Remember Unity and Coherence!

Of all the topics we’ve covered so far, this one is the most difficult to identify and explain. I’ve spent my entire career trying to acheive unity and coherence in my work. Sometimes I nail it and sometimes I don’t. Coherence is about more than just balance, more than pattern, and more than figure and ground. Coherence is the bright shining moment when your work comes together. The subject is working in concert wiht mark and line and patterns and textures aren’t competing for attention. Color and value strike the right emotional chord and transparency elicits just the right aspect of time and space you were going for.

If you continue taking art classes or just continue making art on your own, you will eventually find your own path to unity and coherence. The one tip that I can give you is that if you  don’t  acheive unity and coherence, treat each week of this course like a checklist:

• Are figure and ground distinct enough or should they merge even more?
• Have I chosen the right surface and chosen the right placement of my subject inside the frame?
• Are mark and line distinct enough? Are the lines working overtime and making the work feel heavy?
• Is pattern taking up the right amount of attention? Do I need to tone it down or increase it?
• How are my color values? Should I add or decrease the contrast?

Then, begin working on your final project. Together with your midterm, this is only 25% of your grade, so don’t panic. As long as you’ve been turning in most of your work, you’ll probably be fine. This course isn’t about MASTERING art. It’s only about getting the most basic aspects of 2D design down, so what I’m looking for isn’t the Sistine Chapel!