Elements and Principles of Design Composition

Shape and Contrast

For this composition, we were designed one element (shape) and one principle (contrast) of design. I choose stars as a shape. My main star in the center was created using yellow oil pastel with glitter. I surrounded the main star with smaller purple stars to really contrast the two colors. I then surrounded the smaller purple stars with the outline of pink, green, yellow, and turquoise in a way so their counter color would contrast them the best. I used a white and black background to really contrast the colors. The brightness of the colors appears to stick out the best of the black, yet as we can see the colors are brighter on the white side, thus effectively contrasting shape. This is a great art activity to get the students adjusted to the elements and principles as it incorporates group work, individual work, and creativity.