It’s All Relative (+50% off Christi Friesen books, last days!)

Do you remember in October when we were talking about the concept of size? Although size is considered an element because it is a characteristic of the forms you work with, it is so intertwined with the design concept of scale and proportion that the discussion may have felt a little incomplete back then. Well, this week we will delve into it in more depth and, hopefully, make you feel complete! Well, at least in your knowledge of size, proportion, and scale.

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Scale vs. Proportion

Although we design nerds tend to talk about proportion and scale together, they are actually 2 different things. Proportion is about the relative size between two or more objects or details when they are grouped together or juxtaposed. Scale, on the other hand, refers to how big or small something is compared to the general understanding of how a thing usually is or our expectation of how it should be.

You can use both of them to add variation in contrast to your work. Many of us do this intuitively but having a better understanding of what they are can help you do so intentionally as well as giving you another tool to increase or decrease contrast as needed. Let me give you the definitions of each with a few examples.

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Proportions

My 75-pound black German shepherd, Ember, is small compared to my friend’s 120-pound monster of a German shepherd, Ican. (Ican, by the way, stands for I Can Eat You Whole. I have some very humorous friends if a tad morbid.) However, Ember is large compared to her housemate here, Kimba, a 32-pound spitz. Our perception of Ember’s size as a dog changes relative to other dogs she is next to so she is proportionately smaller than Ican but proportionately larger than Kimba. That’s proportion.

I know that example isn’t art but who doesn’t like a little doggie detour? So, okay, as a visual art example, let’s talk circles but use the color and size of the dogs as our basis. That would give us a large brown circle, a medium black circle, and a small white circle. If these circles are part of an art piece, the differences in size says something about the importance of each circle. In general, larger means more important than smaller. That certainly not always true but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Since we have a tendency to personify inanimate objects, we often consciously or unconsciously assign some form of social or power dominance when comparing grouped objects, just like we would with those dogs. Ican certainly sounds like the most powerful of the 3 and Kimba seems like the one that would be dominated by the other two. We are likely to assign the same sense of dominance to the circles. This perceived dominance can help us determine hierarchy.

Now, of course, as noted last week, characteristics of an element can make it stand out even if it is smaller, especially when it comes to color, although texture and marks can make a huge difference as well. But the takeaway here is that you can alter the proportion of elements in a piece to help create hierarchy, aid balance, and/or create contrast.

(By the way, if you’ve had dogs, you know that size doesn’t actually tell you much. Kimba is, of course, the toughest of the bunch and Ican gets scared if you laugh too loud!)

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Scale

Now, with scale, we are dealing with our perception of how things should be rather than comparing objects to each other. For example, we expect a chair to be sized for human beings to sit in and a teapot big enough to hold a decent amount of tea yet be easy to pick up and pour from. Anything significantly larger or smaller than these expectations would be a change in scale. It’s like a mini pinscher. They look like someone hit a Doberman with a shrink ray! Anything hit with a shrink ray would have a difference of scale.

 

In art, scale often relates to reproductions or representations of things we are familiar with that are much smaller or much larger than expected such as miniature food or large brooches of small insects. But that’s not the only way it works. We also look at things in terms of our expectations for things in a more general sense.

For instance, you walk into the park and are faced with a 12-foot-high silver monolith. First, you alert the local news stations as to the appearance of yet another mysterious monolith, this time in your local park. (If you’re unfamiliar with the mysterious monolith trend, check out these stories.) You tell them it is big and tall and silver. Now, why did you say it was big and tall? There are no other monoliths nearby to make a judgment and there is no standard for the size of a monolith.

The reason you would say that is because we look at things in terms of its relation to our size. If something is taller than us than it is usually thought of as tall. If it is bigger than us then we think of it as big. Strangely enough, if it’s smaller than us, is not always thought of as small because if we can handle it then it is a usable size. Large and small not only did note our perception of size but also our perception of whether the size is proper or normal.

Adjustments to our expectation of scale in art is used to convey concepts. For instance, a sense of things like enormity, importance, or presence can be relayed when the scale is large. Items on a small scale invite us to come in for a closer look often for the purpose of eliciting wonder and joy. So, if you’re making a necklace that is very large it’s going to have a presence that can give it a bit of a “wow” factor. If it is very small and dainty, the goal would more likely be to elicit a smile or curiosity.

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Now, What You Do with It?

Stopping to think about your artwork in terms of how it will appear in scale and proportion will, like every design element or concept we discuss, give you the opportunity to make intentional decisions that can further affect the way the work is viewed and experienced. You have to make a decision about size for all your elements. Just include considerations for how the proportions (how elements will be seen relative to each other) and scale (our expectations of size) can support those intentions.

 

 

 

Last Days of Club Exclusive Sale

25% or 50% off Christi Friesen books!

 

Club members have been snagging deals on this all week but in the holiday spirit, I’m offering this club exclusive discount to everyone for the last few days of the sale!

Whether you just want to get yourself a little something to make these holidays a bit brighter or you’re aiming to start or feed a polymer addiction among family and friends, Christi Friesen’s project books are perfect gifts filled with fun and whimsy!

Take 50% Off PRINT editions of Christi Friesen books (not including sale packages.)
Promo Code for print editions: CFBX50

Prefer digital? Take 25% Off digital copies of Christi Friesen’s books
Promo code for digital editions: CFDG25

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Get it there by Christmas deadlines: Our guaranteed delivery deadlines are past as of today but the Priority Mail option might still make it if ordered by Monday morning and ships to a Western US address, otherwise you or your giftee can look forward to late season treats the week after Christmas (US) or a start to the new year (outside US)!

*Discount good on all regularly priced Christi Friesen books excluding package specials. Discounts end December 21st, 2020

 

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