What Is A Visual Analysis Essay and How Do I Write A Visual Analysis Essay?
A visual analysis essay is quite different from a normal essay. Essays in general are descriptive, reflective, argumentative, etc. However, a visual analysis essay is different from these as in the visual analysis essay there is no given topic or research statement. Students are supposed to think on the topic and content of the essay by interpreting and analyzing the visual stimulus, which might be in the form of a photograph, a portrait, a painting, a sculpture, or any kind of artistic object that has some amount of graphical element in it. The following are some useful steps from iwriteessays.com on how to write a good visual analysis essay.
Outline for Visual Analysis Paper
Introduction: Tell the basic facts about the art. Get the reader interested in the image by using one of the following methods:
- Describe the image vividly so the reader can see it.
- Tell about how the image came to existence
- Explain the purpose of the artist.
- Give interesting facts about the art or artist.
- Talk about a controversy or misunderstanding about the art.
Thesis: Your thesis will tell the meaning of this image (Analyse the Meaning of the Image)
Body: Support your thesis with three or more main ideas, which support your meaning. Use questions in the pre-writing sections for ideas.
Conclusion: Try to conclude rather than just repeating your thesis. Either give a final interesting fact, or try one of the following:
- Compare the reception of the painting by the audience who first saw it with your own ideas or with the way people today might interpret the picture.
- Speculate on what the artist would think about the view of the picture over time.
- Compare this image to other similar images.
- Suggest how this piece of art fits into the works of an artist, or the ad campaign of a company.
Important questions to consider when looking for an artwork in a visual analysis paper
- What is the object that the artwork is referring towards? Is it animate or inanimate or a mixture of both?
- What is the material used in making the artwork? Is it stone, wood, canvas, paper, etc.?
- What is the form or structure of the artwork? Is it a sculpture, painting, image, portrait, etc.?
- What might be the reasons for the artist, painter to portray the artwork in that particular fashion?
- What emotion does the artwork convey to the mind: colour, texture, tone, shape, space of the sculpture/painting?
- What are the initial feelings that come to the mind after looking at the artwork?
- Does the title of the artwork have any seemingly resemblance with the artwork or is it quite vague and abstract from the artwork?