Rules of Abstract Art

1. Introduction: Have you ever wondered what makes abstract art so captivating. What if I told you, there are actually rules behind it. If you're learning, you know how to use them, how to bend them, and how to break them to make something that's uniquely yours. I'm Ana Bon Sun. I'm an artist. I'm a professional mesmer I've been exploring art in many different ways. I've been pushing boundaries, and I've been teaching others to do the same to embrace their creativity and to let it go of perfection. I'm so excited to bring you this course because making abstract art isn't just about making a mess, making chaos. It's about mastering it. I was once in your shoes. I was wondering why is there one piece of art just standing out while others just don't. I started the journey of figuring it out, looking at successful abstract artists, and found out there are actually some rules or principles that they live by and they use in all works of art. Rules you can even use in figurative art. You can even use photography. These rules are essential of making your abstract art come to life. Make your abstract art more appealing to others. The things that I found out, I just put them into rules and put them into the course for you. In this course, we're going to start off with just looking at the rules. Because when you know the rules, you can bend the rules and you can break the rules. Then we go to do examples. I'm going to do some intuitive play and then show you how you can go from intuitive play to incorporating the rules and make some lovely pieces of art. This course is for anyone. You could be a complete beginner, but you can also have some experience with making art or even abstract art. As a class project, you're going to make a piece of art that suits your art style. But incorporate with some rules to make your artwork more appealing. It doesn't matter what kind of tools you use because it's about your artistic journey. It's about your end result, and it's about having fun. I can wait to get started, I can wait to see in the course, come on, go on this adventure with me, and we're going to start. 2. Class Project : Your project is going to be a piece of abstract art made in your style, made in a way that fits your artistic journey made with the tools you want to use. But incorporate some of the rules, maybe just one of the rules. Maybe just break one of the rules in your piece of. You can upload your project by going to the project and resources section. Sub project. Fill in the details and publish. Everyone will share a different piece of art. Feel free to go to the project section and see what others have made, get your inspiration, comment on them. I would also love it if you would leave a review. Not only will it make me a better teacher, but also will help others to find this course more easily. You just go over to the review section, press to leave a review button. Can wait to see your piece of art in the project section. 3. Rule 1: Vary in size: For this first rule, I'm going to show two pieces of paper and I'm going to draw some dots. Why? Because I love dots. I almost love them as much as I love stripes. They're fairly easy to make. Because abstract art is so hard to show you because everybody has his own style, his own unique voice. I'm just going to make some dots just to prove my point. Because when you look at this, it looks nice, it looks fine, looks like a dotty pattern. But it's not really something really special when you look at it. Now I'm going to do the same thing. I'm going to draw some dots. But I'm going to apply the first rule. The first rule of abstract art is very in size. When I finish this paper, you will see what I mean and why it's so important to vary in size. I'm now going to draw a larger dot. Not really precise, is just to prove my point and abstract art is never really really precise. Again, a few smaller dots to fill up the paper. If you compare those two, you would see two different drawings. One with all equal dots, and the other one with almost equal dots and one larger dot. For almost everybody, everybody is different, but most people would just go for the right one because their eye just moves to the direction, moves to the change in everything. Here is the size that changes everything and eye immediately goes to that one. There's some points to focus on in the midst of all the same shapes. The first rule would be very in size to make your artwork abstract or whatever kind of artwork, very in size, to make it more attractive for the viewer. 4. Rule 2: Vary in shape : Well, I'm going to use this first piece of paper because otherwise you would see me draw dots all over again. Now to get boring, I'm going to use the first one, and I'm going to the next one with dots as well. Well, not only dots. I'm going to make squares as well because the second rule is not to in size. The second rule is to vary in shape. Now you see me dots, and you see me draw squares. Wait, you look at those two together. You immediately see the difference. With the second one, I will move around. It will follow the squares in the second painting or the second drawing. The second one is more interesting to look at. Well, what if I combine the first two rules together? Now I'm now going to make a small square. I'm going to make a big squa going to make a square, and of co I'm going to add the lovely dots. Now I'm combining the first and the second rule and usually this will work to be the better option. But if you compare them now, you would probably think, the first one is not as attractive as the other two. But with both two, you can actually differ which you like best because I actually like the second one best. Why that is, I will show you in the next rule. 5. Rule 3: Rule of thirds : I'm going to grab an extra piece of paper because I'm going to show you why it's possible that you like the one which is only the second rule in variation better than the other one. I'm going to draw a grid. I'm going to divide my paper, horizontally and vertically. The one thing that we used to do when we want to draw something important, that's what we did when we were a kid. We draw something right in the center. That is something we're naturally drawn to do, but is that the best option? What if I grab another piece of paper, and I'm going to draw a grid again. I'm going to divide my paper in two thirds and again into thirds. This is a rule you use with photography as well, and you can actually use it with abstract painting or landscape painting. Now I'm going to move my s and I'm going to put it where my lines cross. Interesting. Well, if you draw, for example, the beach, you draw a beach below, and you draw the sky on top, one third and two thirds. That's usually the most attractive thing, or you do like the beach, the water, and then the sky. Those are the things we're more attracted to. What if we use that same in our abstract? I'm going to show you in one we did with in shape. If I draw a grid on this, I'll do it in red so you can see the difference. I'm going to divide it in thirds Again, over here, you will see. I have one in this grid in this one. Well, this is unlike two. There's no rule that says you have to get just one part of the grid. You can have two boxes. Now my I naturally moves around from the top to the mile to the lower third. This is less interesting because I can rule third, but every third is the same. This one actually gets more interesting not only because of the size, but also because it's in the lower thirds. I divided in the lower thirds and two thirds. This one is divided as well, but it's more in two parts. That's why it's usually more interesting to use a grid as a rule. 6. Rule 4: Vary in tone: We varied in shapes and sizes, and a third was like user rule thirds. But now I'm going to look at a different thing. Now you see white and you see black. Those are the opposite ends of the tones you can use, like a dark tone and a really light tone. That's what you see happening here. What if I add one of the middle tones to the mix. I'm not only going to use the lightest toe, the white, and the darkest tone. No, I'm now going to use a middle tone. I'm going to use a gray. Of course, there is a variation. In tones, you can have a spectrum of of tones, but I'm just going to show you white gray and black. Look at the difference now. It's exactly the same. You got the dots on paper. But with the gray one, it's more toned down, actually. It's like music because it's less loud, the gray one, then it is actually when you look at the black one. The black one is really harsh on the paper, and the gray one is actually more subtle. What if I would actually vary in tone? I would still have the white. It's the background right now, and I would use the gray because it's more subtle, but I want to pump up the volume a little bit. I'm also going to use some black. Se those three. With this one, I have the quiet noise, the loud noise all combined. It's not like the dull one, the gray one or the really loud one, the black one, but I have them combined, and varying in tone makes it more attractive to look at. You I immediately goes to the middle one. Of course, you can vary in different kinds of gray or different blackish colors, different kinds of whitish colors. You can actually vary in color. Be tones is not just in black and white and gray, it's there in color as well. A lot of people think, I don't like the variation in black and white. I would like to have colors. Well, over here I have three different colors. That's enough variation that would be fun, wouldn't it? But sometimes it's even more fun to use the same color, not the blue, the red, and the green, but get three different greens. Why would that be more attractive as a whole? It's all greens, then using three different colors. Well, I'm going to show you. I'm going to grab my phone and I'm going to put it on mono. Be over here, you're going to have the colors and I'm going to swipe and I'm going to put it on mono. You see? W they're black and white, the tone is almost the same. There's not much different, so it's really boring to look at if you're just going to use colors. Well, let me get the green. Then I'm going to grab the middle green, and I'm going to get the lighter green. Immediately it's going to be more attractive because I have different tones. You use the tones in colors as well. I'm going to prove my point by just getting different green. You have a dark and you have a light. Those two are pretty similar. It's okay. You have some variation, but still it's a lot more fun if I take that one out, and I'm going to put a lighter one in. For example, now I'm going to put the white. You see the difference. You have three different options. Let's put this to the test and let's paint. 7. Combine the rules: We have a very in size. We have a very in shape. We have the rule of thirds, and we have in tone. But if you have all three of those, all those rules, you can hardly remember all the rules and when to use the rules. That's why we're going to break some rules and use some rules. We're going to paint just to show you what color and the rules can do. I tape down three pieces of paper and I'm just going to add some colors and shapes. Over here, just varied in size, and over here, I'm going to vary in shape. With the last one, You know what? I'm just going to use the rule of thirds. That's when I get so distracted if I use all the rules in one. I'm going to start up with just one rule, and I'm going to see where it takes me and I'm probably going to break them. I didn't even clean my brush, and I just at the middle color, the middle green. Over here, I'm trying to just stay with the rules I intentionally start with with different sizes and the different shapes. But later on you'll see that it's really hard to stick with those rules. I mean, I'm the artist, and I'm already getting confused with getting on with all the rules. But I'm just. I'm the teacher, so I have to show you bear with me. I'm just put down the lighter color. I didn't clean my brush so. The difference in tone is it maybe just a little bit, but still if I put the lighter tone next to the darker tone, there's a lot of difference. Over here, I'm just going to fill up empty spaces. I'm not really started up with the different shapes, but I'm filling up the spaces. O here, it's easy because I did the third thing. Wow. Let's see what we've got. This should be abstract art or three different pieces of abstract art, and I did the different tones. Yeah, I think I like the third surfs. What does it need? Let me see. Of dark and it could need some variation in there. This is on the sides, it's just Mushy or like the middle. The third one. Well, that looks okay. You don't really see it in the video. Right one doesn't really need anything. This one needs something. Let me see if I put a lighter thing on a darker thing. That makes a difference. But it's still awed difference. I'm not sure what to think about it. If I look at the tones, it does make a difference. Maybe a b. Is. I'm going to tone it down with medium. You see me thinking, what I do what shall I do? What if I do a darker thing over here when it's too light? This is what it looks like when I actually have the painting. Yeah, it looks better, but I'm really happy. I start breaking the rules again. You know what the thing is, I'm always breaking the rules. I'm not a rule follower, I'm a rule breaker. But when I get stuck, all of a sudden, I'm going to fall back onto the rules because now I'm going to vary in size again. Look at that. The variation in tone is better, but the variation in size is better. Well, I like that part. I still not really sure about that part. But we're getting somewhere. We're just messing about and then falling back to the rules, all of a sudden, something happens. See what happens here. Oh, this is so not easy to paint with the black and white telephone in my hand. But yeah it's getting better. You look at it like this getting better. I'm just using the phone now just to look and take it back and I'm painting just to show you something, but this is not something you should do all the time. I I don't know what to do, I'm grabbing the phone, see if it works, if it doesn't work. I'm like, Yeah, well, I'm not really, it worked. It was a lot better, but still I'm not happy. I'm going to mess around again. This is it. Abstract art, it sounds so easy like kid stuff. That's what we say when we go to museum, but it's really hard work. You have to really focus and then do it again. Maybe let it dry, do the next layer. That's something I didn't do. I'm not sure if this was right way to go, I should have tried things, but I'm seeing what it's like. Yeah, I like the shape that the lower part is getting better. But now it's going to be more, more of the same color. I'm really struggling with this middle one. That part is okay. That part is okay because I have the contrast and I moves around because I have the circles. The contrast there as well. When I'm looking better at it, it has the th, it has the changing shapes. Even in size, it's getting. It's not there yet, but it's getting there. It's getting better. And this one. It has all the rules in there. I mean, variation in tone. Yeah, even a little bit shape, size, it does. But, I'm not quite sure. I could do something extra there. Moving around. You see phone you saw the grid? The grid really works because it already divides it in third. That's why I use it on my phone as well. Little more change in shape, see what that does. My painting is getting better just by putting some dots. We're getting somewhere. And it's not only dots, it's a different tone. Yeah, it's getting more interesting. It's doing a bit better. It moves around, that's something I want because otherwise, one of the painting is Du painting is. Over here. I mean, it's okay with the colors, but still it spice up a bit as well. To make a bit more interesting. It looks a bit different in tone. It could be a slight variation, but it can make it pop as well because I love neon pink. Well. See what that did. It's not only the change of color, but it's also the pop in size. It's on the upper third, just with one small thing, one drop. I just completely changed this one. Yes. You see the variation in tone. You need the upper part. Yes, I did the tone. I did. I did the shape. I did the size. This one, I like this one. It's easy. This one is still a little messy. I'm not sure. It's too messy. The other one is really clean. This is messy, but I can make it more messy. Get the table. What if I do something with the pink here as well? I'm going to do some splatter. Yes. See what happened, it was hard to tap because probably was a bit too thick. F spay you need like a smaller or a thinner paint. But this spice it up. I'm not sure if it did much in tone, yes a bit. But the change in shape. The splatter has a different shape. And it just place. It is fun. Even the size, you don't see much here, you see? In tone, it did some. It didn't do much. No. The rule third is still there, but it was there already. But it spiced it up. It did something. With this one actually breaking the rules. I had some of the rules, but I wasn't sure. But the splatter made the difference. This one is really com. This one is really messy. Yes, I actually like this one. It grows only. Not the best one, still in doubt. The last one. It has some splatter on there. Actually, I don't mind. Yeah, the little splatter is nice. You know what? I'm not going to change the thing. Maybe it looks better when I have the sharp and clean edges. I'm just going to the tape. See what happens if I'm just pulling the tape. Pulling the tape, pulling the tape, pulling the tape. I just got some of the paper on there. Well, one of the reasons why that happened is because I didn't let it dry. Now the paper and the tape is wet and it gets sticky. That's one of the reasons why it didn't work and I just pulled it off like mad. If you put a really flat laying on the paper. I'm doing here, it's a lot better. It also depends on what tape you're using. I was just being really impatient. But you know. Now I'll learn, I know what to do next time. Since this was creative play for me for this course and wasn't really my artwork. I'm just fine. You know what, I can actually repair it if I need to. I don't always need to. Look at this. I'm just suddenly going talking about something else in the tape, but look at this, I got the clean crisp lines, and I already has a massive effect because it was so hushy and organic shapes, and when you get the clean white edges, you all of a sudden get a contrast in that way. See contrasts really work in color and shape, in size, the crisp edges and organic shapes. Sometimes they don't work out. That's why I usually make multiples at the same time. It's always one that really feels one I'm not sure of and one that's really good. But also when I pull of the tape, it looks so different. I'm not sure and sometimes I leave it for a day and come back later and sometimes like, Well, I'm just going to pull the tape and see what happens. It's always magic. It makes it so better. I wasn't doubt about this one, but I like it a lot better with the clean edges. I probably look even better when it's now the shiny and all the paint is dry. Look at this. I'm a messmr, but the simple one really looks good. You see, it's not really that hard to make abstract art. As long as she know the rules, she don't have to apply them on every piece you make. But when you get stuck, they're like a lifeline, you can use to make your artwork better. Show this one. I moves around because I have the shapes in the tone, the dots. I like this one in small pink dot. It's perfectly placed, even though it was excellent. This one was really messy. Yeah. I tore out the paper over here. No, that's not nice. I can glue it down. Mt medium to make it look better, this one as well. I can even change around. When I twist it and turn it, no, I I like this one. But twisting and turning always give different viewpoints well, maybe makes it look nicer if you want to. And all of a sudden, I got a series as well. Whoa. I'm a magical artist. And so can you. 8. Play with the rules: In the last video I made, you saw me just making the abstract art, but I started off with implementing some of the rules. You saw that I had it pretty tough. Because I was just focusing on the rules. I mean, I was focusing on things in my head. I will happen to you. Probably, I still happens to me. I mean, you saw it. What helps me bet if I just let that go? If I just start off with intuitive play, make whatever I want to make. Then I get to a point like, it's not good enough, I need to adjust some things, and then my mind will come into play. Then I can use the rules. Do I have to make shape larger? Do I have to make a shape smaller? Do I have to add more darker colors, or does it just need some light? You can also spice things up by using different materials. Because different materials give different textures. The shape changes, the size changes, maybe the tonal change. I started playing with mixed media. You don't have to. I mean, you can stick whatever medium you're comfortable with, but I noticed it helped me. I'll show you a video and it's more like a time lapse video, but you can see how I make the decisions, I started a play, and then build it up, build it up, started to use some of the rules and I ended up with for fun pieces. So 9. Final Thoughts : Congratulations by making it to the end of this class. I hope you had fun making abstract art and using the rules. I hope you had as much fun as I had teaching it. If there's one thing that I want you to take away from this course is that abstract art is a balance between intention and play. Those rules about shape or size or the rule of thirds. It's all about the foundation. It's all about the rules that make your art grow. A But if you're not having fun, if you're not having that intuitive play, you won't grow as an artist. Find that balance. Do it in a way that suits you. Do it in a way that suits your artistic journey, do it in a way that makes you feel more confident as an artist and grow as an artist. I hope you had fun. I hope you're going to make the close project. Don't forget to submit it, and I hope you're going to make even more abstract art after this course, and I hope to see you in the next course. For now, have fun.