I recently found this article about Notan on the Empty Easel Web site. I had never before heard of the word, but it sounds a lot like what I am working with now in Florence, Italy.
The author Dianne Mize distinguishes between two approaches to deciding what part of an image is considered a “dark” and what is a “light” when creating an image. She calls the two styles “Design Notan” (think icon shapes of an object itself) and “Pictorial Notan,” which follows a more organic approach to light.
The artists’ choice of Notan method would, of course, greatly affect the choice of abstract shapes in one’s artwork, and therefore the emotion that the artwork would evoke. It is an interesting read, especially when viewing the images of art that she chose to help illuminate these concepts.
Pictured here is a work-in-progress image of my charcoal drawing of a model named Joshua. Certainly the finished work will look quite a bit different (I hope to share him with you soon), but it all started with a decision about abstract shapes that separate my lights from my dark patterns. And that is one reason that every artists’ work is different, even when trying to create a similar style of work.
Click here to read the original article:
Revisiting Notan: Two Ways of Achieving Harmonious Darks and Lights
by Dianne Mize
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