The dot

You’ve already solved the exercises about the elementary order in the two previous impulses and noticed that the basics of every composition, the fundamental questions of composition are practiced and empathized with these elementary orders. In this impulse I would like to go into a little more detail, with an exercise about the dot. Leonardo da Vinci says, „the beginning to the science of painting is the dot.“

That’s interesting because most of the time a dot is not given much meaning. But the dot is very ambiguous. A dot can be understood as the dot at the end of a sentence. Or a proper circular area that has the effect of a dot in the picture. It can be a bright dot, a dark one, a colored one. It can be an intersection of lines. It can be the increase of a tone, where at the end there’s a dot. It can be a point of energy and it can be a meeting point, a meeting point of colored and structural shapes. Every dot is a center of strength. Basically, the dot asserts power, and it asserts it when the dot is at the right place in relation to the whole sheet and the neighboring dots and it forms a dialogue with its own size and intensity.

As you can see, a dot is not that simple. The dot can be radiant or concentrated. A dark dot draws in and a bright point radiates. This is also related to the colors, for example, blue draws colors in and yellow radiates. But for now, we’re only talking about light and dark. When you use two dots, there’s a play of forces between the two dots. You can make two dots of the same size next to each other, a colon, so to speak.

If you manage to place one dot at the right place on the sheet and nicely define two adjoining dots of the same size in black on the white surface on another sheet, it’s already a very successful matter. If, however, one point is larger and one smaller, immediately a small unrest arises. Then you need a third point. You can’t leave one larger and one smaller dot on the sheet without adding a third.

The tension between the two points is therefore dependent on their size and their distance from another. Too great a distance or too great a proximity cancels out the tension. That means you have to be very sensitive while drawing. There are several possibilities for the composition, if you want to look at it analytically: Equal distances, equal sizes of each dot. Unequal distances but equal sizes. Unequal sizes but the same distances. Unequal sizes and unequal distances. You can try these four possibilities.

Or you go to an observatory and look at Jupiter. There you have 3 dots. The planet with two moons that appear like a colon next to this big planet. Again, something we can observe in nature.

The sizes themselves mean either a quality of strength or a quantity of strength. It can be very different depending on where on the drawing sheet the dot sits. Equal sized dots usually form groups and align into shapes. Unequal dots are contrasting, sometimes even hostile, they fight with each other.

You could also arrange your dots. You can arrange them as one central dot in the middle. You can arrange them side by side as a colon. You can arrange them as a circle. You can arrange them in the same size but in a different character. You can also arrange them as in a triangle, equal sizes, unequal characters. And you can also arrange them in a square, with unequal sizes and unequal characters.

The character also depends on how you treat the inner surface of the dot. Make sure you stay in the structural identity. That is, your points are always defined in the same way on one sheet of paper. With short strokes or with circular lines, as you like, but on one sheet only one structure.
You can also make one dot black in its surface and write around the other point, making it appear transparent. This way you can create tension between these points and relate them.

I hope that this game with the dots, which seems very simple and at the same time complex, will be a joyful and thought-provoking experiment for you.