Drawing Assignment using the Principles of Design

Choose a common subject as a source of motif for your drawing. This can be anything (a shoe, a piece of fruit, a shell, a chair, etc., etc., etc.)

Draw this object multiple times across your picture plane changing the object each time you draw it. For example, one depiction of the object can be a straight on view, another could be a highly forshortened view. Consider turning the object over to depict its other side. Consider changing the scale of your object in one depiction. Consider drawing one section of the object close up.

I want to do draw at least five different versions of the same object, altering something about it each time, all in one composition (that means on one sheet of paper). Consider how you place each view/depiction of your object on your composition. You may overlap some of the images. Think about your use of positive and negative space.

While you are creating this composition I want you the think about all of the principles of design we discussed in class (Unity and variety, contrast, emphasis, balance(symmetrical or asymmetrical), movement, repetition and rhythm).

The Principles of Design (Composition)

BalanceContrastEmphasis (Focal Points)RhythmUnity and VarietyScale and ProportionMovement

Balance – Refers to the varying amount of visual weight on one side of a work compared to the other side of the work.

Works can have:

Symmetrical BalanceAsymmetrical BalanceRadial Balance

- Works can also be asymmetrically unbalanced if the weight on either side does not feel the same.

Symmetry Symmetry

Symmetry Symmetry

Symmetrical Balance

Parthenon in Athens, Greece

Buddha Amoghasiddhi with Eight Bodhisattvas ca. 1200–1250Tibet (Central regions)Distemper on cloth27 1/8 x 21 1/4 in.

Radial Symmetry

Mandala of Jnanadakini late 14th centuryTibet (a Sakya monastery)Distemper on cloth33 1/4 x 28 7/8 in.

Detail of the mandala

This mandala is in the form of an extraordinary palace seen from above. It is presided over by a female Buddha, Jnanadakini, who is the feminine aspect of Jnanadaka, a fierce manifestation of the Buddha Vajrasattva. Jnanadakini has six arms and three heads and sits on a lion throne surrounded by the eight goddesses of her inner circle. Four female guardians are seated in the doorways of the palace's gates.

Basic Structure of the Mandala

Asymmetrical Balance ecnalaB lacirtemmysA

George BellowsBetween Rounds, 1923Lithograph18 1/4 x 14 3/4 inches

Scott HuntDonut1999

ContrastContrast

Wayne Thiebaud, Pie Slices

Raphael Soyer, The Mission, lithograph 1935.

EmphasisFocal Point

Francisco Goya, The Third of May, 1808

The woman crawling through the tawny grass was the artist's neighbor in Maine, who, crippled by polio, "was limited physically but by no means spiritually."

Andrew Wyeth, Christina’s World, 1948, Tempera on gessoed panel, 32 1/4 x 47 3/4"

R h y t h m

and Movement

Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night, Saint Rémy, June 1889. Oil on canvas, 29 x 36 1/4"

Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VII, 1913, Oil on canvas, (6' 6 3/4" x 9' 11 1/8”)

Unity & Variety

Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VIII, 1923, Oil on canvas, 55 1/8 x 79 1/8 inches

Paul Klee, Temple Gardens, 1920

How are these principles of design used in the following student drawings for this project?