Composition Study

Choose one object.
Cut that object out of black paper several times and create a layout of that repeated object.
Choose an accent color and cut that some object out of your accent color once.
Add the accent color to you overall layout.

Things to look for/ think about:

• Balance
• Emphasis
• Unity
• Repetition

Here is another link that gives examples of these concepts:
http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/Compose.htm#principles

Here are some examples:

Regarding Balance - Different ways you can create balance in a design:

• By color: Small areas of vibrant color can be used to balance larger areas of more neutral colors.

• By value: Value is also known as the level of darkness. Black against white has a much stronger contrast than gray against white. To balance these two colors, you would need a larger area of gray to balance the stronger value of black.

• By shape: Large, flat areas without much detail can be balanced by smaller irregularly shaped objects

• By texture: Smaller areas with interesting textures can balance larger areas with smoother, un-textured looks

• By eye direction: Your eye can be led to a certain point in a picture depending on how the elements are arranged. If the people in a picture are looking in a certain direction, your eye will be led there as well.