Balance is a key design principle that is represented in art in terms of symmetrical and asymmetrical balance

Balance is one of the most crucial principles in art’s domain. There are two kinds of balance namely the symmetrical and asymmetrical balance. Artist’s basically depends on balance when they are trying to create visual weight on their works. Key elements used in order to achieve balance are lines, shapes as well as color. Symmetrical balance often goes with the name formal balance whereas asymmetrical balance is also known as informal balance.In order to know which kind of balance is used by an artist one needs an imaginary line at the center of the artwork. Formal balance is defined as something which depicts similar things from both sides of your imaginary line. In informal balance on the other hand both sides of imaginary lines contain different things and thus the other side seems to be a little heavier as compared to the other side. Informal balance is more psychological in nature in that it is usually felt rather than noticed.Most of Da Vinci’s works contai ns symmetrical balance. Da Vinci’s Proportion of the Human Figure is highly symmetrical in nature. This particular work depicts how a human body could create different shapes such as circle, square, and triangle. In this particular work Da Vinci created balance by creating appropriate proportion which gave birth to balance. The appearance of symmetrical balance in the Proportion of the Human Figure could be attributed to the fact that there had been an approximate symmetry in this particular work.As compared to Leonardo Da Vinci, Deborah Butterfield uses more asymmetrical balnce on her works rather than symmetrical. An example of asymmetrical balance on her work could be found on her Verde. By drawing an imaginary line at the center we could basically see that the one side is heavier than the other and they depict different things as compared to Da Vinci’s Proportion of the Human Figure. In this particular work Butterfield used steel to achieve her desired end.The head of the horse seems to be weightless since it seems like merely a stick protruding as compared to its body which seems to be full of steel and thus appears heavier. This technique allowed her a great example of depicting asymmetrical balance in art. (â€Å"Principles of Design,†; The Artspace Team, 1997) Reference: Principles of Design [Electronic Version] from http://sjc. ceu. edu/departments/art/chp03. pdf. The Artspace Team. (1997). Balance [Electronic Version] from http://www. peonqueen. com/ArtSpace/temp_exhib/art2/bal. html.