More Interesting Design..or Just Rules?

Art and Design are funny little creatures.  If there is ANYTHING I don’t do well…it’s go by the rules!  I really don’t think I try to be a rebel…I just like everything I do to look like something I did…and not everyone else’s.  I guess as long as I can remember I’ve been this way.  Maybe it was what drew me to art….I could just MAKE what I wanted…how I wanted!  But then….I went to college!  Boy did the art professors there have news for me!!!  Here came all these RULES about art!!!! All of the sudden…I couldn’t just do what I wanted…now I had to follow rules with my art?  Ugh….  But I learned…these Rules aren’t set in stone…and when you use some of them as guidelines…they really do help your art….design…and the way you decorate.

One of the things that I learned…was the rule of thirds.  The rule of thirds is a basic rule of dividing your art up into a grid of nine equal parts….just imagine a tic tac toe board on your art.  The rule says that the main focus of your art should be located in one of the four intersections of the lines in this imaginary grid.

Now that sounds pretty simple…but if you look at interesting art…you’ll see that it really is true very much of the time.  Now…not always….all rules are made to be broken! lol  So…start looking at your drawings…photographs…and paintings with this in mind…it may just change your composition!

In this painting I did…of a picture I did…(lol) I didn’t plan for this to actually follow the rule of thirds….but I did plan the composition….and placed the horses in the view finder of my camera where they were visually appealing to me…and it just so happened that it did follow the rule of thirds.

Here’s a photograph of some tulips that I have in my garden…Again…with the rule of thirds…and no…I didn’t “plan” it…or maybe I did…and didn’t realize it.  It really just comes as second nature to me….so I guess maybe I do…do it…and just don’t realize it any more.  Either way…It really wouldn’t have been near as interesting if the tulips had just be right in the center of the picture.

Not centered in either direction…This snap of my grandson wouldn’t be in the least interesting if he had been center and facing directly at the camera.

Another rule is the rule of odds…or odd numbers.  Simply…odd numbers are visually more appealing to the eye than even.  I do agree with this most of the time….but like I said…every rule can be broken…you just have to really decide what looks best in every situation.

Here…I was hanging some windows in one of my booths I didn’t follow the rule of thirds…but I did follow the rule of odds.  This really wouldn’t have looked near as good if I had used four windows…or two….Nor would it have looked very good if I had worried about the thirds rule.

There are other rules in art…but I’m saving those for a later date….for now…take your art to a new level…and try these techniques out…and see if they help the composition of your art.  Take a look at some of your art up to this point…did you subconsciously follow these rules?  If not….would your works look better if you had?

Love Y’all!

Tammy