B. Drama / D. Visual Arts · Drama and Visual Arts

Visual Arts: Movement and Compositional Triangles

D1.2 D2.2About 50 minutes

Learning goals

I can explain movement, this year's principle of design, and show it with diagonals, repetition, blur and directional lines.
I can guide a viewer's eye along a path to a focal point.
I can use compositional triangles and other principles of design to plan a narrative art work.
I can analyse how artists use elements and principles to communicate, and evaluate how well it works using class criteria.

Words to know

movement
The principle of design that creates the feeling of action in an art work, or guides the viewer's eye along a path through it.

implied movement
The illusion that something is moving in a still image.

directional lines
Real or implied lines (a road, an arm, a gaze) that lead the eye in a direction.

sequence
A series of repeated images that show stages of a motion.

compositional triangle
Arranging the main parts of a picture so they form a triangle, which links them and guides the eye.

focal point
The place in an art work where the viewer's eye is drawn first or ends up.

gradation in size
Shapes that change gradually from large to small, which can suggest movement or distance.

criteria
The qualities a class agrees to use to judge an art work.

Remember from Grade 7

Last year's principle of design was unity and harmony, and you used the rule of thirds to plan compositions. You also used visual rhythm (repeated lines) and converging lines for depth.

This year's principle of design is movement: making a still picture feel full of action, and leading the viewer's eye on a journey. You'll also use a new layout tool, the compositional triangle.

How can a picture move?

A painting can't move. It hangs on a wall. Yet some paintings make you feel wind, waves crashing or a dog trotting along the sidewalk.

Artists trick the eye with lines, shapes and repetition. Once you know the tricks, you'll see them everywhere: in comics, sports photos, posters and great paintings.

A flock of Canada geese flies in a long V across a blue sky above a lake with bright autumn trees. — The repeated bird shapes along a diagonal line lead your eye across the picture, a natural example of implied movement. AI-generated image

Two kinds of movement

1. Implied movement: the illusion that something in the picture is moving.

Diagonals: horizontal lines feel calm; vertical lines feel strong and still; diagonal lines feel like action, as if something is falling, running or leaning.
Repetition and sequence: repeat a shape along a path, like frames of a film. In Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912) by the Italian artist Giacomo Balla, the dog's legs, its tail and the leash are painted many times over, so they seem to blur with motion.
Blur and speed lines: soft edges and lines trailing behind an object show speed, as in comics.
Curves: swirling or wave-like lines feel energetic. In Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai's woodblock print Under the Wave off Kanagawa (about 1831), often called The Great Wave, a huge curling wave with claw-like foam towers over three boats.

2. Directional movement: the path your eye travels through a picture. Artists lead the eye with roads, rivers, fences, pointing arms, the direction a person is looking, and gradation in size (shapes getting smaller as they go). The path usually ends at the focal point.

Four ways to show movement with the same ball. A ball resting on a flat line looks still. A diagonal suggests rolling. Repeating the ball along a path, faint to strong, shows a bounce over time. Speed lines trail behind fast motion.

Directional movement: an S-shaped creek leads the viewer's eye through the picture from the bottom edge (1) to the focal point, a canoe (4). The creek also narrows as it goes back, a gradation in size that suggests distance.

Compositional triangles

Many artists arrange the most important parts of a picture so they form a triangle. The triangle links the parts and moves the eye from one corner to the next.

A triangle with a wide base at the bottom feels stable and calm. In Leonardo da Vinci's mural The Last Supper (about 1495–1498), the central figure of Jesus forms a triangle at the middle of the long table, a still centre among the excited, moving figures around him.
A tilted or upside-down triangle feels unstable and dramatic.

In Grade 8 you'll combine several principles in one work: movement, a compositional triangle, a focal point (emphasis), and variety or contrast.

Evaluating with class criteria

To analyse an art work, explain how its elements and principles create meaning. To evaluate, judge how well they work using criteria your class agrees on, for example:

Does the eye move through the picture to a focal point?
Does the movement fit the message (calm or exciting)?
Do several principles work together?

Compositional triangles. Left: three figures form a triangle with a wide base, so the group feels calm and stable. Right: a kite, a running child and a dog form a tilted triangle that leans and points upward, so the scene feels full of movement.

Worked example

Example: Analysing movement in The West Wind

Let's analyse Tom Thomson's painting The West Wind (1917), which shows a pine tree on a rocky shore beside a lake.

Look: a single pine tree leans and twists to one side; its branches curve in the same direction; the lake behind has rolling waves and the sky is full of moving clouds.
Implied movement: the leaning trunk is a strong diagonal; the curved, repeated branches feel like they are being pushed by wind.
Directional movement: the trunk leads the eye up from the rocks; the branches lead it across the lake.
Meaning: the tree has been shaped by wind for years but is still standing, which can suggest strength and the wild energy of the northern landscape.
Evaluate: using our criteria, movement fits the message very well; the eye moves from the rocks, up the trunk and across the sky; the principles (movement, contrast of the dark tree against a light sky) work together.

To analyse movement, find the lines and shapes that create it, explain the path of the eye, link it to meaning, then evaluate with criteria.

Worked example

Example: Planning a narrative art work with several principles

Let's plan a painting called First Snow Day that tells a story.

Story: kids rush out of a school door on the first snowy day; one child slides on a toboggan down a hill; a dog chases.
Compositional triangle (tilted): the school door (top left), the toboggan (bottom right) and the dog (bottom centre) form a leaning triangle.
Implied movement: the hill is a strong diagonal; speed lines trail behind the toboggan; the dog is drawn in a sequence of three faint outlines.
Directional movement: footprints in the snow lead the eye from the door down to the toboggan, the focal point.
Other principles: emphasis with a bright red scarf on the sliding child; repetition of falling snowflakes for rhythm.
Evaluate the plan: the eye has a clear path, and the movement fits an exciting message.

A strong narrative work combines movement, a compositional layout and other principles so they support one story.

Just for fun

What did the diagonal line say to the horizontal line?

"Why are you just lying around? Some of us are going places!"

Hands-on activity

Movement studio

You need: paper, pencils, a ruler, markers or paint, a small notepad or sticky notes (for a flipbook), and (optional, with a grown-up's permission) a phone camera.

Four ways: draw the same simple object (a ball, a puck, a leaf) four times: still, on a diagonal, repeated in a sequence, and with speed lines.
Flipbook (4D media): on the last 12 pages of a notepad, draw a leaf falling, moving it a little on each page. Flip from back to front. This is movement over time.
Eye path: draw a quick landscape with a road, creek or fence that leads to a focal point. Number the path 1 to 4 the way your eye travels.
Triangles: sketch two thumbnails of the same three objects (for example, a mug, an apple and a spoon): one in a stable triangle and one in a tilted triangle. Which feels calmer?
Narrative work: create a finished drawing or painting that tells a story with movement and a compositional triangle.
Evaluate: show it to someone and ask them to trace the path their eye follows. Check it against the three criteria.

Your turn

What is movement as a principle of design?

What is the difference between implied and directional movement?

Name four ways to create implied movement.

How does Balla's Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912) show movement?

What is a compositional triangle?

How does a tilted triangle feel compared to a triangle with a wide, flat base?

Name two things that can lead the eye in a picture.

More practice: warm-up

Which kind of line feels most like action: horizontal, vertical or diagonal?

What is the principle of design for Grade 8?

What is a focal point?

Who made Under the Wave off Kanagawa?

True or false: a flipbook shows movement over time.

More practice: on your own

Describe how you'd show a hockey player skating fast in a single drawing.

A painting has a road that starts large at the bottom and narrows toward a farmhouse. Explain the movement.

Why might an artist choose a stable triangle for a family portrait?

Explain how the curves in The Great Wave create movement.

Write one evaluation sentence using a class criterion.

Challenge

Plan a narrative art work about a spring flood (like in "High Water") that uses three principles of design, including movement. Explain each.

Compare how movement is created in Balla's Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash and Hokusai's The Great Wave.

Your class criterion is "the eye moves through the picture to a focal point." A classmate's picture has three bright objects in three corners. Evaluate and suggest an improvement.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Grade 8's principle of design is ___.

Which line usually feels most like action?

Repeating a shape along a path, like frames of a film, is called ___.

A road that narrows into the distance shows ___.

A triangle with a wide, flat base usually feels ___.

Which is an evaluation?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: The Grade 8 principle of design is movement. Students use multiple principles of design and layout tools such as compositional triangles to create narrative art works or art works on a theme (D1.2), and analyse how elements and principles communicate a message, evaluating their effectiveness using criteria generated by the class (D2.2).

How to help:

Look at sports photos, comics or posters together and ask, "How does the artist make it look like it's moving?"
Look up The Great Wave or The West Wind together and trace the eye's path with a finger.
Make the flipbook together; it's a great way to feel movement over time.

Common difficulties:

Everything centred and still. Encourage diagonals and off-centre placement.
No focal point. Ask, "Where should my eye end up?"
Describing instead of evaluating. Ask, "How well does it work? Why?"