Design Principles

Artists unify their work using different patterns and colors to create variety. Many Artists use unity and variety to create a balance between the two elements. Artists also use directional forces which is used to lead the viewer’s eyes to a certain area or object in the artwork. Artists use Symmetrical and Asymmetrical to also balance their work. Symmetrical is when both sides of the artwork are the exact same in size and color. Asymmetrical is when one side is different than the other but is still well balanced.

This painting below is an example of how artists unify their work. As you view the painting you can see the artist used a little atmospheric perception at the bottom of the painting. There’s townhouses on the bottom left corner and the artist used the beauty of the sunset to set the mood of the painting. Using blues and yellows this artist create a balanced painting with asymmetrical balance also. This artist uses scale very well also with the half-faced figure which seems to be the sun rays and It looks like the sunrays are surrounding the figure in the focal point.

Artists create Asymmetrical balance by simply making one side of the painting different than the other but balancing it with the same colors and similar patterns used. For example, I have this painting called “strong falls” by Larry Seiler. He uses Asymmetrical balance very well because you can see one side of the painting is a huge rock surrounded by the water which also shows a sense of motion almost like the water is swishing back and forth. On the other side, it is slightly different but still balanced with the colors of the rock visible but the water is over the rocks on this side. He has the focal point in the center of the painting. The artist set up the focal point with a visual path that circles it which makes it almost unnoticeable.

Scale in artwork refers to the proportion of ratio which define the size relationships. Using scale in artwork can make a big difference in the story they are telling. Scale changes the perspective of the viewers by creating an illusion of size relationships between objects and figures. Depending on the size of the object in the painting, it can be overwhelming, interesting or even humorous to look at. In this painting of the giant baby, this artist used scale to change what people see normally. A baby is usually much smaller than the average human but in this painting the baby is bigger that the young woman in the background. The baby also has marks or maybe the illusion of blood after giving birth on the face and body which makes it feel realistic. The hair on the baby’s head also looks very realistic in the artwork.