Week 5 Balance

Here are my balance compositions for this week. I took photos of eight different things I found in my kitchen and put them together in Photoshop. I used a knife, spoon, fork, measuring spoon, cup (I duplicated it so I would have two), spatula, plate and a slotted spoon. I hope that I did all of these right. The first one is the silhouette of the objects. The second one is the negative space between the objects, and the third one is the negative shapes combined in an interesting way.

Here is the silhouette of the objects composition.

Here is the negative space of the objects composition.

Here is the negative space shapes composition.

Week 4 Scale and Proportion

I chose to make a collage with my cat Crystal. The big picture of her is the size she is now. I took a photo of her when she was a kitten and cut her out of the photo and pasted it in the bigger picture. I scaled her down to the size that a cat toy might be. Then I took another image that had a couple of her toy mice in it and cut them out and pasted them into the picture and scaled them up and made them a lot bigger than they should be. The focal point of the collage is the little Crystal sleeping on top of herself. I think that the mice in the front may get your attention first and then you follow Crystal's paws up to her face. Then you follow her eyes to the kitten version of herself sleeping. Small kitten Crystal is also bright and I think that it helps draw your eyes towards her more.

Kristina Willette, My Cat Collage

Week 3 Emphasis and Focal Point

Contrast

Contrast is when an element in a design or piece of artwork differs from the other elements. I used a photo of my cat that I had taken in my photography class as an example. I made the whole photo black and white except for her eye. Crystal's yellow eye contrasts from the black and white background. The focal point is her eye because it is the only thing that has color in the entire photo and you see it right away.

Kristina Willette, My Cat Crystal

Kristina Willette, My Cat Crystal

One Element

One element is when you use a strong visual emphasis on one element which makes it stand out over everything else. This example is a painting by Yoshimoto Nara and its called Acid Rain. The girl stands out against the dark background and you see her first before you see the colors in the background and that she is standing in water or in something else. The focal point is the girl because she is the focus of the painting.

Yoshimoto Nara, Acid Rain

http://www.tomiokoyamagallery.com/artists_en/nara_en/

Yoshimoto Nara, Acid Rain

http://www.tomiokoyamagallery.com/artists_en/nara_en/

Placement

Placement is when several elements in a design or piece of artwork all point to one area or item. This example is a digital artwork done by Shu Mizoguchi and its called Axia. The lines in her dress all point towards the light coming from the violin. Her head is bent down looking towards the violin and light and her arm holding the bow also points at the white light. The focal point in this piece is the white light coming from the violin.

Shu Mizoguchi, Axia

http://shu-littlebit.com/

Shu Mizoguchi, Axia

http://shu-littlebit.com/

Isolation

Isolation is when one element in a design or piece of artwork is off by itself while all the other elements are close together. I had made this example for another class. I made one star all by itself while the rest of the stars are close together. The one star by itself stands out as the focal point because it is separated from the rest of the stars in the image.

Kristina Willette, Emphasis on Isolation

Kristina Willette, Emphasis on Isolation

Absence of Focal Point

Absence of focal point is when there is no clear focal point in a design or a piece of artwork and you see the entire image and your eyes do not focus on one point. This example is a painting done by Shiraga Kazuo and it's called Soryu no Mai. This painting has no clear focal point because paint was just splattered onto the canvas and he had painted the strokes of paint with his feet. The strokes of paint make your eyes wander all over the canvas and they do not stop at one point.

Shiraga Kazuo, Soryu no Mai 1994

http://www.mccaffreyfineart.com/artists/shiraga_works.html

Week 2 Unity

Proximity

Is when you put elements close together in an image. In this example it shows a bunch of small images of people playing sports placed close together to create a bigger image of someone on a unicycle.

http://artnectar.com/2010/05/fundamentals-design-gestalt/

Repetition (emphasis on similarity)

Is when elements in a design are repeated and look similar to each other. This example shows coffee cups that look exactly the same but are facing in different directions. The word coffee is also repeated several times in different colors and sizes.

http://www.123rf.com/photo_7843230_coffee-repetition-pattern-in-fashion-trend-colors.html

Repetition (emphasis on variety)

Is when elements in a design are repeated but they look slightly different from each other. In this example the figures are all in the same pose and are holding heads but each head has a different facial expression.

http://thecooponline.com/2012/08/20/art-appreciation-the-principles-of-design/

Continuation

Is when something in a design continues in a certain direction like a line, edge, and an object that points to another object. In this example the line in the middle of the H curves down and up towards the leaf.

http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/gestaltprinciples/gestaltprinc.htm

The grid as an organizing factor  

Is when a piece of art is shown in horizontal and vertical lines that are aligned to form a grid. In this example there are six different versions of the man's head. Each square uses different colors. The grid makes the piece look organized and your eyes follow each row of images.

http://a-r-t-history.tumblr.com/post/24760581356/andy-warhol-a-set-of-six-self-portraits-1967

Chaotic unreadable image

Is when a design has so much going on in it that it is hard to see everything in the design and it looks chaotic. In this example there are a bunch of words overlapping each other and they are really close together which makes it hard to read the words.

http://blog.chaotic.co.uk/2007/09/alex-trochut.html

Non-objective expression of unity

Is when there is no clear meaning behind a design. In this example the squares and rectangles were placed close together, and the different colors make the design look interesting. This could also be an example of proximity.

http://www.nonsofia.com/2010/12/non-objective-lisbon.html

Figurative expression of unity

Is when you show an emotion in a piece of art that is exaggerated. In this example it shows four women from different cultures united together. This piece has a peaceful and happy feeling to it. I think that this could also be an example of proximity because the women are standing close together.

http://www.alexandragalleries.com/item-Unity-111