Picture This: How Pictures Work
- Downloads：6053
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-04-20 11:56:15
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Molly Bang
- ISBN：1452135150
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
Molly Bang's brilliant， insightful， and accessible treatise is now revised and expanded for its 25th anniversary。 Bang's powerful ideas—about how the visual composition of images works to engage the emotions， and how the elements of an artwork can give it the power to tell a story—remain unparalleled in their simplicity and genius。 Why are diagonals dramatic？ Why are curves calming？ Why does red feel hot and blue feel cold？ First published in 1991， Picture This has changed the way artists， illustrators， reviewers， critics， and readers look at and understand art。
Reviews
Mariam Yusupova
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read if u care about the bouba–kiki effect
Patrick Sherriff
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Great stuff。 My proper review is here: https://patricksherriff。com/2021/04/1。。。 Great stuff。 My proper review is here: https://patricksherriff。com/2021/04/1。。。 。。。more
Molly Engle
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Molly Bang writes a good yarn。。。why are curves calming？
Daneel Potot
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“Dont worry whether the picture is pretty， worry about whether it is effective [at telling the story]。”Marshall recommended this book to understand composition in pictures and art， and i actually did enjoy itThe steps and analysis behind the thinking of the red riding hood scene was so elaborate and so helpful i will def be thinking about that and returning to this book when i need adviceJust wished there were more examples of that kinda analysis， bc everything after that was very general na
Natasha
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Delightful！ This is a short， but deep， introduction to visual design psychology。 The author shows how the structure of a picture creates certain emotions， using stark illustrations of Little Red Riding Hood as an example。 And I love that she included exercises at the end。 This book was exactly the quick， hands-on primer I needed — much better than yet another dull article on Gestalt principles。 I stumbled on this work via Stephen P。 Anderson and Karl Fast’s “Figure It Out: Getting From Informati Delightful！ This is a short， but deep， introduction to visual design psychology。 The author shows how the structure of a picture creates certain emotions， using stark illustrations of Little Red Riding Hood as an example。 And I love that she included exercises at the end。 This book was exactly the quick， hands-on primer I needed — much better than yet another dull article on Gestalt principles。 I stumbled on this work via Stephen P。 Anderson and Karl Fast’s “Figure It Out: Getting From Information to Understanding”， which I’d recommend if you want to delve deeper。 。。。more
Lauren
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The simplicity of this book is deceptive。 The author's examples of a few shapes and a few colors teaches the reader so much about how the eye and our culture perceives them。 What goes into composing a picture to create feeling。 Good lessons for the artist and the art appreciator。 The simplicity of this book is deceptive。 The author's examples of a few shapes and a few colors teaches the reader so much about how the eye and our culture perceives them。 What goes into composing a picture to create feeling。 Good lessons for the artist and the art appreciator。 。。。more
Jon Nguyen
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At first， I was a little disappointed in this book because its title suggests that it is more comprehensive or foundational than it really is。 While there is useful insight into how to create and interpret pictures， a lot of the concepts discussed are really just the Gestalt principles as applied to illustration （which the author doesn’t mention at all）。 But， once I got past the title， I found I could still enjoy the book as a reminder to analyze and think more deeply about images。 It’s not the At first， I was a little disappointed in this book because its title suggests that it is more comprehensive or foundational than it really is。 While there is useful insight into how to create and interpret pictures， a lot of the concepts discussed are really just the Gestalt principles as applied to illustration （which the author doesn’t mention at all）。 But， once I got past the title， I found I could still enjoy the book as a reminder to analyze and think more deeply about images。 It’s not the “prettiness” or decoration that makes a picture effective - it’s the emotional content。 And while it’s written from the perspective of a writer of children’s books， a lot of the ideas here can be applied to many other forms， such as photography or design。 。。。more
Cherice Pope
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Excellent Book for CreativesThis is a short， but comprehensive guide on how to make images that affect people and tell the story you want to tell。 It has easy to understand information and a few exercises to cement that information into your brain。 I highly recommend this book。
Kate
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This is great。 The kids and I had fun reading through the first 50 pages together where the author demonstrates how changing aspects of the shapes， color and composition affect our reading of Little Red Riding Hood。 The text is very accessible。 There is quite a bit of discussion of idioms and metaphors and the connection between language， visuals and feelings。 Such a great model for explaining high level concepts in an engrossing and easy to grasp way。 Plus I can think of some middle schoolers w This is great。 The kids and I had fun reading through the first 50 pages together where the author demonstrates how changing aspects of the shapes， color and composition affect our reading of Little Red Riding Hood。 The text is very accessible。 There is quite a bit of discussion of idioms and metaphors and the connection between language， visuals and feelings。 Such a great model for explaining high level concepts in an engrossing and easy to grasp way。 Plus I can think of some middle schoolers who would think this was really cool nonfiction。 。。。more
Deb Florea
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An interest read
Kerstin
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Good book。 I enjoyed the first half more than the second half。 Wish the first have had repeated with more examples。
Charity
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Essential for visual communication
Ashish Rastogi
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Understand space and position in artA good book to understand concept of space and positioning in art。 Easy to read with some fun exercises in the end。
Kathy
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Quite an expansive view of how placement， color， and shape affect the viewer's perspective of a picture。 Frankly if not for her explanations I would not have gathered all that insight information。 Quite an expansive view of how placement， color， and shape affect the viewer's perspective of a picture。 Frankly if not for her explanations I would not have gathered all that insight information。 。。。more
Joelle Gebhardt
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Why didn't I know about this book sooner？！ Definitely a must read for anyone working in visual communication。 Why didn't I know about this book sooner？！ Definitely a must read for anyone working in visual communication。 。。。more
Kate Hern
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I thought this book was a real attention-getter。 The way the colors and the shapes changed through composition and whether it looked terrifying or friendly grabbed my attention。 It used minimal shapes and colors to tell a story of a little red riding hood going through a forest of different shapes like a small red triangle。 The ways the illustrator made the wolf look made him look scary。 There are many ways to change compositions and narratives of stories but if done correctly you can get the ri I thought this book was a real attention-getter。 The way the colors and the shapes changed through composition and whether it looked terrifying or friendly grabbed my attention。 It used minimal shapes and colors to tell a story of a little red riding hood going through a forest of different shapes like a small red triangle。 The ways the illustrator made the wolf look made him look scary。 There are many ways to change compositions and narratives of stories but if done correctly you can get the right message across without words。 I believe this story did that for all readers。 Pictures in books make you feel a certain way so you can feel the emotion provoked throughout the entire book even if it wasn't meant to be there。 This book is a good read for young readers and adults。 I also believe reading this book as an artist can help you come up with different compositions in your art to tell a story。 。。。more
Daniel
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This book is simply the best in terms of composition you can get to read; It is incredible how Molly manages to decompose an image into its most basic forms and also make you feel what it would make you feel。
Veronica Stanley
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Quite fascinating！！
Mary Whisner
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Thoughtful and delightfulIllustrator walks us through principles of design showing intense emotions with a just few shapes and colors。 Useful for creators and consumers of images。
Jeanne
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Molly Bang deconstructs images and how their shape， size， orientation， and color affect our emotional responses to an image。 Bang starts small: a red triangle representing Little Red Riding Hood。 Here， she reflects on the feeling inherent to this simple shape。The figure is not exactly fraught with emotion， yet I knew I felt things about it that I didn't feel for others。 It isn't huggable。 Why not？ Because it has points。 It makes me feel stable。 Why？ It has a flat， wide， horizontal base。 It gives Molly Bang deconstructs images and how their shape， size， orientation， and color affect our emotional responses to an image。 Bang starts small: a red triangle representing Little Red Riding Hood。 Here， she reflects on the feeling inherent to this simple shape。The figure is not exactly fraught with emotion， yet I knew I felt things about it that I didn't feel for others。 It isn't huggable。 Why not？ Because it has points。 It makes me feel stable。 Why？ It has a flat， wide， horizontal base。 It gives a sense of equanimity， or balance， as well， because its three sides are equal。 If it were sharper， it would feel nastier; if it were flatter， it would feel more immobile; and if it were an irregular triangle， I would feel off balance。 What about its color？ We call red a warm color， bold， flashy; I feel danger， vitality， passion。 How can one color evoke such a range of disparate， even conflicting， feelings？ （p。 4）。Bang describes a number of simple， but increasingly complicated thought experiments。 How does changing the wolf's size， rounding its points， and changing its color impact how we see it？ From Picture ThisBang's simple experiments are effective， more so than only talking about the roles of shape， size， orientation， and color。 She encourages her readers to continue to play with images， recognize and use the underlying principles of illustration， and deconstruct what makes them effective。If I taught in introductory art history course， I would use this book for the first several weeks of the semester， then move to more complicated pieces。 What makes these effective？ And， with PhotoShop – or other apps – how can we change an image to understand both it and what makes art effective？ Are there other versions of an image that would be more effective？Four versions of the Mona Lisa: by Leonardo da Vinci， Bernardino Luini， Philippe de Champaigne， and a version stored by the Prado Museum in MadridI am currently taking a teaching workshop that I think is fairly ineffective and disappointing。 Part of the difficulty is that the presenter talks too much and has us experiment too little。 Both Bang and this workshop presenter teach me the same lessons: sometimes less is more， sometimes doing is more important than talking。 I will try to remember。 。。。more
TheBrainWorks
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Book is a good read。 Well explained。 Unfortunately I purchased a kindle version which is in black and white only。 To really appreciate the book one needs to buy a paper version with full colour
Zoe
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It's fascinating how simple shapes with no inherent meaning become vehicles for our feelings and perceptions， and how the color， size， placement， etc。 can manipulate how we view a triangle。 It's very clearly explained and literally illustrated。 It's fascinating how simple shapes with no inherent meaning become vehicles for our feelings and perceptions， and how the color， size， placement， etc。 can manipulate how we view a triangle。 It's very clearly explained and literally illustrated。 。。。more
Liam Lalor
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Sparse。 Cogent。 I came away the better， if not exactly enlightened。
Soumitro Roy
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A must read for any one who wants to learn about visual art。 It's breaks the psychological aspects of presenting a visual art so that it's effective。 A must read for any one who wants to learn about visual art。 It's breaks the psychological aspects of presenting a visual art so that it's effective。 。。。more
nicolette
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a simple and decent read about composition and design elements。 but honestly， i wasn't quite fascinated by many of the principles/concepts presented here。 a simple and decent read about composition and design elements。 but honestly， i wasn't quite fascinated by many of the principles/concepts presented here。 。。。more
Keetha Mosley
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Utterly fascinating the way the author illustrates how simple - super simple - shapes and color communicate so much。
Morgan
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realized ive read quite a few books just for my comics class
maia
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Speaking as someone who has never studied an ounce of anything related to art in an academic setting and who relates to images in the way they make me feel/the emotions they elicit， this book was absolutely fascinating and a wonderful introduction into how pictures work （especially as I try to take my life in a more creative direction）
Barbara
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