Off On A Tangent
It's time to transgress about tangents; those
stealthy compositional gremlins that sneak into illustration compositions and
cause all manner of visual mischief; those linear leprechaun's that leap out
and steal a viewers attention; those pictorial pixies that spoil a pastoral
scene for young and old viewers alike; those magnetic mystics that overpower a
center of interest with the simplest touch; those confusing cherubs that place
a spell on a viewer who then looses the ability to direct their attention to
anything else; those mesmerizing medusas that place viewers in a trance and
turn their gaze to stone; those gob smacking ghosts that invade the imagination
of illustrators who unknowingly apply them to their canvases.
Illustrators know what they are, and at one
point or another, have fallen under their influence. And, some illustrators who
have taken to the tangent habit have become unsuspectingly addicted to
composing tangents. Indeed, some severely afflicted illustrators mainline their
tangents through the point of a very sharp pencil. And the most tragic cases
succumb to tangents through the use of indelible India ink.
Acting as if a Las Vegas Justice of the
Peace, an illustrator joins two objects in holy matrimony; and as the saying
goes, "until death do they part". With surprising regularity,
illustrators are able to put two and two together, without ever realizing they
actually had any trigonometry skills in the first place. They fly their
pictorial planes on autopilot resulting in unforeseen collisions. To put it
mildly, shit happens.
The Trouble With Tangents
When it comes to pictorial composition, few
things are as powerful as a tangent. Tangents have the power to glue a cloud to
a tree or even to a person's head. A tangent can cause a man and a woman who
don't even know one another to suddenly be in love. The old familiar phrase
"attached at the hip" was a result of a rash of tangents that
suddenly appeared in children's books in the 1930's. I once saw a tangent graft
a monkey to a dolphin. Sadly the monkey was drowned, appearing to be underwater
and all.
Tangential Meditation
Scientists and physicians discovered about 75
years ago that tangents come from an area of the brain called the cerebellum,
or "little brain". So with the use of little brain, it is possible
for any illustrator to produce an impressive tangent. When, in the 1960's, mind-altering
drugs were introduced to illustration, their effect on the little brain could
be seen all across the profession. All of a sudden fields of paisley patterned
tangents were locked in a floating oil stain of fluorescent color. The profound
power of the tangent had finally come to fruition. Why, viewers who gazed upon
these tangential explosions actually lost their ability to think. This tangent
induced, momentary lapse of reason even influenced one of the best-known rock
bands of all time, forcing them to string together a series of hit albums.
From Tangent to Tangent
Like the human race, which has grown from two
billion people in 1930 to seven billion people in 2010, tangent use has grown
from a mere five or six hundred at the beginnings of art school education a
little over 150 years ago, to as of one minute ago, 2.5 trillion and counting.
One art school in a European country that shall remain nameless, last year
produced 47,722 tangents, with 36,453 from the freshman class alone.
Tangentitis
Identified in the late 1930's, tangentitus
was brought to the attention of the medical community by, believe it or not,
mothers, who upon reading picture book stories with their children, became
noticeably annoyed with the number of illustrations that depicted children
tangentially tangled in their mother's apron strings. This was exacerbated by
the fact that their own children began to mimic the tangents they saw in the
illustrations, thus always being under foot. The immediate conclusion was that
tangents were contagious, and that they could be spread from an image to a
person in a single glance. This explained how a single illustration with a bad
case of tangents, when displayed in a showcase, could spread tangentitis to the
entire student body of an art school. Even sculpture students were infected.
All of a sudden, in abstract work, cubes began to be balanced on one and other
by their corners. In figurative sculpture, fingertips began touching nipples
and worse. The situation became ugly, not only in sculpture, but printmaking,
illustration, etc. Tangentitis
even showed up in industrial design where students began designed vehicles with
doors that couldn't be opened.
7 Warning Signs of Tangentitus
1.
The never-ending line. Where lines
connect to other objects beyond the object they depict.
2.
The letter "K". Where a
shape or a line touches another forming a K.
3.
"X" marks. Where lines cross and form an X.
4.
Edge tapping. Where
shapes touch the edge of other shapes or the picture plane.
5.
Fused forms. Where two shapes
converge to form a single shape.
6.
Common edges. Where two
objects share a single edge.
7.
Implied alignment. Where two
separated lines or shapes form a visual grouping.
Tangent Therapy
All kidding aside, tangents can, and do,
disturb the harmony of a pictorial composition. And the only way to control
them is to recognize them when they occur, and to make adjustments as needed. Below
are some tips and tricks for identifying and developing sensitivity to
tangents.
7 Treatments to Cure Tangents
1. Produce
refined sketches. Define shapes and lines clearly
to improve the readability and recognition of tangents.
2. Examine
object relationships. Look for awkward interactions
between shapes and/or lines.
3. Examine
sketch perimeters. Look at the relationship of
lines and objects in proximity to all edges.
4. Turn the
sketch upside down. The change of attitude will impose
a focused examination of form relationships and minimize distractions related
to content.
5. Flop the
sketch. The reorientation will draw attention to uncomfortable
or problematic shape or line relationships.
6. Mask off portions
of the sketch. Cut a 1” square whole in a piece
of plain paper to mask out all but a small portion of the composition for
examination.
7. View in
outline form. An outline version makes it
easier to see tangents that are caused by shapes.
Tangents Can Be Our Friends
Not all tangents are bad. Tangents can also
be used to deliberately and very effectively focus a viewer’s attention. They
can even be used to form relationships between elements within an arrangement.
To do this, tangential relationships of shape and line must be thoughtfully
considered and intentionally designed into a composition. Like medicinal
vaccines, recognizing tangents; using them sparingly; and/or controlling them
completely; can result in an illustration that is immune to boredom.
