Design Principles

Design Principles Creating Artworks Principles of Art

Design Styles • Linear—when great importance is placed on contours or outlines. • Used to add interest or unity to their work— • Objects are clearly defined and stand out on their own— • Painterly—(de-emphasizing line) Artists who try to eliminate or conceal the outline of objects in their works. • Contour lines seem to disappear.

Aesthetic Viewpoints • Taste is a personal matter. But we use a criteria to analyze art. • When we talk about art, we refer to different “aesthetic views” to talk about these differences in what we believe is most important in the artwork. • An aesthetic view is an idea or school of thought on what is most important in a work of art. • What do you think is most important in creating a good work of art? • Making it look real, or lifelike? • Successfully using the elements and principles of art? • Having an important idea to communicate?

Aesthetics: Subject View • Subject—importance on an objectWhen the most important goal in creating an artwork is to make it look very real and convincing, we call that having a subject view. A work’s subject is an image viewers can easily identify. Haskell's House, 1924 by Edward Hopper • What would someone with a subject view think of this painting?

Aesthetics: Composition View • Composition—importance on the way artistic elements are usedA second aesthetic view of art is the composition view. In this view, the most important factor in an artwork is its composition. The composition is the way the principles are used to organize the elements of art. Railroad in Spring, 1933 by Charles E. Burchfield • Would you say that the artist had a subject view or a composition view? What facts would you use to support your opinion?

Aesthetics: Content View • Content—importance of the messageA third aesthetic view is the content view. Content in an artwork refers to the message, idea, or feeling expressed by a work of art. If you believe that expression is most important in an artwork, then you are taking the content view. • Look at the following painting. Do you think that the artist is trying to express a feeling or idea in it? If so, what? Do you think that content is the most important factor in this painting? Why or why not? Sun Glitter, 1945 by Charles E. Burchfield

Design Focus • Decide what will be the most important aspect of your composition? • Will it be about the subject, making it realistic? • Will it be how you organize and use the elements of art so that can achieve the desired result? • Or, is it about communicating a message, belief, or idea that you want others to understand or feel? • Name your work—by giving your work a title it will help to guide you toward a fixed point or goal.

Design Principles • Unity • Balance • Emphasis • Harmony • Variety • Gradation • Movement • Rhythm • Proportion

Unity • Unity- is the look and feel of wholeness or oneness in a work of art. • The organization of balance, emphasis, harmony, variety, graduation, movement, rhythm, and proportion are the principles of design that artists use to achieve UNITY in a work.

Unity An overall concept or principle. It refers to the total effect of a work of art. All artists draw from the same reservoir of elements and principle, but few are able to take those elements and principles and fashion works of art that are unique, exciting, and achieve unity. Thomas Hart Benton. The Sources of Country Music. 1975. Acrylic on canvas. 6 X 10’. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Nashville, TN.

Balance • Balance— refers to the way of combining elements to add a feeling of equilibrium or stability to a work of art. • 3 kinds of balance: • Symmetrical—formal, 2 halves are identical • Asymmetrical—informal, balancing of elements and qualities that is “felt” visually • Radial—objects are positioned around a central point

Formal Balance Jessie Oonark. A Shaman’s Helping Spirits. 1971 Stonecut and stencil on paper. Notice that all parts of this picture are equally distributed on either side of an imaginary line drawn through the center. (The left is a mirror image of the right.)

Joseph M.W. Turner. Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons. 1834. Oil on canvas.

Stained-glass window (West rose window). Chartres Cathedral, France. 1153-1260.

Emphasis • Emphasis— or contrast, is a way of combining elements to stress the differences between those elements of art. • Contrasting elements is a way to direct focus on the most important parts of a design. Artist use obvious contrasts that establish centers of interest in their works.

Emphasis The vertical shapes in the center of this work contrast with the larger round shapes at the sides. What other contrasts are there in this painting? Georgia Mills Jessup. Rainy Night Downtown. 1967 Oil on Canvas

Harmony • Harmony— refers to a way of combining similar elements in an artwork to accent those similarities. • Accomplished through the use of repetitions and subtle, gradual changes. • Caution is used not to make the work look to busy so a limited number of elements are used to tie the picture into a harmonious whole.

Harmony The artist’s preoccupation with color is clearly evident in this work. What colors has he used repeatedly to lend harmony to this painting? Can you identify any other elements that have been repeated to give the work a uniform appearance? Robert Delaunay. Portuguese Still Life. 1916 Oil on Canvas

Variety • Variety— is a way of combining elements in involved ways to create intricate and complicated relationships in a work. • It is achieved through diversity and change. It is used when the artist wants/needs to increase the visual interest in his/her work. • Caution is used to blend harmony and variety to form a unified whole in the work.

Yves Tanguy. Multiplication of the Arcs. 1954. Oil on Canvas Variety In this painting, the artist assembles a complex array of large and small forms in a variety of light and dark values to create a haunting landscape unlike anything found on this planet. If you wanted to add harmony to this composition, what might you do? In doing so what would you need to keep in mind?

Gradation • Gradation— refers to a way of combining elements by using a series of gradual changes in those elements. • Unlike emphasis, which often stresses sudden and abrupt changes in elements, gradation stresses ordered, step-by-step, subtle changes • Example: small to large shapes or a dark to a light hue

Antonio M . Ruiz. School Children on Parade. 1936. Oil on Canvas Gradation Notice the step by step change from larger to smaller shapes. What does this gradual change from large r to smaller accomplish?

Movement • Movement— is the principle of design used to create the look and feeling of action and to guide the viewer’s eye throughout the work. • In two-dimensional works a look or sensation of movement is an illusion. • Some three-dimensional works may actually be designed to move. • Achieved by the placement of elements so that the eye follows a path.

Movement This painting of the interior of a church in Paris draws the viewer’s eye toward the center. Look at the manner in which the artist uses the walls , arch beams, and floor to move the viewer through the passage way. What techniques and elements of art did the artist purposely use to guide the viewer to the center? Robert Delaunay. Saint-Séverin No. 3.1941. Oil on Canvas.

Rhythm • Rhythm— is created by the careful placement of repeated elements in a work of art that causes a visual tempo or beat. • Closely related to movement. • Gives the viewer’s eye to ability to jump rapidly or glide smoothly from one point to the next • Can be gained through repetition or through visual contrasts in which elements are repeated and combined.

Rhythm The repeated vertical lines and the contrasts of the light and dark values create a rhythm of movement. The viewer can visually feel the beat –by-beat rhythm as the figure moves downward . What is the center of interest in this work? Marcel Duchamp. Nude Descending a Staircase #2. 1912. Oil on Canvas

Proportion • Proportion— is the principle of art concerned with the relationship of certain elements to the whole and to each other. • Closely related to emphasis. • In the past and in other cultures, artist often relied on proportion to signify the most important figures or objects (such as a king would be made to look much larger than his subjects

Proportion Keeping the object and features in correct alignment and size. Placing important objects as the central or key figure by an exaggerated largeness. How does the artist purposely ensure the work will be the correct proportions? Dr. Johann Gottfried SchadowThe Sculptor and Art Student's Guide to the Proportions of the Human Form. (Book illustration.)

Proportion What might the larger female figure signify in this portrayal of African culture in this ceremonial bowl?

Unity An overall concept or principle. It refers to the total effect of a work of art. All artists draw from the same reservoir of elements and principle, but few are able to take those elements and principles and fashion works of art that are unique, exciting, and achieve unity. Thomas Hart Benton. The Sources of Country Music. 1975. Acrylic on canvas. 6 X 10’. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Nashville, TN.

Design Principles • Unity • Balance • Emphasis • Harmony • Variety • Gradation • Movement • Rhythm • Proportion

Design Principles