The elements are the parts; the principles of design are the ways artists arrange them. The first is balance: how the visual weight is spread across a work. You met it in Balance in Drawing Basics.
- Symmetrical: the two halves mirror each other. It feels formal, stable and calm.
- Asymmetrical: the halves differ but still feel even, like a seesaw with a big child near the middle and a small child at the far end.
- Radial: parts spread out from a center, like spokes of a wheel or petals of a flower.
Key idea
Balance is how visual weight is spread: symmetrical, asymmetrical or radial. Unequal things can balance when their visual weights even out.
Why it works
Some things pull the eye harder than others; we say they have more visual weight. Larger size, darker value or stronger contrast, brighter saturation, more detail or texture, and isolation all add weight. A shape far from the center also counts for more, as on a seesaw. So a small, dark, detailed shape near one edge can balance a large, pale, plain shape near the middle.
Worked example: Balance without mirror halves
Whistler titled his famous portrait of his mother Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871). She sits in profile on the right side of the canvas. A dark curtain hangs at the left, and a framed picture hangs on the wall. What kind of balance is this?
- The two halves do not mirror each other.
- The dark curtain and the framed picture on the left give weight that answers the large seated figure on the right.
- Unequal parts that still feel even make asymmetrical balance.
Answer: Asymmetrical balance.
Buildings and objects show all three kinds. The Taj Mahal (1632 to 1653) is famously symmetrical. The north rose window of Chartres Cathedral is radial: its panes spread from a center. Many carpets, such as the Ardabil Carpet (1539 to 1540), are built around a central medallion.
Common mistake
Thinking only mirror symmetry balances. Asymmetrical balance is everywhere in painting and photography, and often feels more lively. Test it by covering one side: if the picture suddenly tips, the two sides were balancing each other.