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Monday, August 2, 2010

Artistic Polar Bear Challenge: 100 Ways In 100 Days. #78 - Notan

Today's bear idea comes from Deb Ward, a award-winning artist, instructor, mentor and blog buddy.  Notan is a Japanese design concept literally meaning 'lightness/darkness', a study of the interaction between positive and negative space.  In art, this concept is used to reduce the shape and form an idea or image into a simple black and white structure which allows the artist to determine if a composition works well.  This simple study creates a map of light and shadow on which to build value and color ranges.  A strong Notan design is the key to a strong painting.

Notan Bear

I think this ol' bear has pretty good Notan.  Although it's a bit half and half as far as light and shadow goes, there's a nice gradient from left to right which leads the eye through the composition.

2 comments:

debwardart said...

Wow, it looks great! (What a good idea that is - LOL)!

RH Carpenter said...

Good values on this one :) You could add a tiny little bit of black to the large white space - or not :)