss why proportion and cooking method (principles) matter.
→Take students outdoors to spot each of the seven elements in buildings, trees and textiles for their visual journal.
→Use Jamini Roy's Mother and Child as a single anchor artwork to walk through all six principles one by one.
→Show tints and shades with a quick paint demo: one colour mixed step-by-step with white and with black.
→Chant the Shadanga verse together and match each limb to an example artwork.
→For Activity 15.4, insist on at least three iterations and have students explain what changed each time.
→Accept varied answers in Activity 15.3 as long as students justify them with visual evidence.

📋 Assessment Questions

Can the student list the seven visual elements and give one example of each?
Can the student distinguish shape from form and tint from shade?
Can the student name the six limbs of Shadanga with their meanings?
Can the student identify at least two principles in a given artwork and justify them?
Does the student's personal motif show deliberate use of balance, emphasis and hierarchy?

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← Previous: Chapter 14A Presentation of Dance and Choreography Next: Chapter 16 →Still Life in Colour