December 27, 2020 Design lessons

Rhythm and repetition are integral parts of artistic design. Although I pair them together, they are not simply variations of the same thing or two sides of the same coin. They are two aspects of design that work together.

Repetition in art is the repeated use of a specific element. The element doesn’t have to be exactly the same each time it is repeated but it should be recognized as essentially the same even if there is a change to its size, color, shape, or texture.

The principle of repetition is used to emphasize, adorn, and lead the eye as well as being a tool to create rhythm and movement. Design elements commonly used to create repetition include marks, lines, shapes, forms and even color.

Rhythm is the regularity and perceived tempo of repetition. Is commonly employed to suggest movement and evoke atmosphere or emotion. Rhythm helps to define the energy in a piece by setting the pace of its perceived motion while leading the eye around the composition.

Rhythm can’t be established without repetition and repetition is going to define some kind of rhythm so, you see, they are quite the design duo. Let’s look at what you can do with them to support the intention of the work you’re creating.

(Opening image: Martina Buriánová employs repetition to create a random as well as a regular rhythm in this intriguing pendant. She also displays examples of both a fast tempo (in the white dots down to the middle) and a slow tempo (in the black dots dropping away from the grid of dots) in the rhythm created.)

Types of Rhythm

Regular rhythm

This is established when an element is repeated at a regular distance and usually in a straight or predictable path. Classic pearl necklaces have a regular rhythm as do, white picket fences, and those dashed lines down the middle of the highway. Regular rhythms support the concept of order and predictability.

Laura Timmins’ necklace is an example of some pretty dense random rhythm. She uses a set of, what looks to be, six different types of elements, each used numerous times, some with varying colors while others vary in size, all crowded together in a random and crowded composition that speaks to an undersea world teeming with life.

Random rhythm

When elements are repeated without a recognizable order, that would be considered random. Nature is, of course, big on random rhythm such as a line of trees at the edge of a forest, the scattering of seashells on a beach, or the blooms of flowers on a bush. Random rhythm support concepts that are frenetic, organic, or involve a high energy emotion, among other things.

Progressive rhythm

DDee Wilder’s carved ring uses a progressive rhythm in the enlarging of the shapes revealed through its carving that makes it almost pulse with energy.

This describes the use of a repeated element that progressively changes as it moves through the composition. Changes in size, color, shape, or value are common changes that can create progression in rhythm. Examples include the chambers of a Nautilus shell, the scales of a pinecone, and even those dashed lines on the highway getting smaller as they run towards the horizon. A rainbow Skinner blend is also a type of progressive rhythm as the lines of color change hue. These all speak to concepts like growth, progression, and movement through space.

Flowing rhythm

This can be about the arrangement of the repeated elements or the type of element used to create that repetition but it always involves curved or circular elements or formations. The reason it is discussed separately from other types of rhythm is because it’s specifically used to create flowing movements. Examples in nature include waves, masses of climbing vines, or the rippled layers in sandstone. These support concepts such as comfort, calm, and acceptance.

Alternating rhythm

Małgorzata Wawrzyńczak’s silk screen bracelet has an alternating rhythm in color (black-orange-red-turquoise) but she changes up the width of each line as well as the pattern.

This type of rhythm uses two or more elements, alternately repeated. You can usually identify a second type of rhythm within an alternating rhythm such as regular, progressive, or flowing rhythms. Alternating the repeated elements is a common way to take a regular rhythm up a notch in a beaded necklace, particularly through the use of spacer beads or changing the color or pattern of every other or every third bead. This rhythm increases energy and adds interest.

Creating tempo

The type of rhythm you choose will be the first step in creating tempo but your size, placement, and proximity of the elements will also affect the perceived speed and weight of that rhythm. For example:

• Small elements repeated lean towards feeling light and staccato.
• Large, repeated elements tend to feel heavy and deliberate.
• When elements are set close together it feels fast.
• Distance between elements slows the tempo down, particularly when there are just a few of them.

Of course, consider the tempo you want that supports the intention of what you’re creating just as you choose marks and lines that have characteristics to support your intention. So, between choosing the element to be repeated, determining a type of rhythm, and setting the tempo, the use of repetition and the characteristics of its rhythm can be key to getting across the ideas and concepts of your work.

Looking forward to the New Year

So, what have you decided for your 2021? What will be your priorities and your goals?

I have a big list myself. I will be sharing some changes and thoughts in the coming week, so stay tuned!

I do wish you all the very best in the start of this new year and thank you so much for spending time with me this past year!

You can support this blog by buying yourself a little something at Tenth Muse Arts or, if you like,  just …

December 20, 2020 Design lessons

The uneven proportion of the windows in this steel, paper, and liquid polymer pendant by Tish Collins adds variation as well as bringing our attention to the large primary window and its details. Making the smallest window also the darkest keeps it from being ignored as dark values also draw our attention, aiding in the balance between the left and right side of the pendant.

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.

The perspective of this photo exaggerates the proportions between Ember and Kimba but it was deliberate choice. The exaggeration allowed me to better hint at who is more attentive to her people!

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

Megan Bogonovich isn’t one for limitations or meeting the usual expectations. The scale of these beads, so much larger than we’d expect someone to wear, really draws your attention as does the fabulous choice of model!

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.

I know … another non-art photo but it’s too good an example of scale! This is myself and my step-daughter feeling like munchkins on this oversized picnic bench in Sydney, Australia. From a distance it looked like a normal sized table so it was quite a surprise and delight to experience the scale of it.

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

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

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December 13, 2020 Design lessons

This mixed media collage by Anna Dabrowska has all its activity on the right and well as having the face, lines and opening of spaces predominantly looking or leading towards the center.

This week’s concept is not a Design Principle as you might have expected. We’ll return to that usual programming next week. Instead, I want to share something I chatted with Club members about a couple weeks ago that does tie into both composition and the concept balance we’ve been talking about. To start out, here’s a question for you.

How long do you want people to spend looking at your work?

Ideally, we want them to spend a ton of time! This is affirming for us as artists but also demonstrates the attractiveness and interest of our work. So, to keep them looking, it helps not to lead them off your “canvas” with elements that direct them towards and off the edge of your work.

It’s not that there aren’t times when you want to allude to what might be “off the canvas” but let’s assume you want to lead the viewer’s eye around and inside the piece. To keep them inside, you want to direct your elements inside as well.

For instance, if you have a profile of a face, have it turned toward the inside of the work, not towards its closest edge or, just like when you see a guy looking up, you’ll follow that gaze right off the edge wondering what they are looking at.

Same would go for anything that is arrow-like or has any kind of perceived front. You will usually want these things to face inward to keep the viewer in the composition.

So that’s a trick you can use for keeping viewers inside the composition. I’ve got one more little idea for you though.

Important elements, focal points in particular, do better when they are set off to the right (if they are not being centered which can be a very strong, if sometimes stagnant, position). I believe it’s because we start taking things in from the left and move right. You don’t want to have the most interesting part on the left with little of interest going on to the right to continue drawingthe eye in that direction.

I suspect this preference for the right side is largely a western world phenomenon because we read from left to right. I do wonder (and tried to research it but came up with nothing so far) if in countries where they read right to left or top to bottom, if they like things to be opposite the side they start reading on. Regardless, thinking about how we read a page should help you remember that little rule.

Again, it’s art, so keep in mind that the so-called rules are just ways to guide your thinking. Many artists create successful compositions without regard to these two ideas but these ideas are good options or a place to start. They could also be helpful if you need ideas to help fix a composition that doesn’t quite look right. Perhaps the right side is being ignored or strong elements lead off the canvas but nothing draws the eye back.

These ideas are certainly worth experimenting with, just don’t let them block you from experimenting beyond them.

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November 15, 2020 Design lessons

Have you ever heard of a triagonal? No? Well, me neither. I just made it up. But, my silly linguistic mash up (triangular + diagonal) so well describes the concept of composition I want to talk about today as well as making it much more memorable. Let me explain.

On the Diagonal

If you read the April VAB you may remember our time contemplating line and the unique ability of diagonals to convey a sense of movement. The impression of movement creates energy and intrigue in art which is why they come up in so many discussions about design.

A diagonal composition would have you arranging the elements in your composition along one or more diagonal lines.

Single diagonal compositions are created by having all elements lean on or parallel to a single diagonal line which may be an actual line or may be implied. These can be quite dramatic since the line of the single diagonal moves the eye from one side to the other without interference.

In the piece opening this post, Jeffery Lloyd Dever used a single diagonal composition with this pin with everything arranged on an implied line.

You can also play with more than one diagonal. Intersecting diagonals which cross each other are a classic version of this. It is strong but may be less dramatic than the single diagonal since the lines that would draw your eye across gets disrupted.

Clayman’s Wolf and Raven journal cover uses intersecting diagonals in combination with a centered focal point. This is a great example of implied lines (the very straight lines from head to tail in both animals) that you don’t see as lines but recognize in its visual direction that diagonals are the structure for this composition.

Triangular Triagonals

Ok, onto my mythical new word. We’ll need to start by discussing why triangles also make such great compositional templates.

Triangular formats don’t necessarily follow the shape of a triangle, the way a diagonal composition might, but more commonly elements or subjects within the piece come together to form a triangular shape or sit at the corners of an implied triangle.

These compositional triangles can create a visual sense of stability and strength. If you remember from the posts on shape, triangles are the strongest forms in nature. Each side supports the other two so the shape will not collapse under pressure. But, not only that, but a triangle also has one or more diagonal sides. So, it has movement as well as strength and stability – that’s why I think triangles in composition would be best described as triagonal! It’s more than just that strong shape you are creating, you are creating diagonal movement.

Barbara Umbel’s Turban and Tusk Necklace has triangular arrangements all over it. The body of the necklace fills a triangular space but then related elements are arranged in triangles as noted by the lines I added in the second photo. The largest and most textured elements make a primary triangle with the swoops of metal make a secondary one. The interlocking triangles within a triangular space makes for a very dynamic piece but it still feels solidly cohesive and balanced.

So, this week, keep an eye out for diagonals and triagonals (or triangular composition if you want to be understood by others). See if you can identify compositions where elements or subject matter is arranged on diagonal lines or in a trio of three points, not in a line. Then try some in your own work!

What Else Did You Miss?

This past week in the club content, we delved a little deeper into diagonals and triagular compositions than I did as well as continuing the month-long series on ways to increase your focus and get work done in the studio alogn with a Design Refresh self-quiz that dug even deeper into grid composition ideas.

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November 1, 2020 Design lessons

Chris Gryder, composition in ceramics tiles.

(For the next month or so, if you are in one of the clubs, you may notice that the blog is sounding familiar. That’s because these will be abbreviations of the full lessons found the week prior in the Club subscriptions. I am transitioning from the full design lessons being free in the blog back to them being in the subscription content so if you are serious about your education in design, do sign up for the Devotee Club and support your own growth as a knowledgeable creative and impassioned artist.)

Here we are. November 1^st. What do you aim to accomplish in the last two months of this tumultuous year? May I suggest, stepping back at looking at the big picture for a time? We can get so close to our work that we can’t really see what’s going on. Stepping back can help. And that’s also what I am doing with the design lessons this month.

As outlined last week, the principles of design, those next logical steps in the growth of your design knowledge after learning all the elements (marks, line, shape, form, color, texture, and size), are the concepts that help rule your design choices. However, in the coming month, I want to give you the end goal first –your composition. This should give you some grounding for what the principles are used for as it encompasses the visual big picture of any piece.

So, what exactly is composition?

Composition is really the most important aspect of your work. It’s the convergence of all the elements and their characteristics. It’s the presentation of your design choices.

When we talk about the design of a piece, we are talking not just about the collective use of elements but about how you have arranged those elements into a single, cohesive piece. Those relationships are still rooted in the characteristics of the elements but it is how those elements are arranged that establish a relationship of the elements to the whole piece. That is composition.

The cool thing about composition is that there are a lot of standards, guides, and formulas you can use to develop useful arrangements. A lot of them we can identify intuitively even if we can’t name them or point out why the composition works. When things are arranged in a balanced and unified manner, we sense it even if we can’t identify why.

My goal, however, is to make you more aware of the “why”. As a creative, you want to be able to adjust your composition when it doesn’t feel right so being able to identify why it does or doesn’t’ work is a big part of that.

So, this week, let’s just dip our toes into the idea of composition and contemplate two rather fundamental but potentially powerful compositional considerations. To do so I do need to bring in at least one of the basic anchoring concepts for composition, that being focal points.

Focal Points

Focal points are where our eye goes to when we first look at a piece. Most artwork needs a focal point. I say most because you can have work that doesn’t seem to have a focal point but if the viewer doesn’t have a point where they naturally start the exploration of your piece, the viewer may feel lost or unsettled.

That said, let’s look at two compositional ideas that focus on focal points.

Carol Salisbury; sterling silver, brass. Photo by Dan Kvitka.

Centered

Placing your focal point smack dab in the center of your piece is a very valid method of composition. It’s not often considered the most exciting option but it can be the “right” one if it supports your intention. If you are trying to create something with calm strength, a very grounded feel, or a regal display, for instance, a centered composition can do this for you.

Unfortunately, there has, for too long, been a misconception that centered compositions are not sophisticated. Well, that’s only true when they are centered as a kind of default approach to composition rather than a choice to fulfill an intention. Centered compositions can be very powerful and terribly beautiful but there does need to be a specific reason to choose them.

The Rule of Odds

Anarina Anar, acrylic on polymer. As a whole the composition of this necklace is fine but if you took any one of those circle sets with dangles off and created pendants, which would be the most successful?

Anarina Anar, acrylic on polymer. As a whole the composition of this necklace is fine but if you took any one of those circle sets with dangles off and created pendants, which would be the most successful? The ones with one or three dangles feel more “right”. The one with two would feel undone. As a whole, with 3 sets having dangles and 7 beads chained together, the majority of the composition works on odds while the two dangles work to keep the piece from being too stagnantly centered.

The rule of odds suggests that an odd number of objects, elements, or, especially, images are more interesting than an even number. It’s considered part of composition because the arrangement of the number of elements is where this preference for odd numbers shows itself.

The bottom line is that we find an odd number of subjects more interesting than an even number and when it comes to focal points, this becomes particularly apparent.

There are quite a number of other compositional ideas I’ll be sharing with you but take those two and consider them. Take a look at your own work and see where you used these compositional concepts or where they might be used to strengthen the design.

What Else Did You Miss?

This past week in the club content, I started a month-long series on ways to increase your focus and get work done in the studio. It is going to be a distracting month for many reasons. So, if you want help there, $9/ month will get you professional grade advice along with the full design lessons, specials, and member’s first offerings.

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