Shells

Subtlety

For the subtle portion of the composition, I chose to lightly outline the shape of the shell. The composition is done by arranging small, transparent circles in a spiral pattern that slowly gets wider, such as with a shell. The circles, along with being small and a color similar to the background, also have faded edges, so as to make them more subtle. In deciding how to best show subtlety, I decided that it would be most easily conveyed through small objects that partially blended into the background. Hence, I created the piece to be made of small circles in a color not much brighter than the background. One of the biggest challenges I faced was how to make the circles fade into the background. I tried to make them extremely close in color to the background before deciding to create more contrast between the colors and having the circles fade around the edges, instead. I think it successfully expresses the shell I used for inspiration, for it both matches the color palette of the shell and the general shape of it.

Boldness

For the bold composition, I chose to make it as different from the subtle composition as possible. I chose to keep the shapes as circles, for it helped to convey the spiral nature of the shell, and kept the color palette similar, but changed much else. I chose a darker color for the circles that better contrasted the background, to make them stand out more. I also removed the faded look around the edges of the circle, so that the circles would look bolder. Finally, I spaced the circles out more than I did before and had them slowly grow bigger and bolder. I think in doing so, I conveyed the shape of the spiral shell better, for the shell also grows wider as it moves further away from the center. The hardest part of this composition for me was positioning the circles so that they looked as though they were going in a spiral motion, rather than existing in a random pattern. But I think I was able to effectively convey the spiral movement.