All silhouette art has a common thread: the ability to create dramatic emphasis with the use of shapes. Because of the high contrast usually required to create a silhouette, we already have a strong sense of theatrics in every piece!



With the details left to the imagination, silhouette art creates something subtly evocative. Human imagination is often more gripping than accurate details portrayed for us.



Animators and cartoonists often use a character's silhouette to judge whether or not that character has "appeal." Appeal is the overall memorability of a character -- how unforgettable they will be in the grand scheme of art.

How memorable are these characters?



Silhouette art has the singular quality of being able to portray emotion without the use of facial expressions. The body itself is a tool of expression. The easier it is for a viewer to understand what sort of emotion a character is feeling, the more successful a piece will be.

What emotion do you feel when you look at these? Does the composition or the pose tell us what they might be feeling?



We can feel emotion from more unrecognizable shapes as well. The mood of a silhouette piece depends greatly upon its composition!

Does it matter what the subjects are, or do we not need that information for these pieces to be aesthetically pleasing?



What makes a good silhouette? Dynamic composition is the key -- something that can draw the viewer into its abstract shapes, and create a silent symphony that evokes emotion, subtle or strong.



Silhouettes are as strong as symbols in our mind's eye. They are beautiful abstractions, the best of which can evoke as much or more emotion than a perfect photograph, or a detailed painting.

What words do these symbols trigger in your mind?



This singular ability to draw emotion is due not simply to the silhouette, but to the viewer's imagination that infers that emotion from that silhouette.

A few different types!

Stylized Silhouettes - Silhouettes that are created in a certain artistic style. These are more illustrative than the normal silhouette, and sometimes more expressive.



Reverse Contrast Silhouettes - Light or white silhouettes created on a darker background. These are a fairly recent development, as opposed to the traditional silhouette which has been around as an art-form since the 1700s.



Non-conforming Silhouettes - These can't be called true silhouettes, but they keep to the minimalistic nature of the silhouette. A non-conforming silhouette is usually called a high-contrast (or black and white) image. They have simple detail -- usually just highlights and shadows -- that accentuates their central characters.





This news article is brought to you by the *silhouette-art club. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you love silhouettes as much as we do, stop by!