Shape vs. Form

We are studying Shape vs. Form. You may recall that we have been discussing in class that everything is made up of different shapes. The artist looks at the world and figures what shapes match best with what they are attempting to draw. If you combine shapes you can create complex forms. 

Shapes are what something looks like. Form is what something is. 

Garfield is supposed to be a cat. Most veterinarians would be freaked out if a cat actually looked like Garfield, but Garfield has enough features of a cat form that we can assume he's indeed a cat. The important features about Garfield's personality is that he's fat and lazy. Fat is a round shape. So to emphasize the idea he's really fat the artist used lots of round shapes. So round is Garfield's shape, but Garfield is a cat so cat is his form.

What connects shapes to create forms is called the contour. Contour is the outline of a form. So we build with shapes to create forms. This image is a representation of the form of an elephant. The elephant in this image is made up of many shapes. It is the outline, or the contour line that helps the viewer to understand that this is an elephant. The lines that defines what these shapes added together is the contour line. Contour = Outline.

There are two different types of shapes we need to aware of when creating our forms.