Chapter 5A Contrast Studies

Final contrasting composition study
negative versus positive

Positive VS. Negative

Smooth VS. Rough

Serene VS. Chaotic

The word “contrast” at first makes you think of light and dark or how light and dark contrast with each other, but it is a very broad term that applies to nearly every type of design and art principle. For example, there can be a contrast in size big head, little body; color orange against blue; or movement fast versus slow. The possibilities are endless: negative versus positive, jagged versus strait, geometric versus organic, serene versus chaotic, rough versus smooth, random versus orderly, saturated versus pastel, static versus kinetic, and monumental versus diminutive to name just a few.

I started by designing three sets of complements, positive versus negative, serene versus chaotic, and rough versus smooth.

For my positive versus negative compositions I used a black and white medium to help reinforce that positive negative, yen and yang relationship. With both of these compositions I have a row of straight lines with one line that is wavy. The viewer’s eyes are immediately drawn to this wavy line, from this wavy line the viewers eyes are then taken down the wavy line and to the image that I wanted them to see. The focal point of this composition is reinforced by the figure ground relationship with the bottom border, and the white space between the bottom boarder and the start of the bottom of the strait lines. I also like the way that the Linux mascot stands out on the black background of the negative composition. In these compositions the images happen to be the Linux penguin mascot, I could have used anything that I wanted to draw my viewer’s attention to. Although in this composition I like the penguin because of his color contrast and how it relates to my composition. Besides who doesn’t love the Linux penguin mascot? I especially like the penguin hugging the apple, as I prefer to work on a Mac.

For my smooth versus rough compositions I used complementing colors of blue and yellow on both. For the smooth composition I used a gradient blend in order to give the appearance of smooth soft rolling hills with no stroke. I wanted to draw my viewer’s attention to the top right of the composition so I put in a circle with a darker yellow and a thick black boarder. I used this same visual relationship of using a darker yellow with a thick black stroke with the blue background to draw attention to a specific area of my composition. What I was trying to do in both of these compositions was to draw my viewer’s attention but to make the attention grabber subtle, subtler than say a wavy line in the middle of a group of straight line.

For my serene versus chaotic composition I wanted to try something a little different. I started by making a composition of organized soft round circles. I then took this serene composition filtered it through Photoshop and made it chaotic. I then took the serene composition and added chaotic circles with a black stroke in order to draw the viewer’s attention to this section. I did this exact same thing with my chaotic composition; I put solid circles with a black stroke in the bottom corner to draw viewer’s attention to this area. I wanted to try this and see if it would work, the attention drawer is subtle due to the similarities in shape and color, this was all on purpose. This was my third set of complements composition and I wanted to experiment, I like it, I think it works great.