Olivia Morelli

Ms. Naus
MYP Art 1
7 March, 2019
Radial Design LEAD Reflection
Learn 
From doing this project I have learned that there are very large differences between Islamic and 
Indian art. Before this project, I thought that they were very similar, but through notes and lessons I began 
to understand that Islamic art had many more abstract elements and ideas that were shown through lines 
and geometric shapes instead of organic pictures found in nature. In addition to the cultural aspects of 
this project, I learned how to use tracing paper and gel pen techniques. I did not know how copy 
something using the paper, and I think I have improved greatly on calculating for geometric designs. 
 
Evaluate  
I think that I exceeded my expectations because I did not think that I would do very good at 
tracing because I have never used tracing paper before this class. I do wish that I did a better job at 
choosing colors, because the color scale is a bit all over the place. Otherwise, I did better on this than I 
thought I would, I just had to concentrate on making very exact lines and precise shapes. I created my 
initial design the way that I did because I wanted to use different elements and ideas. The original 
inspiration was my religion, Christianity. This is because the radial designs that we learned about in class 
focused on religion and/or what was important to the artist. Christianity is very important to me so I made 
sure to show this through obvious things like the symbol of a cross, and more abstract designs like the 
sun, representing God (the sun or sky often represented a higher power in Islamic and Indian art too). The 
viewer’s eye travels through the composition moving towards the center because I had lines moving out 
from the edges.   
 
Apply Art 
I applied the Elements of art by incorporating space in my piece. Space is an element that 
dictates how the lines and shapes are set up on the media. I used space by balancing the amount of 
negative and positive regions. I created a sense of space by making multiple layers and parts with 
different planets and stars. Typically historical art did not have obvious layers or space, but for my work I 
wanted to create a galaxy with stars farther away and the main sun the closest object. I did this by using 
different sizes and shades of color. The principle of design that was used is balance. Radial artwork is a 
type of balance; this project was centered around that type of design. The utilization of balance was 
important when we were planning out the designs for tracing because we had to use geometry and 
calculations for the designs to match up with the opposite side. The radial balance created a specific type 
of movement around the piece, where with my use of lines and sizing of shapes made the focus the sun, 
and the shapes of planets and stars pointed towards the sun, all connected by lines. How everything was 
connected impacted the overall composition, so I wanted to make sure that all aspects were intertwined, 
and the lines I chose did that. I chose my color scheme by using sparkly gel pens, focusing on warmer 
colors like blue and purple. Color changes how art is perceived and I wanted the audience to perceive a 
happy, comforting vibe from my art, so I choose colors that bring me the type of joy that I value.  
 
Difficult
This project was difficult because it took a lot of time and patience to get the designs to match all 
the way around the circle. The tracing was difficult because if the gel pen was off even a small bit, the 
entire radial design could be put off center. I resolved my difficulties to achieve good end results by using 
rulers to split off designated areas, straight edges to get precise lines, and went slowly to ensure for more 
meticulous shapes. Overall, this project was more fun and interesting than difficult.