Too Much Purple by William Steig

Project 2 - Essay

     In all works of art there is a thought process for the order and use of the elements of art and principles of design. The artist that works with the elements and principles will create a much more eye-catching and interesting piece. The focal point of good artwork will be powerful and the spectators will be pulled in. Good composition will produce a more compelling piece of work that will show great technique, emotion, and uniqueness. A good understanding of the elements and principles is key to creating good art.

     In “Too much purple” by William Steig, the sun is the focal point. Steig used emphasis and focal point to draw attention to the sun. He emphasized the focal point through the use of line, value, and texture. Steig strategically placed dark and light clouds around the sun so that the viewer will look in that direction first. He also drew people off to the side with their eyes looking directly at the sun to even further create am emphasis on the sun. Most artist have at least one emphasis and focal point. The artworks that do not have these usually lack a lot of variation and are too bland for viewers to want to look at.

    “George! Are you in there?” by Peter Arno uses a lot of value and contrast to create a powerful piece of art. Arno creates a lot of value and contrast so that he can make an emphasis on the picture frames. Contrast is defined as difference. Everything in the room has dark values while the picture frames are highlighted. As long as there is harmony between the dark and light values, your artwork will be successful. Arno uses a full range of value with tints and dark values to light values and highlights to help get his story across. In this piece of artwork, Arno uses value to create an illusion of light that is highlighting the picture frames in a dark room. This means that the picture frames are the focal point and the most important part of his piece. Value and contrast is essential in every work of art and it is used to intensify certain things in a piece that will overall make it stronger and more interesting to look at.