How does one develop an art style using geometric shapes?

This article will discuss how one can make a unique art style using geometric shapes.

The themes of the patterns you will learn about are stunning and well worth the time you spend on creating your own version of this design style. It is by no means a coincidence that this “look” seems to have originated in the realm of computing.

One can make a unique art style using geometric shapes such as circles, squares, triangles, and hexagons.

Styling with geometric shapes is much easier than you might think. 

Basic Geometry

Geometric shapes are shapes created from geometric shapes. Shapes can be combined to created different ones.

For example, square shapes are made by placing two regular polygons together, and a regular octagon is created by placing four regular polygons together.

How does one develop an art style using geometric shapes?

To start, first decide on a pattern you would like to create using geometric shapes. Below is a pattern idea and techniques used by an artist to create their art:

Trees and Rivers

I have been researching these two patterns in particular for a while now. They have become such a staple in the media that they have been re-used to the point of exhaustion.

It is a shame because I think they look great and I enjoy drawing them.

When you first look at a tree or a river, you may find the idea of making a pattern out of a specific part of these two patterns a bit strange. However, when you think about the fact that these two types of designs are created to be repeated, there are a lot of areas that can be utilized.

Using Arrangements of Elements

The most obvious thing you can do is to arrange elements of one of the two patterns, so that you are using more of one, than of the other.

Gradual Edges

Another technique that can be used to make patterns using the elements of one of these two patterns is to gradually create an outward edge of one of the patterns. If you would imagine an outer edge of a river or tree, this can be created with a very long tail that gradually gets longer towards the center.

Make the Tail a Section in the Pattern

It is also possible to make the tail not only a section of one of the two patterns, but to make it the entire pattern. You will need to make this pattern slightly different in order to achieve this effect, but there is no need to be afraid of doing so.

Once you have repeated the tail in your river or tree pattern, you will find that you can always use it again to make another river or tree. This type of technique can be used to make quite large rivers, and can easily be created using just a single tail of elements.

If you are interested in making your rivers and trees trees slightly different, you could have a river or tree that looks a bit more like the original river or tree, but a bit more angular. For example, you could have the water coming in and flowing out slightly more curved than in the original.

You could then have a tree that is slightly less rounded than the original tree, but is also a bit more angular than the original tree. In other words, you could have one with a bit of a broken line along the side, and one with a broken line right along the top.

You will also find that you can arrange the elements so that the river or tree appears to have a horizontal orientation, and one with a vertical orientation.

Experiment...it's worth a try!

There are a lot of different things that you can do with these patterns, and it is a really good idea to try out as many of these different designs as you can, to see how they work. The more combinations that you can come up with, the more attractive your river or tree will be.

What is Substance Designer?

Substance Designer is a designing program. To understand how to make a unique style using geometric shapes, you need to understand the basic building blocks of Substance Designer.

Start by choosing shapes as basic building blocks. There are various other shapes which can be made using the same base but focus on the ones selected.

Then, use features to add detail and depth to shapes. They are:

• Material
• Scaled
• Blend Mode
• Shadow
• Texture Blend Mode

(For example, we can create an ash material and lighten it by setting the blend mode to image based, opacity to high, and a texture which is your ash material, lightened with an image)

Lastly, texture can be added using these tools:

• Bump
• Normal Map
• Cloth
• Texture Blend Mode
• Diffuse

All of these have different advantages and disadvantages, experiment with it!