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!

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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.

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

Mature Content

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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!