Essentials of Art, components of a successful painting. A lot of the elements of Art can be found in music and other arts.

1. Essentials
of Design

2. What are The
Principles of Design?
The Principles of Design are
the ways that artists use the
Elements of Art to create good
Compositions (artwork)

3. There are 11
Principles of Design
Balance Contrast
Emphasis Variety
Unity/Harmony Proportion
Rhythm Movement
Pattern Repetition

4. Balance
This principle of design
refers to the visual
equalization of the
elements in a work of art.
There are three major
forms of balance

5. The three major forms
of balance:
Asymmetrical balance: where
equilibrium is achieved by the balance
differences in the art elements within a
composition.
Symmetrical balance: where the art
elements in a composition are balanced
in a mirror-like fashion (it does not have
to be exact but close).
Radial balance: a kind of balance
where the elements branch or radiate
out from a central point.

6. What kind of balance is illustrated in this
painting Oriental Poppies, by
Georgia O’Keefe?

7. If you said symmetrical balance,
you are correct!
If you could visually
divide the paper in
half. There would
be a poppy on
both
sides. No one side
dominates the
pictures. Neither
poppy appears to
be more important
than the other.

8. What type of balance is shown in this painting,
Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's
Mother (commonly known as Whistler’s Mother),
by James Whistler?

9. If you said,
asymmetrical
balance, you were
right! The large
form of the woman
is "visually equal" to
the black curtain
and white painting
on the wall.
This makes the
painting appear
balanced.

10. What type
of balance
is shown in
this stained
glass artwork,
Rose Window?

11. Radial Balance!
Look at the spiral
or spinning
effect of the pattern.
The axis is the center
point and the design
or pattern appears to
"radiate" from
that point.

12. What type of balance is shown here?
Here the larger figures to the right are balanced by the many
smaller figures to the left. Also, Seurat added additional
"light" to the left. How does this add balance to the painting?
George Seurat, (French) 1859-1891, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte

13. What type of
balance is
shown here?
The monkey and the
the cat balance each
other out on either
side of the woman.
Freda Khalo, Autorretarto con
Collre de Espinas y Colibri,

14. Contrast
A design principle that emphasizes
differences between the art elements.
For example, a painting may have bright colors that
contrast with dull colors or angular shapes that
contrast with rounded shapes.
Sharp contrast draws attention and can direct a
viewer to a focal point within a work of art.

15. In Spiral of Emotion by Joseph Perkins we see a
sharp contrast between darks and lights which
he has balanced out with some middle tones.

16. In this work we see sharp lines and shapes against
softer lines and shapes. We also see sharp contrast
between colors.
Marlene Healey, Sections of my Destiny

17. The principle of design that is concerned with
dominance; the development of a main idea or
center of interest (also called focal point)
Emphasis

18. Where is the focal point in Wassily
Kandinsky’s, Composition VII ?

19. Kandinsky emphasized the large black circle in the
upper left corner of his work. The object is different
from everything else in the painting and therefore it
"stands out".

20. In Francisco
Goya’s, The
Shootings of
May Third
1801,
where is
the
area of
emphasis?

21. Goya "lights" up the painting in much the same way a spotlight
lights up the actors on a stage. Goya creates a very light value
around the area he wants you to see. The man in the white shirt is
the focal point of the painting. He uses value contrast to emphasize
this area.

22. Variety is achieved when the art elements are
combined in various ways to increase visual interest.
For instance, an assortment of shapes that are of a
variety of sizes attracts more attention than an
assortment of shapes all the same size.
Variety

23. Let’s look at Kandinsky’s painting again.
How is the artist showing variety in this
work?

24. Kandinsky used a variety of lines, shapes and colors
to give this painting interest. He also overlapped
some of those elements.

25. This principle refers to the visual quality of
wholeness or oneness that is achieved through
effective use of the elements of art and
principles of design
Unity/Harmony

26. What do you think Cezanne used to keep this
painting, Mt. Victoria,
unified or working together?

27. Cezanne used blues, yellows and greens. By
using related colors (remember blue and yellow
make green), the piece appears to work as a
whole.

28. The relationship in size of one
component (part) of a work of art to
another
Proportion
AA
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29. How is this artist, John Zacchea, showing correct
proportion in Wine Bottle and Cheese?
When comparing
the size of the
objects in the
composition, you
see that the
objects are not
too large or too
small for each
other. They are of
a realistic size.

30. Sometimes artists chose to distort or exaggerate
the proportions of the subjects involved.
Fernando Botero, A Family
In this case the artist chose
to use these "puffed up
forms" to exaggerate the
size of the people. By
showing the figures larger
than life size, he is
attempting to celebrate the
life within, and perhaps to
mock their role in the
world.

31. Rhythm refers to a way of utilizing the art
elements to produce the look and feel of rhythmic
movement with a visual tempo or beat
Rhythm refers to a way of utilizing the art
elements to produce the look and feel of rhythmic
movement with a visual tempo or beat
Rhythm refers to a way of utilizing the art
elements to produce the look and feel of
rhythmic movement with a visual tempo or
beat
Rhythm

32. Here is an example of a cut paper tessellation
design. What is used to create the appearance
of rhythm in this work?

33. Possible answers could be:
The fish design is repeated over and over.
The colors white and orange appear as a pattern.
The lines that form the scales of the fish.
The black triangles that decorate the backbone of the fish.

34. Movement is the design
principle that uses some of
the elements of art to produce
the look of action or to cause
the viewer’s eye to sweep
over the art work in a certain
manner.
Movement

35. In Starry Night, famed artist Vincent Van Gogh creates
movement in his sky. How does he show us this?

36. The swirling motion of the colors in the sky showing the artist's
interpretation of wind.
The repetition of the brushstrokes and paint dabs.
The stars are all yellow and round, vary in size and placement, and
have "halos" of light encircling them.
Look at the painting and concentrate on how your eyes bounce
from one star to another. This is an example of how an artist can
create movement in a work of art.

37. Repetition of an element of art (i.e., shapes,
lines, or colors) to achieve decoration or
ornamentation.
Pattern

38. What elements has the artist used in
this mask to create pattern?
This decorative
wall plaque is a
great example of
how an artist
uses lines and
shapes to create
patterns.
Artist Unknown,Indonesian, Wall Plaque,

39. How has the artists use of pattern
enhanced this piece?
Would this piece be
as interesting if the
artist had used a
solid background
rather than this
patterned one?
Riffs by Florene

40. A way of combining art elements so
that the same elements are used over
and over to achieve balance and
harmony.
Repetition

41. Ben Shahn has shown repetition in his work, Supermarket
by repeating the same subject over and over to create an
interesting composition. He used the same type and
thickness of line and the same shapes

42. This beautiful
Scorpion Mola,
by an unknown
artist , from the
Panama Canal
Kuna Indians
shows repetition
of what
elements of art?

43. Shapes, colors, lines, and forms are
repeated.

44. Composition is the plan, placement
or arrangement of the elements of art
in a work.
The general goal is to select and
place appropriate elements within
the work in order to communicate
ideas and feelings with the viewer.
Technology student will benefit from
a better understanding of
composition. Learn to select and
place appropriate elements within
their work in order to communicate
ideas and feelings with the viewer.

45. The Rule of Thirds
The application of the rule of
thirds to photographs is
considered by many to make
them more aesthetically pleasing
and professional-looking
Many photographers
recommend treating any "rule" of
composition as more of a
guideline, since pleasing
photographs can often be made
while ignoring one or more such
rules.

46. The Rule of
Thirds
 The rule states that an image
can be divided into nine equal
parts by two equally-spaced
horizontal lines and two
equally-spaced vertical lines.
The four points formed by the
intersections of these lines
can be used to align features
in the photograph.
 Proponents of this technique
claim that aligning a
photograph with these points
creates more tension, energy
and interest in the photo than
simply centering the feature
would.

47. Rule of Thirds
The objective is to keep the subject(s) and areas of interest out of the
center of the image, by placing them near one of the lines that would
divide the image into three equal columns and rows, ideally near the
intersection of those lines.

48. The objective is to keep the
subject(s) and areas of interest
out of the center of the image,
by placing them near one of
the lines that would divide the
image into three equal
columns and rows, ideally
near the intersection of those
lines.

49. The first calculation of the
golden ratio, was described
by Euclid in his Elements
(greek: ).Στοιχεῖα
A line segment sectioned
into two, to illustrate the
golden ratio. The total
length a+b is to the longer
segment a as a is to the
shorter segment b.
The GOLDEN RATIO

50. Golden Ratio
 Since the fifteen century, shapes proportioned according
to the golden ratio have been considered aesthetically
pleasing in Western cultures; the golden ratio is still
frequently used in art and design. The golden ratio has
attracted a large following for its supposed aesthetic,
psychological, historical, mystical, natural, and
metaphysical properties, in addition to its mathematical
properties.
 The most common other names used for the golden ratio
are golden section (Latin: sectio aurea), golden mean,
golden number, and phi (referring to the Greek letter ).φ
Other names include medial section, divine proportion,
divine section, golden proportion, golden cut, extreme and
mean ratio, and mean of Phidias.

51. Symmetry
The "rule of odds" suggests that an odd
number of subjects in an image is more
interesting than an even number.

52. Symmetry
The "rule of odds" suggests that an odd
number of subjects in an image is more
interesting than an even number.

53. Related to the rule of odds is the observation that
triangles are an aesthetically pleasing implied shape within an image