Once you have an understand of exactly what lines are, how those lines work and the different things you can do with the different types of lines, in truth most of the work of learning about the second element of graphic design is already complete. However, at the same time there are some added concepts when you transition from lines to shapes and therefore it is still worth devoting a post to the discussion of the shape element of graphic design.

Shapes are simply objects that are enclosed, which is what denotes them from a contour drawing (refer to the previous posts on lines for definition of a contour drawing). Shapes can either be created from the intersection of multiple lines, or they can be created from changes in colour and value (refer to the previous post on lines for a discussion on value) that create enclosed shapes in those changes.

Since shapes are two dimensional, they do not have either a volume or a mass, which is the main difference between shapes in a painting and parts of a sculpture.

One thing that you need to understand about shapes as well is that they are intimately linked to one of the most important concepts of graphic design. The concept is known as positive and negative space and it will be discussed in more detail in the next post.

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