Two Dimensional Design - Building a composition

The anatomy of the picture is always more important than the anatomy of the subject.
 - Marc Awodey


To achieve harmony in a design there must be balance and order.

1. Grouping for order
2. Balance of opposites

A work of art is a composition of shapes, colors, textures and tones arranged in a specific manner. Some elements have to change to create excitement while others have to repeat to create unity. The combination is variable but there has to be a balance between the two.

Shapes

1. Geometric
2. Organic

There are two things that can change, the kind of shapes and the sizes of the shapes. For our composition I will use geometric shapes limited to squares and rectangles that will insure unity.


A composition is an arrangement, built out of parts, that aims at seamlessness. - Eric Maisel

Building a composition with line -------------------------

I have used vertical and horizontal lines to begin the composition. The division has created two square and four rectangles white shapes. The problem here is that it is too monotonous and needs greater change to make it more exciting.

I have added more lines and changed the width, this has also created a greater variety of white shapes. The new arrangement is a higher quality than our start but still can be pushed further. We can use more change and the shapes need to be grouped.

This next example has the balance and order we are looking for. 

The following elements change as well as repeat.

Line -  vertical to horizontal - 

Line Width -  thick to thin - 

White Shapes - small to large -

Areas - complex and simple.

Order has been obtained by grouping the small black lines and small white shapes.

By filling in some of the larger shapes with black we get more change and a stronger play between positive and negative.

The complex area is also the focal point, more on that in the next post.

It is important that the artist... understands the importance of composition, the golden mean... the universal symbols... The concept of perfect balance is an intrical part of this process, not only in the art but in our lives.  - Kathleen Carrillo

Two Dimensional Design - Seeing Beyond the Details

The whole is more than the sum of its parts - Aristotle

Everything is built from small pieces, atoms, molecules, pixels, paint dabs etc. It is easy to get lost in the details and miss the big picture so we group the small things together to organize our world.

Grouping for Order in our world

All the light hours are grouped together to make day, the dark hours make night, trees are grouped to make the forrest and clouds are grouped to make storms. Cold temperatures are grouped to make winter and warm temperatures summer, similar animals stay together to form flocks or herds. We group our silverware in a kitchen draw, our tools in a box and our cloths in the  closet. Everywhere you look things are grouped, an assemblage of like elements to form an organized pattern. 

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once - Albert Einstein 

Grouping for Order in Art

Again, if elements in the natural world are arranged because they have a relationship with each other then it would follow that it also has to happen in art. Similar items, shapes, color and value, on a two dimensional surface have to be linked to each other to create an orderly composition.

It doesn't matter if the shapes form a realistic or abstract image, what matters is the close arrangement of similar parts.

Connecting Values

The dark colors are grouped together to form a large dark shape as are the light colors. 

There are many small shapes and textures that build into larger shapes.

Connecting small shapes

 All the small shapes are grouped toward the center to create a larger horizontal shape. We are no longer aware of each small detail but read the big picture as one.

A visual composition is an organizing process that weaves all the small parts together to produce a unified harmonious whole.

Like elements...... shapes, color, value and tone are grouped to create order.

Design is everything. It is the structure of the painting. Among the major principles of design, unity is probably the most important... how the elements work together. - Marion Starr