Basic Art Rules

And Knowing When to Break Them

The basic art rules are necessary and they have their purpose. It can’t be denied. Let’s face it though…not everyone likes rules or guidelines. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that most of us don’t. We acknowledge that rules and laws are a necessity in society. And when those are broken, there’s a price to be paid.

The basic art rules serve as a general foundation of how we see things and what is aesthetically pleasing in terms of light, value, color, balance, perspective, line, etc. These are the things you learn in art school. They are drilled into you from day one. You are expected to learn them and you are graded on them. You passed or failed based on your grasp of these things.

Rules were made to be broken…weren’t they?

But rules are made to be broken…right? Well, that all depends. Your mastery of the basics in the first place often dictates how well you can successfully break those same rules. There are rules that are specific to certain fields. In the comic book industry, each panel has a thin black border line around it. Generally, this border is not broken. The entire illustration happens  within the panel’s border. Only those with enough experience under their belts know when and how the border of that panel can be broken. They know that breaking the edge of the panel can make for a truly dynamic scene. They also know that by breaking the edges of too many panels per issue can lose its effectiveness overall.

Breaking the border of a panel – Wolverine, Marvel Comics

Perspective is another fundamental skill that is unforgiving, for the most part. One, two, or three point perspective. It’s not rocket science, but it needs to be executed properly to make a drawing look believable. Poorly executed perspective can make an artwork look amateurish or distorted, like a fun house mirror. There are artists that know how to break these rules, in turn creating fantastical, yet believable works of art. Salvador Dali and MC Escher, for example, are masters that know the rules of perspective inside and out. And that is why they can break those rules so effectively.

MC Escher – By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use

Some people on the other hand, are so caught up in the rules that they don’t allow themselves the luxury of breaking them. Ever. They don’t realize that sometimes breaking the rules can make for a much more dynamic piece. Or that sometimes breaking the rules can make their work ten times easier. The trick again is in knowing when and how to break the rules.

I was stuck in one silly rule for the longest time. It was something set on me by a teacher more than twenty years ago. This teacher stressed not using smearing or smudging techniques to lay down a nice even pencil tone. If we wanted a light grey background for example, she wanted us to crosshatch very lightly until we got the value we were after. The results should be smooth and without any visible crosshatch lines. It was tedious, monotonous work, but she despised smearing because she considered it cheating or being lazy. It took more than twenty years for me to break her rule. Honestly, I managed to get the same result in about a quarter of the time. Her rule taught me patience and discipline. But I believe I’ve learned what I could from the experience and I’ve paid my dues.

Are you stuck in some basic art rules that could stand some breaking? If you’ve paid your dues, learned, and mastered the lessons, then maybe it’s time to experiment with other methods. You don’t have to commit to anything. Art often times consists of happy mistakes. Commit to creativity. Commit to creating art. While the basic rules of art are definitely important, so is knowing when to break them.