Bank of Questions
Questions on FORM
- Which of the following formal elements most strongly captures your attention when viewing this image: color, line, shape, texture, space, etc? Describe how or why.
- Describe the use of color by exploring how
it is present or absent in the image you
are exploring. You can do so by considering
the following questions. Jot down
your impressions along with supportive details
as you analyze the image carefully. NOTE: While
we perceive the color present in a photograph
to be 'captured' naturally from
nature or the natural environment, color
can in fact be manipulated in the development
of the photographic image. Moreover,
if the image under consideration is not a
photograph, color has been at least or even
more selectively chosen. Think
carefully then about the choices of color
in the composition of the image you are analyzing.
- What colors do you see? Are their multiple manifestations of any particular color along the visual spectrum? Try to distinguish them by their hues (e. g. pink, red, brick) as well as by their degrees of saturation [link to http://www.pomona.edu/Academics/courserelated/classprojects/Visual- lit/saturation/Saturation.HTML ] and value contrasts , that is their light/dark tonal elements. To explore the choice of color in the production of an image, view the following descriptive module explaining Color Theory : http://www.arthistory-archaeology.umd.edu/resources/teaching.html .
- How do you think the use of color impacts the way in which you experience the image? On a scale of 1 to 10, note how important the use of color is to you in your interaction with the image and explain why you gave it that numerical rank. What elements of the image are more or less important than color in your estimation? Does the use of color evoke any emotion in your response to the image? If so, how would you describe that emotion?
- Consider the use of line and shape in the image
you are exploring by answering the following
questions.
- What shapes are present in the image (used either in constructing the objects or the background of the image)? What shapes are most frequently employed or repeated?
- How is line used to create these shapes? How and when are the lines or they shapes used in dynamic ways to suggest movement? How and when are they used in static ways that do not imply active motion?
- Does the use of line contribute to an illusory three dimensional space in the image? Does line exist in two dimensional relationships?
- What is the relationship between line and the sensations of texture in the image? How do line and shape create textural impressions?
- How does line/shape combine to create patterns in the image? What patterns are created? How do any perceived patterns (including color patterns) owe their design effectiveness to the use of line and shape?
- Is the use of line and shape in the image a more or less powerful visual experience than the use of color in the image? On a scale of 1 to 10, note how important the use of line and shape are to you in your interaction with the image and explain why you gave it that numerical rank. Does the use of line or shape evoke any emotion in your response to the image? If so, how would you describe that emotion?
- How is space used in the image?
- Does the space seem cluttered, busy, open, white, empty, colorful?
- What compositional designs are incorporated into the use of space? What types of angles or exterior lighting sources are present or implied? (If the image is a photograph, consider the selection and use of camera angles.)
- On a scale of 1 to 10, note how important the use of space is to you in your interaction with the image and explain why you gave it that numerical rank. Does the use of space evoke any emotion in your response to the image? If so, how would you describe that emotion?
- How do the elements of color, line, shape,
texture, space and so on work together
to contribute to the design of the image? Consider
their interactions:
- How are these elements arranged and/or balanced together within the image?
- Are any of the design elements dominant? What elements are less dominant? What would change about the image if you were to change the relationship of the design elements to one another to make another element dominant? How would your response to the image be altered?
- Imagine how you might change the image by varying one of the design elements discussed above. What element would you vary and how?
- What emotion(s) do the combined design elements create for you as you explore this image? What memories or associations are called up for you by the way in which the design elements are used? Do you think another viewer might interpret the use of design elements differently? Why or why not? Might individual or socio-cultural memories or experiences affect one's response to the design elements? Why or why not?
- How do the pictorial elements, such as color,
line, shape, space and texture, relate to the
thematic elements of the image?
- Is there any written material or use of symbol in the image? If so, how does it relate to the pictorial elements described above?
- In your judgment, what is the function of the image? How do the formal elements, both pictorial and symbolic, support this function?
- Of what significance is the medium (oil, cartoon, photograph, map etc.) in thinking about the formal elements and/or the function of the image? How would they be altered if the image were to be reproduced in another medium (i.e., an oil painting or a map is photographed)? How does one explore an image differently is it is a reproduction of an artifact or the artifact itself?
- What is the size of the image? If the image is a reproduction, how is it altered from its original size? How does this affect one's response to it?
- How do all the formal elements, pictorial as well as textual and symbolic, contribute to your emotional response or intellectual understanding of the image?
Web Accessibility