Formal analysis is a visual structure the artist decides to use in order to get their painting to convey what they would like.  This includes lines, shapes, space, color,  texture, and value.  The artists choses where to place their main subject and with formal analysis they place the color that would contrast to help get their message across.  Formal analysis can be used in both two dimension and three dimension art by choosing specific material in order to create a specific texture in an art piece.

We can use principles of designs and elements of design to describe and understand a painting.  For example the artist creates a negative space and a positive space, with it his focus turns a specific are of the art work.  They also use balance, where they can make the art symmetrical and the “weight” can be the same on both sides.  Lastly for texture, they can visualize with paint and lines.  With the help of formal analysis we can understand a piece of art better by knowing why the artist used a specific structure in their art work.