Ok, so this post is going to cover quite a bit of ground, so I hope to be clear, but please just let me know if I didn’t explain something clearly. That being said, let’s dig in.

The definition of a shape is “the outline of a thing; a contour; that can be made by value, line, texture or color, and may be suggested or implied.” So what does that mean? Basically, just as a line is a point for a walk, a shape is a line for a walk. Whereas line defines direction and length, shape defines actual space (in 2 dimensions).

In order to properly discuss how shape works, we need to have a common vocabulary to describe what we’re seeing. Shape has quite a few descriptors, so bear with me.

The Basics

Geometric shapes are made from principles of mathematics, and can be described as such. The family of geometric shapes can be divided into two subcategories which are:
Rectilinear shapes, which are made up of straight lines and simple configurations (think back to geometry, things like squares, octagons, triangles, etc.) Rectilinear shapes by definition do not have any curved lines.
Curvilinear shapes are created by combining geometric forms to make curves (like circles and ovals). Curvilinear forms have curves, but are not necessarily completely curved. Most curvilinear forms are a combination of straight and curved lines.

Organic shapes are freeform shapes, not necessarily governed by mathematical rule. Organic shapes tend to mimic forms found in nature, combining both curved and straight elements (so nearly all organic shapes are also curvilinear shapes).

Invented shapes are made up tangles. The invented shape tends to have even more irregularity than organic, and is really defined by its distance from subject. Basically, invented shapes don’t mimic anything, they’re just blobs with no discernible pattern, rhyme, or reason.

Stylized shapes are simplified shapes, distilled from a known form. Most drawings are stylized shapes as you are simplifying the shape by only drawing the contours. If I were to draw the contour of a pen, though it lacked detail, the gestalt form (more on this later) of the pen would be recognizable.

Implied shapes are formed in the same way that an implied line is formed. There is an indication of direction, but the contour is broken. An example would be if there was a series of dots arranged in a circle, the circle is still recognizable, despite the fact that it is not, in fact, complete.

Simple shapes are shapes with little structural complexity, and are easily understood. Almost all geometric shapes are very simple, as they occur all the time in everyday life.

Complex shapes are, of course, the opposite of simple shapes. Complex forms are made from lots of structural elements that are hard to understand. Complex shapes usually have a large number of details when compared to the rest of the piece.

Spaces

What exactly are we describing with the terms above? We are describing partitions of space, or lack thereof. Artists commonly use the terms positive and negative space when talking about form and shape, the positive space being the subject, or something resting on a background, while the negative space is the background when nothing is covering it. More formally, the positive space is the object or figure of a design. The negative space is the surface upon which the figure resides, and is often called the ground (as a little side note: when it is hard to differentiate between the positive and negative space in a piece, it is referred to as figure/ground reversal). Both positive and negative space is made up by dividing their ground in the piece into shapes.

The Tricky Part

Now we get into the real meat of composition, the format and visual tension. Visual tension is the key to composition. It can be defined as “the connective relationship between shapes themselves, between shapes and the format, and conceptually between forms and the viewer.” The idea of visual tension is pretty ethereal, but the principles are imperative to understand. In a nutshell, as soon as you move from just a white page, visual tension is created. How much visual tension is created is widely dependent on the types of forms used, symmetry vs asymmetry, linear movement, and a number of other factors, many of which I’ll be discussing later, in the meantime, the most fundamental visual tension is movement and direction.

The first step to any solid design is the format. Though often neglected, format is a very important part of the design process, as it defines the space on which a design is created and the edges of the picture plane. An artist has a huge number of choices when selecting format, horizontal, vertical, shaped, abstract, etc. The two big ones worth covering for right now are the horizontal and vertical. One of the main factors in deciding format (as should be obvious to those who read the elements of line) is directional emphasis. In a horizontal format, the emphasis will be on the horizontal line, giving a more calm, and relaxed feel. Conversely, a vertical format will put more emphasis on the vertical axis, making a more active, but harder to unify composition.

The activity parallel to the direction of the format is considered a facet of a greater area called directional forces. The directional force refers to a sense of motion within the piece. In more complex shapes, the most dominant, rough form of the shape gives the major directional movement, while the more subtle forms within the shape give minor directional movement. Directional forces in reference to the format come in five main flavors: perpendicular, edges, bottom, right, and center.

Perpendicular motion occurs in any rectangular format where any line that runs parallel to an edge is activated by the edge, and is terminated by a perpendicular intersection (hitting the perpendicular edge). In more lay terms, any line that runs with an edge will be running perpendicular to another edge. The edge that it is running with will activate that line, giving it movement that stops when it hits an edge running perpendicular.

The edges give an object weight and importance in a piece. The closer to the edge something is, the more tension that object has, and the more it influences the piece. The edge can be broken (by cropping a shape off at the edge) to give a better sense of space and connectedness with the viewer, but the cropped shape has quite a bit of weight to balance.

The bottom carries a lot of weight because of our tendency to apply gravity to a piece. Things at the bottom of a piece seem to have more weight, but less motion than the rest of the piece. Additionally, if there is a grounded structure (one that activates the bottom and gives a sense of space) things placed in the middle will appear to be falling, giving them movement, but not always the desired effect.

The right side is pretty much only in western culture (in eastern cultures it’s more often the left side). The right side gains a lot of visual tension from the fact that most western society scans paintings left to right, spending more time on the right edge.

The center of a piece again will always have movement toward it, as it is where the eye will generally begin on a painting. The center has the most visual impact and power of the entire piece, but has a tenancy to make the rest of the piece stagnant. Pretty much if you make the center too contrasted with the rest of the piece, the rest of the space outside the center will not activate and the eye doesn’t move around.

Focal Points

Phew, that was something. Now why did we cover both shape and format with directional motion in one go? Well, for one shape didn’t really constitute having a whole article written about it, but more importantly it all leads to the big finale: focus.

A focal point is a place in an image that you want the viewer’s eye to rest, it has something cool, or it is important to interpretation, whatever. A focal point is created through contrast and techniques to lead the eye to the focal point using the techniques discussed.

Though I won’t go into detail just yet on what all of these are, the main contrasts are:

• Simple vs. ornate
• Stark change in direction
• Motion vs. static (in focus vs out of focus)
• Type of form (identical vs. change)
• Contrast of texture
• Contrast of values
• Color emphasis

The focal point can also be formed by positioning the piece in isolation, in the major foreground (make it bigger), and/or by placing the form in the center of the composition.

So by using complex shapes in amongst simple shapes (or vice-versa), a focal point can be created. When more than one focus is created, the eye will move between them following the rules of the lines. If you have two focal points that are arranged diagonally, there is a visual tension and active movement between them. If the foci are arranged on the same horizontal plane, it will give a sense of calm and still space (useful in still lives sometimes).

Anyways, thanks for reading another edition of elements of design, stay tuned for Lessons from the masters: shape, as well as Elements of design part 3: texture. Thank’s again, and have fun!