Formal analysis is the most commonly used technique in art. This technique, using the elements of art, allows the individual scrutinizing an art piece to understand what the artist is trying to convey through his/her work. A formal analysis is not an interpretation but a deep understanding of what we see through the basic elements of art. These elements are line, color, shape, value (chiaroscuro), texture, space and form (3-dimensional shapes). These basic elements allows an individual to generalize simple findings into larger questions. In other words, in class we were discussing Titan’s Venus of Urbino and noted that Venus is drawn with soft lines, and that she is a large portion of the painting. This is a small faction of what we can analyze and of what we did analyze, but with these finding we can ask “What is the artist trying to accomplish with these soft lines, or why is Venus (other then the fact that her name is the in title of the artwork) such a large portion of the painting?” Other then just saying, “What color’s are in the painting,” we can ask in depth, “Are the colors highly saturated, or less saturated; Are they warm or cold?” These simple elements answer a great scheme formed by the artist or in better terms simplifies the composition to understand the painting in depth.  In short, formal analysis is us reading the story told by the artist through these elements.