THE ELEMENTS OF DESIGN: POINT

Point is the simplest of all the elements of design.  A dot. A period. A mark.  It is not often emphasised, but it is found in every work of two-dimensional art imaginable.


One artist has taken this element of design to its extreme, and is credited with developing an entire movement that fascinated the public in the late 19th century.  Of course I am speaking of Pointillism and Georges Seurat (1859-1891).  (I have always wondered if his decision to paint with points of colour was perhaps influenced by the rediscovery of the atomic theory debated at the time.)


I privately believe that Pointillism taken to the extreme became that well-known game: Connect the Dots.


But let me get back to the point :-) of this article.

When is a point, not a point?

If visually represented, it can be argued that a point is never really a point.  Take any point on any piece of paper.  If you imagine yourself zooming in (coming closer, magnifying the point), any point will become a dot (a circle) or an irregular shape.  Shape is another element of design, and therefore not a point.

It follows then that when we talk about the element point we are in fact referring to the viewer’s perception of a point, whether that point is actually represented (a mark on a canvas, paper, etc.) or is merely implied (a point that is sensed but cannot be seen).

In my opinion the implied points are the most important points in Visual Language.  They are what make great artwork great.

Essentially, an implied point represents Focus.  Remember this: Point = Focus.  If you keep that in mind you are on your way to creating great art.

What is an implied point?

Consider an acute angle. 

An acute angle is essentially made of two connected lines.  There is no actual point on an acute angle, but we all feel the existence of a point where the two lines meet.  This implied point where the two lines meet is where the viewer's eyes are focused, therefore that point is the focus of the image.  However, there are two more implied points which are the secondary focus, and those are found at the end of each line.

How does this help in creating great art?

Simple, when you are considering creating art, place an implied point in the composition where you want your audience to focus and make sure that all the other elements of the composition support the existence of that one point.

Point = Focus

When you consider a picture plane, there are several implied points you should be aware of:

The first has to do with the Golden Ratio.

I'm sure there is someone out there who can explain why when we use the golden ratio artwork is more visually appealing, but that someone is not me.

(a + b)/a = a/b = The Golden Ratio

In my experience Golden Ratio is responsible for The Rule of Thirds.  When you divide the picture plane ( the imaginary plane corresponding to the surface of a picture, perpendicular to the viewer's line of sight (invisible line connecting the viewer's eyes and whatever he/she is looking at)) into three equal sections vertically and horizontally, you will have four intersecting, implied points.  To better your composition, you must insure that one of these points is your main focus; therefore, you will place your most important subject at that one implied point.  Doing so will add more energy and tension in your art, rather than if you placed your point of focus smack in the middle of the picture plane.  I will write more about The Rule of Thirds when we study composition, for now just be aware of the four intersecting points, sometimes called the power points.

The red dots are called the Power Points or Points of Focus.  Use only one or two in a composition.

The second implied point of focus we are going to discuss concerns Radial Focus.  This implied point can be discovered in any circular composition.  Basically you will place your point of focus in the center of the circle and all the additional elements would radiate outward from that point or inward toward that point.

An example of Radial Focus is a Rose Window.  These windows can be found in many Gothic churches.  The focus (or the center of the window) usually holds the image of the most important religious figure, such as Christ or Madonna. To see examples of rose windows, click here.

The last and perhaps the most important implied point is the Vanishing Point.

Vanishing Point has to do with perspective which I will also discuss later in our studies.  Using vanishing point(s) creates depth in a picture plane, and is one of the ways to create the illusion of deep space.

To create the best possible composition, you should consider all of the above mentioned implied points.

Nowadays when I create my own compositions, I try to place my point of focus and my vanishing point where I want the audience to look at first.  Then, I consider secondary points of focus and hopefully create an interesting visual path for my audience to follow.

Below is a two page spread from a picture book I’m currently working on.

Now, let’s analyze the image.

The seam of the book will go in the middle of the image, so the cyan lines you see show The Rule of Thirds for the whole image, and for each page.

You can see that when looking at the whole image, the power point I use is the red dot above the shoulder of the woman in the pink dress.  If you close your eyes and open them, the woman in the pink dress draws your eye.  She is the most dynamic focus of the whole image.

However, the important subjects of this story are the mother and child on the second page. They are the main focus.  The child's foot almost touches another power point.  I've also placed them in the center rectangle of the second page and stuck the vanishing point (the green dot) between the two subjects.  Since, the child is more important of the two, I've placed the horizon line just above his eye level.  Because of this, the perspective lines (the staircase, the rails, the box, the garbage can, people and animals) lead your eye to the mother and child.

I use the blond boy to keep the focus of the viewer on the image, and have placed him just outside of the power point of the second page (the blue dot).

Another implied point we have not discussed is the Line of Sight Point.  Whatever the subjects of the image(s) are looking at, the viewer tends to follow with his/her eyes.  In the above image the line of sight points are represented by red lines and hot pink dots.

Let's recall our acute angle. 

Point = Focus. 

The dog and the cat create an angle that points towards the face of the little boy (yellow dot).  

The acute angles between the branches of the tree, point towards the old man, drawing the viewer's eyes into the the image, and starting a path that is connected through the lines of sight, and the dog's leash.

(The obtuse angles, on the other hand, draw the eye away from the point of convergence, in this case almost creating a bracket for the text on the first page.)

So, there you have it,  the point analysis of this illustrated image.

Before closing there is something else I would like to draw your attention to:

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but sometimes an artist has to play with accuracy of perspective.  In this case, I have clearly meddled with the curb line.  By all rights, this image should be one-point perspective.  In one-point perspective, there is only one vanishing point, and all the implied lines of the subjects that are perpendicular to the picture plane should converge into that one point.  However, I've angled the curb suggesting an inaccurate second vanishing point.  This is wrong, but by angling the curb, I created a sense of movement.   I don't know about you, but I can feel the old man walking towards the woman in the pink dress.  Can you imagine how much duller the whole image would have been if I just kept that curb line straight as I properly should have?

I will write articles on perspective later on, but I will write more about angling lines in my next article "Elements of Design: Line".

As usual, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them or to contact me.

"Elements of Design" Line" article, should have been June's article, however, I'm swamped with work at the moment, so please bear with me, I'll post that article as soon as possible.  Till then: Keep drawing!

Mili Fay

www.artofmili.ca