Beginning Project 2: Nursery Rhyme

–The Principles of Design–

Balance

In art, balance refers to the state of visual equilibrium in its design. This equilibrium can be found symmetrically, asymmetrically or radially.

Try running an imaginary line vertically through the centre of the image below and you’ll find that the Batman logo makes for an impressive example of symmetrical balance.

Batman logo
Batman logo

On the other hand, the following images do not have that imaginary line

An example of asymmetrical balance
An example of asymmetrical balance

 

Another example of asymmetrical balance
Another example of asymmetrical balance

And yet, they still seem to be rather ‘stable’ in the visual sense. Why is that so?

First, let us analyse the size of the objects in the image. Taking the first example, one large square balances off many much smaller squares. The large square is also closer to the pivot than the smaller squares. This conforms very nicely to the rules in physics and thus, just as we tend to associate larger objects with a larger mass and therefore greater weight, so does a larger object carry greater visual weight, allowing it to ‘balance’ the much smaller weights in the image.

The second image is much more interesting, I feel. The triangle looks like it is just about to tip to one side, but is still somehow upright. Following the above principle, you’ll realise upon dividing the image into halves, the left has one big triangle and one small triangle (placed slightly further from pivoting point); the right has two big triangles stacked on top of one other (placed very close to the pivoting point). Thus the composition works, because the visual weight of the dissimilar triangles are balanced.

There are more way to play with asymmetrical balance by varying the following:

Value. Darker values carry more weight than lighter values.

Colour. Brighter and more intense colours carry more weight than muted colours.

Texture. More complex textures carry more weight than simple textures.

Shape. More complex shapes carry more weight than simple shapes.

Moving on, radial balance is achieved when all the elements radiate out from the centre into the surrounding, distributing visual weight evenly throughout the circle it forms. These elements guide the eye to the epicentre from whence they came, making the centre the focus. As such:

An example of radial balance
An example of radial balance

 

Hierarchy

The importance of the elements in relation to one another. Typically, in good design, the viewer is led by order of significance of the elements: from the element of most importance to least importance

The School of Athens Raphael 1509-1511 Fresco
Raphael
1509-1511
The School of Athens
Fresco Apostolic Palace, Vatican City

Using a famous artwork, Raphael’s School of Athens, a hierarchy is very distinct even though most of the figures are of the same size. This is achieved by the deliberate framing using the arches overhead, and the brightest part of the painting being above the heads of the two men in the centre. This makes the two figures (who are already in the centre if that was a big enough clue) stand out amongst their counterparts.

Hierarchy can also be presented through clever use of proportion. Generally, the larger object will capture most attention at first glance, and also present itself as the most important figure in the whole piece. This can be seen in Romanesque Art (example below), where Christ, the most important figure in Christianity, is the largest in size, compared to the angels and saints that surround him. Hence, in doing so, the artist establishes that Jesus Christ is above, and more important than the angels.

Master of Taüll Apse of Sant Climent de Taüll Catalan fresco Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya
Master of Taüll
Apse of Sant Climent de Taüll
Catalan fresco
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya

Similarity and Contrast

Similarity is vital for uniformity. However, when elements are too similar, the focal object may blend into the background, which is generally not desirable (unless the artist chooses to do so intentionally to prove a point). Hence, some contrast is necessary to emphasise or point to the focal object. Such as:

An example for similarity and contrast
An example of similarity and contrast

What catches the eye first? Was it the orange/red triangles?

Above is an example of contrast in colour and texture. The vibrantly coloured triangles really stand out against its monochrome background. And its flat colour, free of elaborate texture, makes it pop out even more. Contrast is very useful in adding variety and interest!

Unity

The synthesis of all the elements in the design: their ‘together-ness’, which supports the whole design to make it what it is.

Built upon: similarity, repetition, continuation, rhythm, perspective

An example of unity
An example of unity

The chess pieces above form a cohesive image due to the repetition of chess pieces of the same size throughout the piece. The focal point is the clear chess piece, where it breaks the pattern of an all-black assembly.

Another example of unity
Another example of unity

Here, we see again a repetition of elements. The basic block of four dots is pasted similarly throughout the piece. The eye can follow the ‘movement’ of the block of dots, which forms something similar to a ‘M’, an example of how continuity can create a sense of unity.

The last example of this post for unity
The last example of this post for unity

Finally, perspective. This whole piece is basically sewn together by the thread of road that snakes from the foreground all the way to the back, guiding the eye through the most important parts of the image. In doing so, the piece is seen as a whole, not separate objects by name of ‘land mass’ and ‘sky’, but a landscape. A whole.

 

Phew. That’s about it for today, I think. There’s still a lot out there to learn though, so…all the best! :>

Process: A Line is a Dot that went for a Walk

Black and white;

Eighteen subjects;

Infinite possibilities;

 

The project began with just listing synonyms of the given emotion/topic, and scribbling down how each one makes me feel, or the consequences of that particular trait.

 

Anxious: constantly worrying over something; unable to calm down; feeling jittery; over-thinking things

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Exploring: Anxious
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Close-up

 

Anxiety is not a comfortable feeling. It dyes my days in grey, and often comes in sharp spikes of worry; appearing, then disappearing; escalates, then tapers off; but never really lets up until its root cause is taken care of. These are portrayed by the jagged, thick grey lines that run across the strip, which sets the overall ‘mood’ of the strip. The ‘worry-spikes’ are represented by the darkest short lines that periodically and randomly jump out of nowhere. There are lighter curly lines that represent the mental circles I go in in bouts of anxiety.

 

Embarrassed: the feeling of wanting to separate myself from the world, especially after doing something really silly in front of people

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Exploring: Embarrassed
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Close-up of one of the more interesting experiments on “embarrassed”
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Final: Embarrassed

Started this one simply as ‘wanting to separate myself from the world’, resulting in #1, disconnected swirls, that have smaller swirls in them, as if retreating into themselves. However, Shirley (our teacher), described the feeling better, not just ‘retreating into oneself’ but with more urgency: ‘desperately needing to hide’, which then became the definition from which I worked from, creating #3, #4, and eventually, the final piece.

 

Bizarre: peculiar, odd, uncommon, queer, with a hint of whimsicality in it

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Exploring: Bizarre

 

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Exploring: Bizarre with Tape

Bizarre has a ring of something formless, something foggy, something whimsical-like, yet at the same time strikes someone as, well, not normal; peculiar. Little continuous swirls and curls were the first things that came to mind. However, since pencil and pen were more common tools, I tried using masking tape to make the swirls for a more odd effect.

 

Exhausted: tired, insufficient energy to complete what needs to be done

Exploring: Exhausted
Exploring: Exhausted

Tireeeddddd…

 

Fragile: breaks easily; weak; requires nurturing, a gentle hand or patience

Exploring: Fragile
Exploring: Fragile
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Exploring: Fragile
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Close-up: graphite on black
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Close-up: cut leaves

Originally thought of glass, or china, both materials that break easily. However, the other definition of ‘fragile’ prompted a look at living things and led to plants: young shoots and delicate vines. The cutting of the paper for the final piece alludes to the fragility in the creeper, that it is easily broken.

 

Systematic: orderly, logical, conforms to a pattern

Exploring: Systematic
Exploring: Systematic

 

Lyrical: Musical, melodious, flowing notes and interwoven melodies

Exploring: Lyrical
Exploring: Lyrical

Turbulent: swirling, crashing, shifting currents, torrential

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Exploring: Turbulent
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Close-up: turbulence with ink

 

Nonsensical: does not make sense; illogical; does not conform to any known pattern or rule

Exploring: Nonsensical
Exploring: Nonsensical

This can’t really be explained, can it?

 

Psychotic: insane, deranged, crazy, mad; all those with a sense on creepiness and obsession to it

Exploring: Psychotic
Exploring: Psychotic

 

Ambiguous: vague, unclear, borders and boundaries undefined

Exploring: Ambiguous
Exploring: Ambiguous

Distracted: unable to focus, attention pulled elsewhere, not paying attention to what should actually capture your attention

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Exploring: Distracted

 

Sensual: relating to or pertaining to physical pleasure

Exploring: Sensual
Exploring: Sensual

 

Sloven: messy in behaviour or character

Exploring: Sloven
Exploring: Sloven

 

Spontaneous: in the moment; lively; energetic; unplanned

Exploring: Spontaneous
Exploring: Spontaneous

 

Aggressive: fierce, easily enraged or provoked to anger, violent, explosive in nature

Exploring: Aggressive
Exploring: Aggressive

 

Awkward: the state of feeling out of place, sticking out like a sore thumb, distinctly different from everyone else

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Exploring: Awkward
Exploring: Awkward

 

Indecisive: unable to decide; going back and forth between choices, might lead to pacing

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Exploring: Indecisive
Exploring: Indecisive

Unable to decide, continuously questioning myself, “Is this better? Or that one? Or the other one? Or…?” and each decision leads to another decision with it’s infinite number of possibilities and decisions. Inspired by a Vsauce video about larger infinites and smaller infinities.

On a side(-ish) note: experimenting with monoprinting and ink was really interesting!

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A Line: The Dot that went for a Walk.

The Final Piece(s):

 

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From top to bottom: Lyrical, Sloven, Indecisive, Turbulent

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From top to bottom: Anxious, Distracted, Aggressive, Nonsensical

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From top to bottom: Spontaneous, Embarrassed, Fragile, Systematic, Ambiguous

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From top to bottom: Psychotic, Sensual, Bizarre, Awkward, Exhausted

20150908_105720

 

 

The piece that I presented on:

“Sloven”

messy in behaviour or appearance

It is made by dipping a friendship braid into Indian ink (there’s no deep meaning behind it, it’s purely practical), then pressing it onto the paper. The original idea for sloven was actually the idea for systematic, since the friendship braid has a regular intersecting ‘V’ pattern. I had expected the print to, in similar fashion, be a regular intersecting ‘V’ pattern, which it was. However, as each string in the braid was made of many threads, and it is these threads that absorb the ink, the final print contained a very detailed imprint of each and every thread, giving the ‘V’ pattern a very hairy look. The difference in tonal value (due to some parts of the braid absorbing more ink, and others less) added to give it a somewhat splotchy effect. These two combined was actually one of the ideas I had in mind for ‘sloven’. Hence, ironically, ‘sloven’ was the result of the failure of ‘systematic’ (which I took to mean orderly, predictable, logical patterns).

The final strip for ‘sloven’ was dipped in more ink, so that the splotchy effect is more apparent. I deliberately kept the perpendicular format of pressing it down because… I tend to be more organised, and even in a mess, it’s going to be an organised mess, because at the very least, I still roughly know where everything is.

 

 

Although I did not present the one below, I thought that I’d share more on this, because it’s interesting!

“Aggressive”

Violent, easily provoked to anger, abrasive, (potentially) destructive

The first ideas for “aggressive” came quite easily, from drawing straight, sharp lines across the page, to scratching into the page itself; the violent nature of aggression could be expressed. However, toward the end of the project, I stumbled across the idea of a volcanic eruption. Specifically a Peléan eruption. It is arguably the most devastating type of eruption currently known, perhaps due to the terrifying pyroclastic flows down the sides of the volcano.

Both ground and sky are scratched in, reflective of the violent nature of the eruption (as in the initial ideas). The not-so-visible scratches in the sky add to the highly volatile situation before and after the eruption. It can also be interpreted to be the subtle pre-cursors to an eruption that may go unnoticed, especially to the untrained eye. Blobs of ink are splattered onto the paper, as if the volcano had, in its anger, “blown off its top” and pieces of these fall back to the ground. One can also allude the blobs to the blotting out of the communities that tend to live and grow around the fertile soil of the volcano.

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