Guidelines to Composition and Design

Composition The way that an artwork is

composed or assembled.

COMPOSITION is about the way an

artist composes or combines the
elements of the work to give clarity
and order to their ideas. Composition
is about the way our eyes are guided
around the artwork.
COMPOSITION is involved
with UNITY, how the elements of the
artwork go together to form a
oneness, a wholeness, which
satisfies the eye.
COMPOSITION is involved with and
governed by the principles of design.
Composition is about VISUAL
ORGANISATION

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Balance
BALANCE involves the distribution
of elements in a work of art.
BALANCE is the control of the
elements in attracting attention. This
attention must be evenly or unevenly
spread over the area to make sure
interest in kept up, all the way
through the art work, without being
static or chaotic.
BALANCE can be symmetrical or
asymmetrical
BALANCE can create movement,
 tension or calmness.
BALANCE of the pictorial elements
can act like a see-saw or lever.
The elements can be balanced
around a VERTICAL, HORIZONTAL
or DIAGONAL AXIS with enough
variety so that the artwork
has rhythm and energy.

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Proportion
PROPORTION involves the
relationship between sizes - scale.
PROPORTION is about realistic
relationship or ratio. As an
illustration, the ideal human
proportion is eight heads high and
the shoulders are two heads wide so
artists can change these
relationships or proportions for
dramatic or comic effect or to
emphasise a feature or quality. In
cartoons the head and hands are
emphasised by enlarging then
beyond realistic scale.
PROPORTION is familiar to us all so
artists can use the warping or normal
proportions to suggest emotions or
affect the status of a subject.

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Repetition
 REPETITION is the use of similar or
connected pictorial elements. For
example, similar shapes, colours or
lines that are used more than once
REPETITION can be regular or
irregular and even or uneven.
REPETITION can be in the form of
RADIATION where the repeated
elements spread out from a central
point.
REPETITION may be in the form of
GRADATION where the repeated
elements slowly become smaller or
larger.
RHYTHM is about the rate the eye
moves throughout the work of
art. This is usually because the eye
moves, jumps or slides from one
similar element to another in a way
similar to music.

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Dominance
DOMINANCE is about the focus
given to a part of a work of art.
DOMINANCE helps to create UNITY
as the eye is attracted to a key point
then led around the image by
pictorial elements.
DOMINANCE can be created by
contrasting pictorial elements such
as line, shape, tone, texture,
direction, size or colour.
 DOMINANCE and BALANCE work
together to bring outUNITY.

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Harmony
HARMONY means pictorial
elements of the same type that “go”
together.
HARMONY can be made where the
eye is used to seeing objects
together, so they form a group eg.
flower pot and plants.
HARMONY can create feelings,
similar elements can seem calm and
pleasing eg. Blues and greens,
rectangles and squares or groups of
organic shapes, while contrasting
elements create energy, vitality,
tension or anger eg. triangles with
circles and squares

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Contrast
CONTRAST means pictorial
elements that stand out because
they are not alike eg. squares and
circles and triangles. Red, yellow
and blue contrast as they are so
dissimilar.
CONTRAST can be made by putting
objects together that do not normally
“go” together and therefore make
each other stand out more, than they
would separately.
 CONTRAST gives variety and
makes the elements more lively.

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Unity
UNITY is the sense of ONENESS, of
things belonging together and
making up a coherent whole.

Artists do this by repeating elements,

overlapping shapes and directing the
eye of the viewer around the work
from one similar element to the next
or along a line or shape

The eye is directed by the principles

of design and composition so that
the artwork has UNITY.

The main function or job of the

principles is to organise the elements
into a unified artwork.

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Variety
VARIETY gives an artwork interest
and vitality, as the elements are
repeated with enough change or
difference to enhance each other.

VARIETY, contrast and harmony

work together to give unity.

Too much VARIETY leads to

confusion and disunity. Too little
leads to boredom.