Intro Design Principles

Monica Vazquez

HUA 101.1301

Professor Harmon

October 9, 2013

Intro Design Principles

1. How does an artist create asymmetrical balance?

     To create asymmetrical balance in a painting the artist will have a difference in color balance on opposite sides of his or her painting. Thomas Cole’s painting The Oxbow is an example of asymmetrical balance. In his painting the top left is cloudy with dark colors along most of the left side. The right side shows land in a light yellowish color with clear bright skies. While one side is dark and appears to be shadowy, the other side is lighter and it seems as if it were sunny. Since warm colors are heavier than cool colors the yellowish land on the bottom right it is able to balance out the darkness on the other side of the painting.

2. Describe several ways used to unify an artwork?

     To unify an art piece, the artwork should be balanced. Several Circles, by Wassily Kandinsky uses many circles of different colors and sizes to create unity in his painting. The repetitions of dark and light colors he uses balance each other out, creating a piece that makes all elements fit in with each other. By doing this it seem like everything belongs together creating a balanced composition.

3. How is scale change the meaning of an artwork?

     Scale and proportion change the meaning of artworks depending on the scale that is being changed. In The Great Wave off Kanagawa created by Katsushika Hokusai the people that are in the boats appear smaller than a human being could possibly be. The boats also look small compared to the giant wave that is about to attack them. The wave looks mighty and powerful compared to the tiny people on these two boats going towards it.  The size of the sea, the boats and the people depend on the artist. Although this is not how big a person really is, the size relation changes the meaning of what is out of scale. Making something look bigger or smaller than what it should actually appear changes the perspective in that art piece and what it’s representing.