Visual Analysis

© Zoé L. Albright All Rights Reserved
Visual Analysis Essay
“Both Time and U.S. News and World Report cover the same events, but each magazine
interprets them differently. All toothpaste ads claim to make teeth “the whitest.” Saddam
Hussein was supporting terrorists—or he wasn’t, depending on which politician is speaking.
Those are but three examples that demonstrate why we need to be careful, analytical readers
of magazines and newspapers, ads, political documents, even textbooks. Not only does text
convey information, but it also influences how and what we think. We need to read, then, to
understand not only what texts say but also how they say it” (Bullock, 38).
For this assignment, you will analyze a painting, an advertisement, or picture. You will need to
explain to the audience what the picture is, demonstrate your understanding of the subject,
and persuade your audience to believe your opinion about it. You will want to include visuals
with your analysis. Your essay should be typed, double spaced, and in MLA format.
Point Value: 50 The text of your essay should be a minimum of 4-5 pages in length. Four pages
of text means the essay text should continue onto the fifth page (this does not include visuals
OR works cited pages).
You must correctly format your essay and meet the minimum requirements. Any less than the
minimum requirements and the paper will receive an automatic 50%.
Reading:
In your book, you are to have read Chapters 11 and 13. Additionally, you should be familiar
with Part 1 and Chapters 21, 23, and 24.
Prewriting:
To write a good visual analysis will require you to be familiar with your subject. You should
choose a subject that makes an impression on you, whether for its unique composition,
controversial message, or impact on your emotions.
• Study your chosen subject and write down all your thoughts, feelings, and observations.
• Come up with a main point/claim that will help focus your observations.
• Support your claim with visual details. Make sure as you point out visual details and
describe them, you demonstrate why these details support your claim.
• Areas to focus on:
o Audience – Who is the intended audience? How do you know?
o Purpose – What is the purpose of your subject? What message is the
painter/artist/ad company trying to convey? How do you know?
o Context – Where might someone see this painting/ad/picture? When? How?
Drafting:
While there isn’t one specific way a visual analysis should be written, there is a general outline
that often works.
• Describe
© Zoé L. Albright All Rights Reserved
o Spend at least one paragraph describing the subject. You can focus on colors,
objects, people, composition. Give enough detail that the reader can “see” the
subject.
• Respond
o A good visual analysis will answer questions like “How does this subject make me
feel?” “What does it make me think about?” “Does it make me want to do
something?” “Can I make connections to anything in my past?” “Does the
imagery interest you? The composition? The larger context?”
• Analyze
o Discuss how the visual information and your reaction to the information do or do
not support the subject’s purpose. Make sure that you are able to tie your
description and response to the questions you asked earlier – “What is the
purpose of the subject?” “Who is the intended audience?” “What effect does the
subject have on the audience?” “Does the message get across to the audience?”
o After thinking about these questions, decide if you are going to need additional
research to back up your thoughts and ideas. If you choose to use more
research, make sure you evaluate the research you choose and use only research
that adds and supports your argument.
Introduction:
Introductions need to introduce what you are talking about. Explain the picture. Explain the
title. Tell who the artist is. Some type of description and/or needed background for your
reader to understand your analysis should be included. Don’t start your essay with “This visual”
or “This picture.” Also, don’t start as if the title is part of the essay (title says “Van Gogh’s
Dilemma” and first sentence would say “is a big dilemma…”).
Thesis:
Your goal should be to create a thesis that makes a claim about how your subject conveys a
specific message. You then need to integrate the various parts of your analysis into a smoothly
flowing, logically organized essay. Remember, you don’t have to start with your introduction
and write straight through.
Your thesis statements should assert some type of analytic claim about the visual, not about
the topic that the visual is representing or how lovely/realistic the painting/visual is. Your thesis
should be argumentative. The thesis should be at the end of the introduction. Thesis
statements should not announce what you plan to do and/or should not be formed as a
question. Don’t say things like “I really thought about this picture as I looked at it” or “As I
studied the picture I felt.” Basically – and I will say this again and again – you, the writer, should
not be in this essay at all.
The following sample thesis statements were taken from students’ papers. Note that each of
these thesis statements has introduced the picture being analyzed prior to the thesis
statement, so the titles of the pictures are not stated in the thesis.
© Zoé L. Albright All Rights Reserved
• The artist effectively demonstrates the outcry and the intense conviction for justice and
demand for black lives to matter.
• The advertisement appeals to the masses and questions the validity of what is and isn’t
allowed in schools.
• Falcone succeeded in portraying depression in this photograph by publishing it on the
right platform, having the correct artistic skills, and invoking powerful emotions.
• Van Gogh’s choice of contrasting color, texture, and intentional religious imagery
conveys strong feelings of love and despair. [This is about Café Terrace at Night – see
paragraph below to notice how topic sentences and paragraphs should connect to the
thesis statement.]
The thesis for this assignment should clearly reflect an analytic tone to the essay. You are not
to react to the essay, instead you are to analyze it.
Paragraphs should contain topic sentences that advance the claim of the thesis and should
clearly lead to analytic details. Here is part of a paragraph that focuses on the previously
mentioned thesis statement that analyzes Van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night. Notice this
paragraph has a strong topic sentence that has a claim that connects to the thesis statement.
Also notice the student includes some description, but then analyzes that information.
Van Gogh’s contrast of warm and cool color tones drives emotions in two different
directions of love and despair. Towards the front view of the painting, the use of warm colors
of orange and yellow, along with the striking white color of the tables, beckons the observer to
sit down and partake with their loved ones. Orange chairs contrast against the white tables in
the forefront of the painting, creating a warm, inviting presence to the café. Towards the back
of the terrace, the chairs are a cooler, gray tone to keep these chairs out of the scene while
bringing the orange chairs to the forefront. Pastel pink colors are seen on the cobblestones
near the café to aid in the observer’s invitation. Van Gogh’s intentional use of the warm subtle
pink guides one’s eye back towards the white tables and orange chairs . . . While the warm
colors represent passion and love, the cool, dark colors represent sadness and despair. The dark
in the center of the painting creates a void; blackness cold and foreboding. The black void ends
with a connection to the cool, blue shades of the night sky that seemingly ties back to the bright
yellow and white tones of the alluring stars in the sky. There is a constant push and pull of
emotions present in this artwork. The dark and light contrasting colors’ intentional placement
acts as two very different emotions: love and despair.
© Zoé L. Albright All Rights Reserved
[The ellipses (three dots between chairs and While) show that I have chosen not to include
some of the information in the paragraph.]
Design
Because of the nature of this assignment, you will need to incorporate a visual(s) into your
essay. This can take several forms. You can incorporate your visual within your text (figure 1)
and place the visual near the analysis portion of the essay. Additionally, you could add your
visual(s) to the end of your essay as an appendix and refer to the appendix number(s) during
the analysis. Remember, the essay must meet the minimum length WITHOUT the visuals
included.
Putting It All Together
After writing an introduction that engages readers with your paper and relates your thesis, use
the body paragraphs to support your thesis and to address the requirements listed above. As
with all papers in this class, this paper should conform to MLA guidelines for style and citation
both inside the text and in the Works Cited page.
Assignment Objectives
This assignment is intended to meet the following course objectives:
• Develop and support a thesis for different purposes and readers.
• Employ the writing process, which includes invention, planning, drafting, and revision.
• Demonstrate expository and argumentative writing techniques using the principles of
organization, unity, coherence, and theme development.
• Use documentation principles in a piece of writing.
• Demonstrate critical thinking skills.
• Use outside sources to synthesize ideas from multiple perspectives.
• Draw informed conclusions from writings and observations.
• Argue reasoned interpretations.
• Critique one’s own writing and the writing of others.