"Balance is not something you FIND, it's something you CREATE."
NOTAN (a Japanese word meaning dark-light) focuses on the interaction between positive and negative space. Many of you have seen the Yin-Yang Symbol before. This is a perfect example of a Notan. Both parts of this symbol are separate, but are equally important. The symbol has two colors, WHITE and BLACK which symbolize nature's balance of forces such as Good and Evil, Up and Down, Light and Dark. Basically this symbol represents the Positive and Negative forces in the Universe. |
In art, another word for this is CONTRAST. Artist often arrange opposite elements (light vs. dark colors, rough vs. smooth textures, large vs. small shapes, etc.) in their artwork so as to create visual interest, excitement, and drama. A NOTAN screams contrast! When creating our Notans today, we will be looking to create contrast using darks, lights, small, large, intricate and simple shapes. We will be balancing our POSITIVE and NEGATIVE space to create CONTRAST!!!! |
What is POSITIVE and NEGATIVE SPACE in Art? I a work of art, the POSITIVE SPACE is the space taken, up by the objects in the artwork. Positive space is easy to identify (trees, people etc) whereas NEGATIVE SPACE is the space that is left over. The negative space in a work of art makes for some vary unique shapes. | |
| If you follow along better with a video, I have linked a demonstration video created by another art teacher here. If you prefer to follow step by step instructions with images, keep reading. In the instructions below, you will notice that I create mine a bit differently than they do in the video. Either way is great! You choose! |
This step is VERY simple, yet so important. This makes glueing your NOTAN much easier. Center your small colored square onto your white background paper and lightly trace the corners with pencil. These little marks will be your guidelines as you move through the steps of the project.
Using a pencil, or a light colored pencil, draw shapes on the edges of each side of your square. Do not let your shapes get too tall or they may not fit on your paper when we REFLECT them.
HINT: Avoid the corners....try not to cut any corners off!
After you draw shapes on all for sides, carefully cut them out.
Or whats left of the inside square! Because you marked your paper with each corner of your original square, and you DID NOT cut any corners off when creating your shapes, you can now line up your original square and glue it to the center of your paper.
STEP 4: Reflect the Shapes and Cut some more!!! You will notice now that the shapes fit together like a puzzle. We are now going to take each shape and REFLECT it so that it flips from the inside of the box to the outside of the box. REFLECTION: is a transition in which an shape or object is flipped over an axis or line. After you figure out how to reflect your shapes. You can glue them down, or take it a step further and make your design more complicated. You can cut more shapes out and continue to REFLECT them back and forth until you run out of space to cut. Follow the slide shoe below to see what I mean. |
After you design with crayon, trace your PATTERN lines with washable marker and brush water over the top. This will create the effect of watercolor paint. Notice how your crayon lines show through! This is because crayons are made with wax, which resists water.
If you do not have a paint brush, you can use a cue tip, spray bottle, or a twisted up paper towel as well!
These are colors that are like a pair of good friends... although they are beautiful, bold and bright on their own, when they are together they are truly outstanding! These colors love to make each other look good....they "compliment" each other. Like some pairs of friends, they are COMPLETE OPPOSITES. This makes it easy to find them on the color wheel. The pair consists of a PRIMARY COLOR and the SECONDARY COLOR that is OPPOSITE or across from it on the color wheel. Although, these colors make each other look really great, they DO NOT mix well together when painting. They each like to shine beautifully on their own...like all best friends should.