Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Taking a Bite out of - Design

Every other Tuesday I have a mini-lesson and pick an art related topic to examine and sink my teeth into. This week I take a bite out of design.

The basic elements of design are Line, Form, Color, Value, Space, and Texture. You can use any or all of these elements in your art. Let's take a quick look at these elements.




  • Line - Line is the continuous movement created by your pencil or brush. It can be jagged, smooth, bold, or loose. The edges of shapes and forms also create lines.




  • Form - Form is any three dimensional object or an area that stands out from another area due to a difference of value, texture, color, or subject. There are two types of form, geometric (man-made) and natural (organic form).




  • Color - Color has three attributes; hue, saturation, and brightness. The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. The secondary colors are orange, green, and purple. Tertiary colors are one primary and one secondary color mixed together.




  • Value - Value can be looked at as another way of saying shading. It is the spectrum of light to dark. It gives objects depth and perception.




  • Space - Space refers to the areas around, between, or within components of a piece. There are two types of space: positive and negative. Positive space refers to the space of a shape representing the subject matter. Negative space refers to the space around and between the subject matter.




  • Texture - Texture is percieved surface quality. Texture can be rough like sandpaper or smooth like a piece of glass. Every object has some kind of texture.



Now that we know the basic elements of design we can begin to use these elements in our illustration. Lets take a look at some examples.








Here is an image I did for a comic book. In the story the character was captured by some thugs and beaten pretty severly. To highten the drama I used the element of design - texture. Everything is gritty and nasty. The texture of the piece helps show the characters suffering. I think the only smooth part of this piece is the blood on his forehead, which contrasts well with the grittyness of everything else. I also used value to give the character depth. For instance, the shading on the face and background.








Here is a piece I did for a commission. The character is called Rose. They wanted the piece to be very loose so I used the element of line, form, and space. I wanted to show movement and have the character positioned in a pleasing way. There's the organic form of the character contrasting with the geometric form of the structure behind her. There is also a lot of negative space, implying an openess or even cleanliness to the image.




For this example on color I used bright, saturated, and warm colors to emphasize the feeling of the piece. The dog is happy and playful so obviously yellow, light green, and orange would be good choices to compliment the dogs emotions.






When designing a picture remember to keep these elements in the back of your head. They are mainly used as a starting point. Try to explore the elements. What kind of textures can you paint or draw? What kind of colors are you going to use to bring out a feeling to a painting? The options are limitless. There is no wrong way of doing it. Everybody's taste is different. When I go to art shows around Florida I always get surprised by what people buy from my table. It's usually the piece that I disslike or the piece that took me five minutes to create. People are unpredictable. So just paint and draw what feels right for you and keep practicing and you'll be successful.

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