LINES

LINES

LINES

Principles and methods of design
used by Joel Alden Kingston

"Humans are intent on finding or creating order in the world around them. Our brains receive and process more visual information than we are consciously aware of, comprehending relationships between objects in our field of view.

Within the frame of every picture there is an ever present unseen pattern that the subconscious mind perceives. An invisible web of intersecting lines that show us where the center is without our resorting to the use of a ruler.
Drawing lines from the corner to corner, corner to centers and centers to centers reveals this invisible web. Laying out this pattern before drawing begins allows us to take it into account when organizing the elements of a design. The intersections are key visual stress points and by locating objects on these lines and stress points we can increases the overall visual strength of the picture.
This reinforcing of the pattern gives the design equilibrium and enhances the dynamics of depth and dimension. It's as if the web suspends the elements within the frame and anchors them to a point of balance. Like a captured moment where all the elements come to rest as potential energy, the instant before movement occurs.

This method of design is similar to the work of Jay Hambidge, whose 1919 publication The Elements of Dynamic Symmetry is a must read for every artist and designer.
The principles of Dynamic Symmetry are closely related to Fractal Geometry and Chaos Theory in its study of smaller and ever smaller reoccurring patterns and shapes in nature and stems from the design principles used as far back as ancient Greece, according to some scholars. The Golden Section, also known as the golden mean and golden ratio, is the value of 1 to 1.618 which occurs through nature.

the Golden Ratio

1: 1.618

The curve of the nautilus shell is the most widely recognized symbol for this ratio. This same curve can also be seen in the center of a sunflower and in the spirals of a pineapple or a pinecone. There is a revitalized interest in this phenomenon and many books are being published on the subject.

In The Golden Ratio : The Story of PHI, the World's Most Astonishing Number by Mario Livio the author critically investigates the subject, presenting cases where numbers have been juggled or measurements have been less than accurate enough to claim that the golden ratio was used by ancient designers. Still the author does present valid evidence as to when it has been used as well as examples of it's proliferation in nature and mathematics. For artists knowledge of the mechanisms of the Universe is of untold value in designing one's creations.

My method primarily deals with the perception of the human brain when viewing elements within any given frame dimension. I began using these intersecting lines fifteen years prior to reading Hambidge's book and find they are complementary methods of design.
Before using this method I would move objects this way and that in the design until they felt right. Now utilizing the lines I can see that objects had been located on the lines subconsciously and by drawing them in first I am able to save myself a lot of erasing and redrawing. I also find that I could recognize this subconscious placement in the works of others.

Some photographs and artworks appear more balanced or more intensely powerful than others. If I sense this balance I obtain a copy of the work and draw in the lines. Without exception the elements always rest on many, if not all of the stress points and lines.
To my knowledge Leonardo da Vinci didn't use this method of design, yet I've always found his balance in The Last Supper very pleasing. So I drew the lines on this etched copy where you can see the figures and surroundings falling within the marks.

Each group of three disciples is clustered under the four points that lie at the vertical one-third and one-sixth points.
The back wall fills the center third of the design and the roof placement is near the upper stress points at one-thirds (it should be noted that the perspective of this work matched the room in which it was located).
The windows and the arch over the door reinforce the lines of the top half center point.
The shoulder level of the seated disciples runs across the horizontal centerline, while the foreground tabletop ends at the horizontal one-third line.
The placement of the table supports is also near the points where the lines cross the bottom edge table cloth, which also end at the stress points directly below Christ's outstretched hands.

(Blue ink lines directly on uncropped 35mm print.)

I have experienced the point of perfect balance many times. Often a scene will literally jump out at me as I walk past, as if it's shouting that it's in balance, as with the photographs above.
Later I draw in the lines on the print to confirm that my subconscious does sense their existence and that the feeling of balance was soundly justified. It's amazing to see how the elements fall into place."

Joel Alden Kingston

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