The hardest part of making abstract art is creating compositions that are aesthetically pleasing without the use of recognizable objects. To accomplish that, artists rely heavily on the basic elements and principles of art. Compositions must still have a focal point, be balanced, and include some element of movement (pattern, rhythm, repetition, line, etc.) Look at these artworks and concentrate on how the artists use shape and form to create their compositions.
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Braque, one of the creators of Cubism, was well-known for his ability to deconstruct subjects into the most basic shapes and forms. Later in his career, he simply layered shapes and lines, but here, he uses both shapes (in his trees) and basic geometric forms (cubes, pyramids, etc.) to create the houses. This is a simple way to deconstruct a subject and make it abstract.
This artwork by Picasso is very similar to Braque's because they were working together around this time. They were both exploring the Cubist style, but while Braque was very muted (and fairly realistic) with his color choices, Picasso chose to use more unrealistic colors to furth abstract his artwork. Notice again that simple, organic shapes are used for the trees and plant life, while geometric forms are used for buildings. This creates an interesting play between the human-made and the natural objects in the composition.
This artwork by Bogomazov is much busier than the work of Braque and Picasso. This could be because it is a cityscape, and cities tend to have more energy than the countryside. Another major difference is that Bogomazov does not use different shapes or forms to distinguish between the trees and buildings; he uses color. If you look closely, the green forms (trees) look very similar to the buildings next to them. If the trees were colored a similar gray tone, the viewer would not be able to distinguish between the two.
Simplifying the shape of your subject(s) can be an easy way to abstract a composition. However, using the same shapes repeatedly becomes monotonous. Make sure to use some variety (organic vs. geometric shapes or complementary colors) to break up the composition and add interest to your artwork. Take a moment to try drawing a simplified tree. Draw one from observation or try drawing one from one of the artworks above. Leave space in your sketchbook because you will be drawing the same tree two more times, but you will abstract it in different ways.
