Project planning: Guiding Questions
Below are some guiding questions to help you form observations about the connection between
composition and concept. By noting choices of composition with the art elements and principles,
you are better able to explain conceptual aspects of your subject matter. The artist should
consider the following in order to communicate to the viewer their expression:
1.
CONCEPT: What is your intention, or expression through your independent project? Why? Who do you
gain inspiration from? Are there other artists who have techniques, subject matter, media or concepts
within their work that you envision within your work? After researching and connecting on some level to
another artist, how is the piece you intend to make creatively different or unique from whom you
researched? What visual references will you need to most accurately depict your subject? Did you reference
the process of your concept with sources in the IWB? How does your concept relate to the human
experience?
2.
SUBJECT MATTER: What scenery, figures and/or objects did you want in your subject matter? What
do you reveal in your work of location, time period, mood, or atmosphere? Are there any associations with
a particular selection? What is revealed by the selection? Are their other aspects to consider like physical
build, posture, facial expression, or juxtaposition?
3.
MATERIAL SENSITIVITY: What materials will you use for your independent project? Should your
image be conveyed with detail, distortion, ambiguity, looseness or abstraction and how will the selection of
materials support this aesthetic? Is your work best suited to convey your aesthetic motif through a 1-D, 2D, or 3-D format? Why? Are you working within your strength area? How do you intend your piece to be
displayed? Are their parameters you should consider with its display?
4.
COMPOSITION/ SPACE: How should your dominant image/ idea be conveyed through the space? How
do you feel your composition supports your concept and ideas? Is there an intention for placement? What
movement are you creating within a viewer? Are all important aspects highlighted in some way through the
composition? How will the final piece be described (connected to a movement or feeling) and what
adjective would be an indicator of success based on your overall composition?
a.
Horizontal--compositions based on horizontal lines seem visually at rest and suggest placidity or peacefulness.
b.
Vertical--compositions based on vertical lines seem visually at rest and suggest strength.
c.
Diagonal--compositions based on diagonal, or oblique, lines seem dynamic and suggest tension or anxiety.
d.
Binary--binary structures emphasize parallelism.
e.
Triangle--triadic compositions stress the dynamic interplay among three main elements.
f.
Circle--circular compositions suggest security and enclosure.
5.
PERSPECTIVE: What type of angle are you viewing your subject matter? How far away or close are
you to the subject? How will this push your concept through the imagery? Is it creative or traditional? Is
their linear perspective to create the element of depth? Did you avoid perspective to push a flatness of
fields for a purpose? From the perspective created, how do you make the viewer feel? What do you make
them think about?
6.
PROPORTION: Have you considered the size of your piece or the component within the piece? Is there
a relative scale you have accomplished within the overall work? Is there an exaggeration of relationships
of proportion of components in the space? Did you choose dramatic foreshortening or a miniature for a
reason?
7.
INTEREST/ EMPHASIS: What is interesting about your work? Are there areas of less interest? Can they
convey more about your intended interest? What techniques did you use to create more or less emphasis in
certain areas of your composition?
8.
LIGHTING: CONTRAST/ VALUE: How is light used? What type of value range is visible? Should
there be strong or subtle contrast? Why or why not? Is there something that should have emphasis with
contrast? What areas within your composition are meant to stand out when being viewed?
9.
SHAPE: What types of shapes are being used geometric, organic, amorphic, etc and why? Will the shape
of the elements inside and outside of the image area effect the communication of your mood or concept?
10. COLOR: Should there be a dominant color or the absence of color all together? Does the color choice
serve a purpose? What mood is created through your choice of color palette? Is there color symbolism?
Could your subject better be conveyed through a particular color scheme, i.e. a limited palette,
complimentary colors, warm or cool color scheme?
11. UNITY: How much visual information is within the image? Does it flow together or are you intentionally
breaking a rhythm? Why or why not? How have you connected the interpretation you want your viewer to
have to the art elements and principles of design?
12. TEXTURE: Are there tactile aspects of your image/idea represented? What are they? Will you create the
visual illusion of texture or actual tactile textures to your surfaces? Will there be multiple textures or one
overall texture you want?
13. SPACE: How is the space of organized? Are the objects in the composition placed to suggest underlying
designs or shapes? How is the space broken, with vertical, horizontal sequence? Is there a progression
from one space to the next? For example, a triptych, or series to the display? Will the emphasis be in
negative or positive space or both? Why? Will the viewer feel the space as intimate, safe, isolated,
interactive or detached (both within the composition and the exhibition of it)?
14. FORM: Does the suggestion of depth perpetuate your concept? Are the lines, values, shapes, pushing the
forms contour? Does the form feel weightless or heavy? Is the form inviting or obtrusive?
15. REPETITION/ PATTERN: Is there repetition or pattern to consider? Is it the main focus or a less
emphasized component? Does it have cultural implications? Are other aspects of the work accentuating
this pattern or repetition? Did you purposefully create an opposing conflict of placement with pattern or
repetition within your composition? Why, or how?
16. BALANCE: Is there a balance to the piece? Is it symmetrical or asymmetrical? Why? Is there visual
weight in an area of emphasis and how? How will this make the viewer feel or react?
17. MOVEMENT: What type of movement have you created within your piece? Why? Is the imagery static
or free? Does your movement have purpose? Like, are you meant to look up at something or see
information is a specific way? What is most important in the image and consequently should this subject
be seen first or last? Is there a tightness or looseness in the rhythm created?
18. TIME MANAGEMENT: Consider the length of time it will take you to achieve the visual complexity
you are trying to attain. Then place it in the timeline of other projects you are working on in class. You are
expected to have your work at every critique, whether it be done or not! The critique process is a necessary
component for growth and understanding toward your conceptual ideas and how it communicates to
viewers.