UNIT 2_COMPOSITION. PHASES OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS.

DEGREES OF ICONICITY (2nd ESO)

2.1. COMPOSITION

Composing means to put in order plastic elements that form a pictorial work. To do this, we use graphic
and plastic elements combined with balance distribution of shapes, symmetry, light, colour…

It’s usual to use a compositional scheme. This is a set of lines and basic geometric shapes on which the
image is supported. The compositional scheme can be simple or composite. Simple schemes are normally
formed by one or several basic geometric figures or lines. Composite schemes can contain several simple
compositional schemes. The most common simple schemes are:
UNIT 2_COMPOSITION. PHASES OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS. DEGREES OF ICONICITY (2nd ESO) | [Seleccionar fecha]

SYMMETRIC TRIANGULAR OVAL DIAGONAL L-SHAPED

T-SHAPED CROSSED CONVERGING S-SHAPED RADIAL

On these paintings there are crossed, L-shaped, symmetric, oval and

triangular schemes.

Sometimes the composition can be guided by

modular patterns. These schemes are more
common on design and architecture than in
painting or sculpture. Modular compositions are
created by the repetition of a module or unit,
making a larger composition, even infinite.
Modules or units fit like puzzle pieces that have
equal shape and size.

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2.1.1. Proportion, rhythm and balance (visual equilibrium)

Proportion is a principle of art that describes the size, location or amount of one element to another (or to the
whole) in a work. It’s common to establish a series of relationships between the measures of every element in
the composition, e.g., in a human figure, the length of arms and the height of the elbow and the wrist are quite
related to the length of trunk and the total height of the body.

Artists have looked for beauty on their artworks through harmony and proportion, using mathematical and
geometrical concepts.

During the search of the ideal of beauty, they get the Golden Main, it was founded by the Golden ratio, defined
by the Golden number: = 1,61803

1,83 + 1,13 = 1,61803

1,83

1,83/1,13= 1,61803

UNIT 2_COMPOSITION. PHASES OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS. DEGREES OF ICONICITY (2nd ESO) | [Seleccionar fecha]
The Golden number is: A/B = 1,61803 and we can
find it in everyday objects like identity cards, credit
cards or some kinds of papers.

Georges Seurat used the Golden

rectangle for this pointillist
painting, and its divisions to get a
pleasant composition. On the left
we can see the painting with the
compositional scheme lines, and
on the right we can see the original
painting.

The module is also related to proportion, because it’s a

shape that can be used by repetition (like in in a modular
composition), to create a whole or as a measure to compare
a part to another or to the whole.

Through history, module has changed depending on the

thought of human beings. Sculptors from the Ancient
Greece used the head as measure module. Some of them
did their sculptures using a seven heads measure canon for
the human body and others used a canon of seven heads
and a half. They considered that these measures were
canons of perfect proportion for the human body.

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 The compositional rhythm is a regular succession, rhythmic and harmonic of
shapes or colours. It performs an active and dynamic aspect, both in nature and
music as well as in art compositions, to enrich the expressive or aesthetic
artworks senses. There are different types of rhythms and they can be applied
either in two or three dimensions.

There are some types of rhythm:

➢ Continuous rhythm

A figure is repeated regularly without changing its measure. This

is a monotonous rhythm.
UNIT 2_COMPOSITION. PHASES OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS. DEGREES OF ICONICITY (2nd ESO) | [Seleccionar fecha]

➢ Alternate rhythm

There are two or more figures repeated. It gives a feeling of controlled

movement.

➢ Increasing and decreasing rhythm

Figures and distance between figures

increase or decrease. These rhythms
enhance the effect of depth.

If a figure is repeated filling a plane, it is possible to create a rhythmic surface. Some regular polygons, as
squares, hexagons and triangles, can fill completely a plane surface, making also a modular composition.

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On a picture we can see different weight or visual forces, because there are shapes, colours and other
elements of an image that can get the attention and attract the observer’s eye, creating visual equilibriums.
Because of this reason, there are different kinds of compositions:

• Static compositions: to get balance, elements are distributed on both sides of

one or more axes as they are generally symmetrical and are meant to be stable.

• Dynamic compositions: if the shapes and colours are distributed only on one
side of one or more axes getting a single visual weight, or a visual weight that
dominates others, compositions with unstable balance or asymmetric or unbalanced
are obtained.

UNIT 2_COMPOSITION. PHASES OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS. DEGREES OF ICONICITY (2nd ESO) | [Seleccionar fecha]
Imbalanced compositions: if figures are distributed only on one side of the axis,
making only one visual weight. These compositions have the maximum degree of
instability.

2.2. PHASES OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS

A picture is a message in which a transmitter (sender) tries to communicate something to a recipient, so there
are two different points of view: the transmitter’s one, that tries to express something with a certain aim, and
the observer’s point of view, that depends on the personal and social context.

As an image is an element of communication has an influence on the creative process, and it has some phases
that are common to every creative activity:

1. Definition of the objective: Which is the message to transmit and what the aim of this message is.
2. Search for information: Gather all the useful information without focusing in anything.
3. Selection: To turn the selected information on new ideas, taking the essential information to be used
to reach to the objective of the message.
4. Evaluation: Review ideas critically and clarify the objective. Think about if the technique and the
support are adequate to get the objective or not.
5. Elaboration: To turn the ideas into reality using the chosen technique.

TO DO ON YOUR SKETCHBOOK

Modular composition: Draw a modular net on a paper of your sketchbook (you need
a ruler and a pencil to do it). The module is a square whose sides have a measure of
4cm. Design a model to repeat in every little square on your paper and then use
coloured pencils or markers to paint it.

Disproportion: For this work, you have to do a drawing with an example of disproportion: to draw something
that is usually small in a very big size or the other way around. You can use coloured pencils, markers,
watercolours or tempera.

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 2.3. DEGREES OF ICONICITY
An image is a representation of a part of the reality. If a
picture is quite similar to the reality, it has a high Natural
degree of iconicity, and it has a low degree of iconicity if image
the picture doesn’t look like anything from the reality we
can perceive. Three-
A photographic camera records the reality quite dimensional
accurately, but its iconicity is lower than a cinema camera, scale model
because this one can record movement and sound. A
drawing will always have a lower iconicity than a film or a
photography. There are 11 iconicity degrees. 11 indicates
Hologram
the highest level and 1 indicates the lowest level:

11. Natural image, the perception of the reality we obtain

using our sight.
10. Three-dimensional scale model (realistic sculpture).
Colour
9. Hologram (projection).
8. Colour photography. photography
UNIT 2_COMPOSITION. PHASES OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS. DEGREES OF ICONICITY (2nd ESO) | [Seleccionar fecha]

7. Black and white photography.

6. Realistic painting.
Black and
5. Figurative painting.
4. Pictogram (symbol that represents a figure or an object white
that communicates or indicates something). photography
3. Motivated scheme (maps or plans that are related to
the represented reality).
2. Arbitrary scheme (pictures that aren’t related to Realistic
anything from the reality but have a conventional painting
meaning, as traffic signs).
1. Not figurative representation (abstraction).
Figurative
painting

Pictogram

Motivated
scheme

Arbritrary
scheme

Not figurative
Join every picture above to its iconicity degree (number representation
and name):
A: F:
B: G:
C: H:
D: I:
E: J: