The 7 Principles of Art: What Each One Does and How to Use It

You can paint every leaf beautifully and still end up with a painting that doesn’t work. Often the trouble is how it’s arranged, and the seven principles of art help you find the problem.

What are the 7 principles of art?

The 7 principles of art are balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm and unity. Here’s what each one does:

1. Balance: how the visual weight spreads across the canvas.
2. Contrast: how different two things are, most often light against dark.
3. Emphasis: the spot where the eye lands.
4. Movement: the path the eye takes to get there.
5. Pattern: a shape, mark or color that repeats.
6. Rhythm: the pace of those repeats.
7. Unity: the feeling that everything belongs in the same painting.

No official list exists, so don’t panic if yours looks different. UC Berkeley’s library guide names eight, adding proportion and variety and leaving out contrast. Both extras get their own section below.

What’s the difference between elements and principles of art?

The elements of art are your ingredients, and the principles are how you arrange them. Line, shape, form, color, value, texture and scale are what you put on the canvas.

A red shape is an element. Making it the only red in a gray painting, so the eye goes straight to it, uses two principles: contrast and emphasis.

Picture your painting as a movie. The focal point is the lead actress, the shapes around it are the supporting cast and the background is the extras. You decide who the audience watches and when. That’s composition, and the principles are your tools for it.

What is balance in art?

Balance is how visual weight spreads across the canvas. Big shapes, dark values and busy areas all weigh more, so a small dark shape can balance a large pale one.

It comes in three types:

• Symmetrical: both sides are close to mirror images.
• Asymmetrical: the sides are different but still feel even.
• Radial: everything spreads out from a center.

The most common balance problem is a bottom-heavy painting. When the bottom is very dark and nothing leads the eye up out of it, the whole piece feels like it’s sinking. To fix it, lighten part of the bottom and build a path of light that carries the eye upward.

Symmetry has its own trap. If something goes in the middle, measure it and put it dead center, because almost-centered just looks like a mistake. Once that’s set, vary the smaller things around it, like an irregular line or a change of shape, so the painting doesn’t go stiff.

What is contrast in art?

Contrast is the difference between two things, and value (light against dark) is the one to learn first. Your strongest contrast pulls the eye, so save it for the place you want people to look.

Keep it lower everywhere else. In a landscape, pale, close values in the distance make those hills fall back. Strong darks and lights back there will flatten the whole piece.

You can also contrast color, texture, size and edges. Try a soft edge next to a harsh one on a boring passage. It costs you one stroke.

What is emphasis in art?

Emphasis is what you give the focal point, the place where the eye lands and pauses. It shouldn’t be the only place the eye ever goes. If one spot grabs attention like the center of a target and holds it, nobody sees the rest of your painting.

Open Caravaggio’s The Incredulity of Saint Thomas and follow the path. You usually come in at Thomas’s elbow, climb up through the faces, then drop down and land on his finger pressing into the wound. Everything in the painting points there.

Placement is simple. Split your canvas into thirds both ways, like the grid on your phone camera, and put the focal point near one of the four spots where the lines cross. Stay away from the dead middle and the edges.

What is movement in art?

Movement is the path the eye travels through a painting. You build it with lines and shapes that point somewhere.

Bring the eye in from an edge. A river can carry it to the focal point. Clouds can do the same job, so place them on purpose.

Three things stop the eye cold:

• Triangles in the corner: when a shape boxes off a triangle in a corner of the canvas, the eye goes in and gets stuck, like a ball in a dead end of a maze.
• Tangents: two edges that just barely touch make the viewer feel uneasy. Overlap them or pull them apart.
• Floating subjects: a subject that touches no edge feels unanchored. Let it touch or run off the edge of the canvas, on up to three sides.

If you crop a figure, don’t cut at a joint like the wrist, knee or ankle.

Then give the eye somewhere to rest, like a plain area beside a busy one. A painting that’s busy everywhere feels frantic.

What is pattern in art?

Pattern is any shape, mark or color that repeats. Dots, stripes, leaves and even a repeated brushstroke all count.

Put pattern on an object, like a dress or a tabletop. A big patch of it laid across a portrait will flatten the face, unless you’re going for something whimsical on purpose.

Watch for pattern stuck in one pocket of the canvas. Repeat a little of it somewhere else, and it’ll balance the painting and tie your subject to the background.

What is rhythm in art?

Rhythm is the pace of your repeats. Same size and same spacing feels like marching. Change the sizes and gaps and it feels more like a dance.

Three flowers of different sizes keep the eye moving better than four that match, so many painters reach for odd numbers. The even number you’ll paint most is two people. Connect them so they read as one shape, instead of standing them side by side without touching.

What is unity in art?

Unity is the feeling that everything belongs in the same painting. The easiest way to get it is a limited palette, so every color looks related to the others.

Repeating an idea helps too. Frida Kahlo’s monkeys turn up across many of her paintings, and that repeated image, called a motif, ties them together.

Push unity too far and everything starts to look the same. That’s when you need variety.

What are proportion and variety?

Proportion is how sizes relate to each other, and variety is how many differences you’ve given the eye. They’re the two principles most often added to the list.

Proportion: the classic guide is the golden ratio, about 1 to 1.6, and you don’t need a calculator for it. A simpler tool is uneven division. When you’re stuck, split the canvas into three unequal parts and you’ll have something to hang your composition on.

Variety: ask what’s different on every layer. Your lines shouldn’t all be the same thickness, and your edges shouldn’t all be the same softness. In a Milan Art abstract lesson, the teacher spots two collage pieces torn to the same size and goes looking for a different size and shape next.

How do you use the 7 principles of art in a drawing?

You use them the same way, and a drawing is the cheapest place to practice. Before you paint, make a few small thumbnail sketches in charcoal, working only in big shapes and values.

1. Mark your focal point on a rule-of-thirds spot.
2. Put your darkest dark beside your lightest light right there.
3. Draw a lead-in from one edge.
4. Keep the far distance pale.
5. Vary your line thickness.

Five or ten minutes on a thumbnail is a cheap way to catch a bad composition before you’ve painted it.

How do you check a painting against the principles?

Stand far back, as if you were at the back of a gallery, and run down this list:

• Balance: does it feel heavy at the bottom?
• Contrast: is the strongest contrast at the focal point?
• Emphasis: where does your eye land and pause?
• Movement: does anything trap the eye, like a corner triangle or a tangent?
• Pattern: is it stuck in one pocket?
• Rhythm: is everything the same size?
• Unity: do the colors feel related?

Once you’ve got these down, you can break any of them, as long as you do it on purpose.

Start with the last painting that bugged you when you couldn’t say why. Run the list and see which line stops you.

Frequently asked questions

What are the 7 principles of art?

The 7 principles of art are balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm and unity. They describe how an artist arranges the elements of art on the canvas, so the eye knows where to go and the painting feels like one piece.

What is the difference between the elements and principles of art?

The elements are the ingredients: line, shape, form, color, value, texture and scale. The principles are how you arrange those ingredients. A red shape is an element. Making it the only red in a gray painting, so the eye lands there, uses the principles of contrast and emphasis.

Are there 7 or 8 principles of art?

It depends on the list, because no official version exists. Most lists name seven, and the mix changes. Proportion and variety are the two most often added, and some lists drop contrast or pattern to make room. Learn those nine, the seven here plus proportion and variety, and you've covered most lists.

What is the difference between pattern and rhythm in art?

Pattern is the thing that repeats, such as a shape, a mark or a color. Rhythm is the pace of those repeats. Change the sizes and the gaps between them and the same pattern gets a livelier rhythm.

Which principle of art should a beginner learn first?

Start with emphasis. Once you know where the eye should land, you know where to put your strongest contrast, what your lines should lead toward and which areas can stay simple.

Are the principles of art the same as the principles of design?

They're mostly the same ideas, and many teachers use the names together as the principles of art and design. Lists written for graphic design often add white space, because layouts depend on it.