1. SP 2020 FA111.01 Jessica Whitney
Chapter #3, pg. 57
Ti Watching Hippopotamus Hunt
Unknown
Ca. 2450 BCE
4’ 0”
Painted Limestone
Mastaba of Ti, Saqqara, Egypt
Love You With All My Heart
Robin Dutty
2020 CE
4"
Tattoo Ink
Ms Dixies Tattoo Parlor, Troy, NY
2. Line
Line is operating in a very interesting way in Ti Watching Hippopotamus Hunt. It is carved and
painted into limestone so this piece is considered to be actual line. It goes much deeper than that
though because this piece has a line create a bunch of different shapes and forms. There is
definitely implied line in this piece that draws the viewer to the people, especially the biggest one,
and helps create a sense of movement with the boats. Love You With All My Heart stands out from
the fact that it is essentially actual line because it is created by tattoo ink. This creation of the form
with line helps the viewers see that it is meant to be a butterfly. It could possibly even have implied
line if the viewer imagines the butterfly moving, flying upwards. The words on the side of the
butterfly help that theory because they go upwards, causing the eye to move upwards. Both of
these pieces are one in the same when it comes to line because they both show a sense of actual
and implied line throughout their work. The forms each line creates helps bring the images together
and really adds to the final product. For Ti Watching Hippopotamus Hunt line helps bring out the
human and animal figures while it brings out a butterfly in Love You With All My Heart .
An element that can be considered actual, linear marks made with a tool on a substrate, or
implied, the path of the viewer’s eye that creates forms within an object.
3. Rhythm and Repetition
Repetition is very apparent in both in Ti Watching Hippopotamus Hunt and Love You With All My
Heart. They both have a great sense of rhythm which really gives depth to their pieces. Love You
With All My Heart is a very organized rhythm and repetition. The butterfly’s wings have these
shapes in them that are repeated on both sides of the wings. This causes the butterfly to be very
appealing because it’s symmetrical and it gives more detail to the butterfly. The repetition really
makes it seem like this butterfly isn’t just a tattoo, it seems life like. On the other hand, Ti Watching
Hippopotamus Hunt is a bit more disorganized, but it still has repetition and rhythm. To the animal
figures throughout the peas and the lines that are carved through the limestone, they all help
create a sense of movement throughout the piece. Without rhythm or repetition the final product
of both of these pieces would seem incomplete and they would lack the depth to understand each
piece.
A principle that is created when one or more elements of
design are used repeatedly to create a feeling of organized
movement. Rhythm usually creates a mood that is very
exciting and active.
4. Color
Color is much more than its definition, it is known for having a deeper meaning throughout artwork.
Love You With All My Heart may seem to lack color but the color that does appear is very symbolic,
it is a monochrome, one color, piece. The purple represents a person that is very important, my
great grandmother to be exact. Her favorite color was purple and this tattoo was a dedication to
her. Without the hint of purple this piece wouldn’t appeal much to the eye, the color adds some
excitement while still holding a special meaning. Ti Watching Hippopotamus Hunt is a little bit of a
different story because it is polychrome, involves multiple colors. The color used is meant to be
symbolic, the Ancient Egyptians didn’t use color unless it was necessary. The blue symbolizes the
river and helps define a change in surfaces. The color in the Egyptians skin tone was meant to have
them stand out as well as to represent themselves as they are. The rest of the piece is just
limestone which shows that the Egyptians didn’t just use color for decoration. Love You With All My
Heart and Ti Watching Hippopotamus Hunt have a lot in common when it comes to color. Both only
use a little bit of color do you not take away from the meaning behind the piece. The color that is
used symbolizes something great and honored which makes each piece special in their own way.
An element that is produced when light strikes an object and is reflected back to the eye. It
can be determined by hue, saturation, and brightness of the reflected light. There are two
types of colors local color, the actual color of something, and optical, a suggested color of
things.
5. Emphasis - Focal Point
The piece Ti Watching Hippopotamus Hunt has a very defining focal point, that is the giant figure
near the middle of the piece. The emphasis is on this figure because of how large it is compared to
everything else in the piece especially the other people. This figure stands out not only for its size
but also because that person is wearing clothes. The Egyptians has a high regard for anyone in
power which caused them to make that person a focal point in each piece. Ti was a person in power
so his giant figure contrasted the smaller objects around him. Love You With All My Heart has its
purple color on the outside of the wings as the focal point. This happens because of how contrasting
purple is to the skin tone and how the shapes and lines point to these colored sections. The viewers
eye is drawn to that deep color which makes it very emphasized. Even though the emphasis of both
pieces are chosen in different ways they still have a connection with the symbolism behind each
focal point. What stands out in each piece represents the reason why it was created in the first
place. The Egyptians creating this tomb wanted to emphasize Ti and his power in life while the color
in the butterfly represented a person very important in my life.
A principle that is the part of the design the catch is the viewers
attention. Usually it is a focal point that stands out by being
contrastive with other areas of the work. It could be different in size,
color, texture, shape, etc.
6. Summary and Works Cited
Even though these two pieces are centuries apart they
still hold a connection through the elements and
principles of design. Comparing these two pieces this
way really showed how similar they really are. They both
are created to honor someone of great influence and
memorialize their impact in life. Line, color, emphasis,
rhythm and repetition are just a few examples of how
connected these pieces are. The similarities between the
use of these tools is very stunning and unsurprising.
History has always been a guideline for the future, as the
saying goes history repeats itself. Even if there is a large
time gap between Love You With All My Heart and Ti
Watching Hippopotamus they are connected through
symbolism.
Dutty, Robin. Love You With All My Heart. 2020 CE. Troy, New York.
Retrieved from Ms Dixies Tattoo Parlor
Pepper, Jen. “The Elements & Principles of Visual Design.” SP2020
FA111.ArtHistory. Caz, 22 Jan. 2020,
https://sp2020cazfa111.blogspot.com/2020/01/elements-and-
principles-of-design.html.
Stokstad, Marilyn and Cothren, Michael W. “Art: A Brief History.” 6th
edition, Pearson, 2016.
Unknown Artist(s). Ti Watching Hippopotamus Hunt. Ca. 2450
BCE, Saqqara, Egypt.
Retrieved from https://art261.community.uaf.edu/ti-watching-a-
hippopotamus-hunt/
