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The Principles Of Good Bonsai Design

by Robert Steven

The following article is an excerpt from Robert Steven's new book, "Mission of Transformation." We are very proud to offer our readers a glimpse into this wonderful follow up to Robert's first book, "Vision of My Soul" and we sincerely hope that you enjoy it as much as we have. For advance orders of "Mission of Transformation" go to www.stonelantern.com

Nature is a Masterpiece truly created by art and science

Since Bonsai is similar to other art forms, such as painting, sculpturing or the graphic arts, the same design principles used in these forms can be learned and applied to bonsai. Many bonsai artists use these principles intuitively and subconsciously, unaware that they are doing so. The results from intuitive and subconscious application of artistic principles might be good, but if these principles are implemented consciously and constructively, the results can be even better and more convincing.

I have been strongly influenced by the book How To Think Like Leonardo da Vinci by Michael J. Gelb. This book describes the seven Da Vincian principles, Curiosita, Dimostrazione, Sensazione, Sfumato, Arte/Scienza, Corporalita and Connessione. The most impressive principle of these to me is Arte/Scienza, the development of balance between science and art, logic and imagination; it is a concept that requires thinking with the whole-brain. This concept can be incorporated into our daily life, including our creative thinking on bonsai design, in order to combine our artistic sense with scientific fact.

Imagine while you are learning to cook, you cook chicken curry and your wife comments that it does not taste as good as the one you had in the Indian restaurant last weekend. You know exactly what she means, yet you have no idea how to create the exact same taste, because you do not know what each ingredient does to the taste or how combinations of ingredients work together. Cookbooks are no help, as they all give different recipes of curry with no explanations as to the role each ingredient plays in the finished product.

It is easy to say that whatever you cook, it must taste good; but to create a dish that tastes good, one must first learn what each ingredient adds to the taste and how multiple ingredients work together in order to create something that tastes good. Cooking is art as well, but it is also a science, the science of chemistry, in which we need to learn the contribution of each ingredient to specific tastes. This knowledge should be describable and learnable, even if one has intuitive cooking talent.

Beethoven composed his famous masterpiece Ninth Symphony while he was losing his hearing and in the legend of the first female royal physician of the Joseon Dynasty of old Korea, Jang-Geum won the royal cousine competition while she was losing her ability to taste. These stories and many other like examples are all about mastering science and the senses.

A good bonsai design should be artistically beautiful, with convincing horticultural clues, and should convey a thematic message. While examining horticultural clues, we imply plant physiology, tree morphology and environmental factors. In this article, we will discuss how to design good bonsai using design principles to achieve artistic beauty. If we can successfully integrate these two aspects, the thematic message will easily be created and communicated to the viewers.

Designing bonsai is all about composition using the composition components of bonsai. The composition components of bonsai are the roots, trunk, branches, foliage pads, crown, container, and accessories (rock, grass, moss, soil etc.). Composition is the placement or arrangement of these components in a unified manner within the work, which results in a creation that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and which gives a sense of harmony to the viewer.

All the design components of bonsai have certain aesthetic characteristics of line, form, texture and color. Now we will bring these elements together while managing the work in order to create a good composition using the principles of design.

Before beginning to work on a design, we should always start with an idea. In bonsai, we should not be overly obsessive with a certain design in advance, yet a general idea should be found within the bonsai material we are going to work with. This is because our task is to explore the tree character through the transformation process in order to obtain an image of a mature or post-mature tree. With this in mind, we use the existing physical features as the available design components and then create other new components to be arranged for the composition.

Bonsai material offers us the roots, the trunk, and maybe a few branches as the basic available design components. These components each have their own basic characters in line, form, texture and color. Through careful observation, we can find the design idea that best fits the material and then take the next step, which is to train new branches that will form the ramification and foliation. The design idea must include considerations of natural phenomena, horticultural clues, plant physiology, tree morphology, and environmental factors.

In order to create a good bonsai, horticultural aspects, as mentioned above, should be incorporated into the composition by using the principles of design.

The principles of design are:

Balance

Movement and Rhythm

Emphasis

Simplicity

Contrast

Proportion

Space

Unity

Balance

Balance is the equal feeling of weight in perception. Balance in an art form may not really have actual or physical balance, but rather an illusion of balance, which is referred to as optical balance or visual balance. In bonsai, the shape and position of the roots, the trunk, the placement of branches, the configuration of foliage pads, the crown, and the container will determine the visual balance of the overall pose of the bonsai setting. However, the container acts more as an anchoring illusion which gives visual stability to the tree so that the tree does not appear to be in danger of tipping over or falling down.

Asymmetrical balance is believed to be the best in composition because it suggests a more dynamic feeling that is less boring. The same belief holds true for all bonsai styles with the exception of certain styles like formal and informal upright.

There are horizontal, vertical and radian balances in design. In bonsai, we work on approximate horizontal balances. Vertically, we give more weight to the bottom part, especially with the container, to create the image of stability. Radial balance is important in bonsai as well, in which all the components are distributed around the center point or spring out from the trunk line.

Asymmetrical balance can be achieved by several methods:

Balance by value. Smaller darker color can balance larger lighter color.

Photograph courtesy of Soekimto

The small black rock is balancing the heavy crown and gives a firmer image to the trunk base in the vertical balance.

Balance by color. Smaller bright color can balance larger more neutral or duller color.

The rock is very bulky, but the bright green foliage gives a good counter balance.

Balance by shape. Small, complicated shape can balance larger simpler shape.

Photograph courtesy of Walter Pall

The small deadwood on the right is balancing the tree composition. Although the deadwood is of a lighter color, the complicated line movement plays the balancing role better than if it were a straight line.

Balance by texture. Smaller, rougher, and complicated surface texture can balance larger, smoother texture.

The rough contour of the foliage is balancing the smooth texture of the pot.

Balance by position. A smaller object farther away from the center can balance a larger object that is closer to the center.

Photograph courtesy of Rudi Julianto

The smaller canopy placed farther away on the left is balancing the large object in the center.

Balance by eye direction. Certain edges or pointed shapes, which draw visual direction, can transfer weight from a heavier side to a lighter side.

The pointing tips of the branches are drawing our visual direction and transfer the visual weight from the right side to the left.

Movement and Rhythm

Movement is the directional path of our eyes or the viewing flow when we look at a work of art. By arranging the design components and elements in certain way, can create a force of movement or control the direction the eye of the viewer travels along the visual path of the design. In bonsai, this movement can be created with the trunk line, branch direction, foliage shape, or even the position of the container.

Movement can also be achieved by repetition and action. Repetition of similar elements will create movement or a path that the eye travels and if the repetition leads the eye through a periodical or alteration regularity and irregularity flowing path or in staccato movement, then it will create a rhythm. Certain lines and forms can also create the illusion of freeze frame motion or action such as the twisting trunk and branches used in bonsai.

The repetition of similar foliage pads creates the movement of this tree.

The line arrangement of the twigs creates an illusion of the motion of the blowing wind captured in freeze frame

Movement can be created with three kinds of lines:

Actual line. A real line such as the trunk or branch.

Implied line. Not a real line, but a v