Visual Language: Week Six - Summary of Unit

Visual Language: Week Six - Summary of Unit

Throughout this unit I have experimented with a multitude of visual language elements and principles to diversify my artwork and introduce thematic subtleties (primarily focused around the theme “error”) to create atmospheric and emotional depth to each of my pieces. This unit has helped me to understand the importance of VL elements and principles in every art form from illustration and typography to architectural design and cinematography. These elements and principles can be manipulated in numerous ways to create diverse effects within the artwork. Value can be used drastically to emphasise the contrast in shading, or it can be used in a more subdued manor to delicately symbolise balance between colour tones. Equally, the use of various textures can create a sense of harmony in a piece of artwork if these textures compliment each other, or conversely they can create a distorted movement in the piece by varying in scale and shape from one another.

Value - Comic. I used contrasting shades to add a dark, moody aesthetic to harmonise with the narrative and to bring the characters to the forefront of each panel.

Form - 3D structure. I used materials to construct a model that used vast depth and height with limited width to create a sense of mystery and wonder when you look through it.

Colour - Moodboard. I created a moodboard that evokes loneliness in an urban environment by selecting images that utilised dark blue and grey based colour palettes.

Movement - Film. I created a short film that emphasises the stillness of longing and isolation by using limited camera movements and subtle character performances, to suggest a subtle narrative without the use of

vocal/verbal performance

Rhythm - Storyboard for comic. I created a storyboard that helped me plot out the beats of the general narrative to ensure the panel-by-pa
nel progression of the comic felt rhythmically satisfying to read.

Proportion - Brunswick sketches. I created observational sketches that forced me to consider how perspective warps the supposed proportional relationships between buildings, depending on their distance between one another.

Emphasis (using Texture) - Riso prints. I created a piece of typography work using a variety of hand made font types, utilising various textural applications (from handwritten to different sized foam board cut outs), to create dissonance between each of the key words in a quote.

Line - skyline sketch. I made an observational sketch of a skyline in an attempt to accurately capture the shape of different buildings using simplistic line work to accentuate the buildings' relationships to one another to form one complete shape.

All of these experiments have furthered my understanding of how VL elements and principles can be manipulated to create a multitude of emotional and atmospheric effects throughout a body of artistic work.