Which of the Following Is Not a Principle of Art?
The principles of art (or the principles of design) are essentially a set of criteria which are used to explain how the visual elements are bundled in a piece of work of fine art. These principles are possibly the closest thing we have to a set of objective criteria for analyzing and judging art.
Art is a notoriously gray area when it comes objectively defining what is great and what is not. An artist of one era may be mocked during his lifetime, however revered after his passing (such every bit Vincent van Gogh). The principles of art aid combat this gray expanse to some extent. They permit us to communicate what makes a corking painting great with an element of objectivity and consistency.
The following is an explanation of what the principles of art are and how you can use them to benefit your own artworks.
Pattern
Pattern is a very important blueprint concept which refers to the visual organisation of elements with a repetitive grade or intelligible sequence.
Design is not ever obvious. It could be a simple underlying notan design which dances between light and night in some kind of sequence. Or it could be the use of similar color patterns throughout your painting.
In the painting beneath, notice how the top arm of the subject almost blends into the background, and how the legs blend into the cloth, and the textile blends into the rest of the foreground. This interlinking pattern drags you through the painting and creates a very interesting blueprint.
Joaquin Sorolla, Bacchante, 1886
Read more near pattern in art.
Remainder
Remainder is concerned with the visual distribution or weight of the elements in a work of art. A painting could be balanced if i half is of the same visual weight as the other half. Or, you could have a small expanse of heightened significance which is balanced against a much larger area of less significance, like in the painting below. In the painting below, notice how the nighttime areas used for the boat and foreground announced balanced against the much larger expanse of soft, tinted colors.
Efim Volkov, Seascape, 1895
Emphasis
Accent is a fashion of using elements to stress a sure expanse in an artwork. Accent is really but some other way to describe a focal betoken in your artwork. In the painting below, there is strong emphasis on the moon through the utilise of color contrast.
George Henry, River Landscape Past Moonlight, 1887
You tin read more about emphasis in art here.
Contrast
Contrast is everything in art. Without it, an artwork would be nothing but a blank surface. Dissimilarity can come in many forms:
Texture contrast: A contrast betwixt smooth and textured. Many of Vincent van Gogh's paintings are great examples of texture contrast in action.
Color dissimilarity: A contrast between low-cal and dark, saturated and dull or complementary colors (hue dissimilarity). For example, in the painting beneath, the highly saturated red contrasts confronting the relatively dull colors in the residuum of the painting.
Joaquin Sorolla, Father Jofre Protecting A Madman, 1887
Detail dissimilarity: A dissimilarity between areas of item and more bland areas, like in the painting below.
Rudolf von Alt, View Of Ragusa, 1841
Shape contrast: A contrast between different shapes (rectangles and circles). For example, in the painting there are the curving shapes created by the winding paths, h2o and trees contrast confronting the rectangular shapes of the buildings.
Willart Metcalf, Early Jump Afternoon, Primal Park, 1911
Interval dissimilarity: A contrast between long and brusk intervals. In the painting below, notice the variation in the lengths of the intervals betwixt the trees. The interval contrast tin can be used to create a sense of rhythm in your artwork.
Isaac Levitan, Oak Grove, Fall, 1880
Read more about using contrast.
Harmony And Unity
Harmony is a bit vague compared to some of the other principles. More often than not speaking, it refers to how well all the visual elements work together in a work of fine art. Elements which are in harmony should have some kind of logical progression or relationship. If there is an element which is not in harmony with the residuum of an artwork, it should stick-out and be jarring to wait at. Kind of like an off-annotation in a vocal.
Yous will usually be able to tell just from judgment if all the elements are in harmony. Information technology will but look right. Yet, if the painting looks off, then it can be difficult to tell if that is because at that place is no harmony between the elements or if at that place is some other issue.
When I retrieve of harmony, I call back of the peaceful arrangements of color in Monet's serial of water lilies.
Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1908
Unity refers to some kind of connection betwixt all the visual elements in a work of art. Like harmony, this is a scrap of a vague term which is difficult to objectively use to analyze art. The painting beneath demonstrates a strong sense of unity through the employ of a like hues used throughout the painting. Even though at that place is a strong dissimilarity between the calorie-free and dark areas, there is a sense of unity created through the use of similar hues (dark yellows, oranges and greens are used in the foreground and lite yellows, oranges and greens are used in the groundwork).
George Henry, Noon, 1885
Read more most using harmony.
Variety
Diversity refers to the utilize of differing qualities or instances of the visual elements. Variety tin can exist used to interruption up monotonous or repetitive areas.
Below is a painting with lots of variation in color, shape and texture, yet non so much that it loses any sense of harmony.
Tom Thomson, Maple Saplings, 1917
Beneath is a painting with comparatively less variance. The result is a much calmer painting.
Lake Keitele, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 1905
Motility
Your paints cannot physically move, but you can arrange the paints in a way which gives the illusion or proposition of movement.
Ane of the almost effective techniques for creating movement in your painting is to utilise assuming and directional brushwork. By doing this, yous tin can suggestively push your viewer around the painting as you please. You could also suggest movement through repetition or design.
Below are two examples of paintings which demonstrate a great sense of move.
Joaquín Sorolla, Sea And Rocks - Javea, 1900
Frederick Judd Waugh, Breaking Surf
Also, I could not talk almost using movement in art without some mention of Vincent van Gogh.
Vincent van Gogh, Starry Dark Over The Rhone, 1888
Read more than nearly movement in art here.
Proportion
Proportion concerns the human relationship betwixt the sizes of different parts in an artwork. For example, the width compared to the length, the surface area of the sky compared to the land or the area of foreground compared to the background.
Some proportions are considered to be visually pleasing, such as the dominion of thirds and the golden ratio.
In the painting below past Giovanni Boldini, notice how the proportions of the female subject's hands, face, feet and torso are all accurate. If Boldini painted the hand besides big compared to the rest of the subject area's torso, there would exist an issue of proportion.
Giovanni Boldini, A Guitar Actor, 1873
Scale
Calibration refers to the size of an object compared to the rest of the surroundings. For example, the size of a homo compared to the tree he is sitting under or the size of a mountain compared to the clouds. Scale is different to proportion in that scale refers to the size of an entire object whereas proportion refers to the relative size of parts of an object. For case, the calibration of a man relative to the rest of the painting may be right, just the proportion might exist wrong because his easily are too large.
Summary Of The Principles Of Art
I hope this post clarifies to y'all what the principles of art are and how you can employ them to help empathise and communicate your thoughts most art.
It is besides of import to sympathize that a great painting does not have to tick all the boxes in terms of the principles of art. Most of the great paintings will simply demonstrate a few of the principles.
And then exercise not recollect of the principles of art as a set of overarching rules which you must comply with. They are merely a way to help us empathize and communicate our thoughts about art.
The principles of fine art permit u.s. to place some kind of objective reasoning behind why a great painting is not bad. This is of import equally it keeps us from falling into a vague space where art is no longer able to be defined or critiqued (much like what has happened with modern art).
(If you want to learn more virtually the principles of fine art, you might be interested in my Painting Academy course.)
Source: https://drawpaintacademy.com/principles-of-art/