The combination of line, structure, value and color make for a dynamic composition. "A line is one of the simplest and most versatile elements in a design" as Mary Stewart describes in her book "Launching the Imagination." Line can have different qualities, suggest a direction and create structure for a piece. Explore the meaning of continuity or how lines flow to create a composition. Use organizational lines to create the structure or "skeleton" for your piece. Use the structure you have created in a composition to imply or suggest other lines to give a greater depth to artwork.
Before creating artwork, it is important to understand the principles behind a composition. As lines form the structure of a composition, form and balance brings a sense of cohesiveness to a work of art. Balance in a composition refers to how elements are arranged or presented. Formal, informal and radial balance make up some of the ways artists set up elements in a composition.
Formal balance is achieved by creating a symmetrical layout in a piece of art. In the article, "Principles of Design: Balance" in the Articulation website, formal balance is created with an equal sided arrangement. Alternatively, informal balance is achieved when an asymmetrical or unequal arrangement is created within a composition. You can create radial balance by placing an element in the center of a composition and create a repeating pattern or design to radiate outward from that center image. Balance creates a definition for the lines that create form. (see ref 4)
Color theory alone is a vast subject in art composition in which beginning artists should have a cursory knowledge of before working with different color schemes. Colors are called hues, and when black is added to a hue it is called a shade. Adding white to a hue creates a tint, and adding gray to a hue creates a tone. The color wheel is divided into two main divisions of color: warm and cool. Warm colors suggest heat and seem closer to a viewer. Red, orange and yellow are considered warm hues. Cool hues include blue and green. These colors tend to recede from the viewer's eye. Combining warm and cool hues in different shades, tones and tints can create an emotionally moving piece of art.
Value is the lightness or darkness of your composition. A piece of art can be monochromatic, or done in one hue, but to create visual interest and stimulation to the viewer, shading and different values need to come into play. Shading provides depth and creates realism for an object created on a two-dimensional surface. It makes art look three-dimensional to the viewer. Adding various values of color, both in light and dark hues, combining warm and cool colors and integrating the hues within the structure and balance you have created in the composition will create a stimulating work of art.