Part One: Guidelines To Composition and Design

Some times while talking with artists/art lovers we come across terms you may be unfamiliar with.  Here are some terms you should know:

COMPOSITION The way that an artwork is composed or assembled. Composition is about the way an artist composes or combines the elements of the work to give clarity and order to their ideas. Composition is about the way our eyes are guided around the artwork. Composition is about visual organization



BALANCE: involves the distribution of elements in a work of art. Balance is the control of the elements in attracting attention. This attention must be evenly or unevenly spread over the area to make sure interest in kept up, all the way through the artwork, without being static or chaotic. Balance can be symmetrical or asymmetrical



PROPORTION involves the relationship between sizes - scale. Proportion is about realistic relationship or ratio. As an illustration, the ideal human proportion is eight heads high and the shoulders are two heads wide so artists can change these relationships or proportions for dramatic or comic effect or to emphasize a feature or quality. In cartoons the head and hands are emphasized by enlarging then beyond realistic scale.



REPETITION is the use of similar or connected pictorial elements. For example, similar shapes, colours or lines that are used more than once. Repetition can be regular or irregular and even or uneven.
- Radiation is where the repeated elements spread out from a central point.
- Gradation is where the repeated elements slowly become smaller or larger.



DOMINANCE is about the focus given to a part of a work of art. Dominance can be created by contrasting pictorial elements such as line, shape, tone, texture, direction, size or colour.

** DOMINANCE and BALANCE work together to bring out UNITY.



HARMONY means pictorial elements of the same type that “go” together. Harmony can be made where the eye is used to seeing objects together, so they form a group eg. flower pot and plants. Harmony can create feelings, similar elements can seem calm and pleasing eg. Blues and greens, rectangles and squares or groups of organic shapes, while contrasting elements create energy, vitality, tension or anger eg. triangles with circles and squares



CONTRAST means pictorial elements that stand out because they are not alike eg. squares and circles and triangles. Red, yellow and blue contrast as they are so dissimilar. Contrast can be made by putting objects together that do not normally “go” together and therefore make each other stand out more, than they would separately. Contrast gives variety and makes the elements more lively.



UNITY is the sense of “oneness”, of things belonging together and making up a coherent whole. Artists do this by repeating elements, overlapping shapes and directing the eye of the viewer around the work from one similar element to the next or along a line or shape