ARTS 121 – Drawing 1 Pam Winegard Composition ARTS 121 – Drawing 1 Pam Winegard

Composing a Composition Composition refers to the organization, arrangement, and combination of objects within the borders of a drawing space. You want to bring the eyes of the viewer toward your center of interest within an aesthetically pleasing composition. Strong composition can intuitively engage your viewers. Many "rules" define a good composition, but these rules are only guidelines. Your personal preferences and natural instincts are also important.

Elements of Composition Focal point: A primary center of interest (or focus) in a drawing. Overlapping: The visual separation of a drawing into foreground, middle ground, and distant space by overlapping (or layering) objects. Negative space: The space within your drawing not occupied by a focal point, important subject, or area of interest. Lines: Navigation tools used to guide the viewer through the different elements of a drawing. Balance: A stable arrangement of subjects within a composition. Contrast: Extremes of light and dark values that create shapes and patterns in your composition. Proportion: The amount of space allocated to the various components of a drawing.

Focal Point Focal Point — a specific area where you want your viewer to focus the majority of their attention when looking at your drawing Always place your focal point off-center in your composition. Make good use of secondary focal points. Use objects within your drawing space to point to your focal point. Define the focal point with more detail and a stronger contrast in values than other aspects of your drawing. Claude Monet

Overlapping for Unity & Depth Overlapping objects, or placing some objects over (or in front of) others, unifies a drawing, enhances depth of field, and creates an aesthetically pleasing composition. Observe your subject carefully before you begin your drawing and plan for places where you can utilize overlapping. Cezanne

Using lines to your advantage Following the leading line Effective leading lines can invite and encourage the viewer to enter the drawing space, explore the focal point, and linger to investigate the many facets of the composition. Either actual lines or implied lines can be used to navigate the viewer around a nonrepresentational drawing. Lining up emotions with composition lines Various types of lines put diverse emotions and moods in your compositions. Remain conscious of the following effects lines can have in your drawings: Curved lines reflect beauty, gentleness, and calmness. The s-curve denotes balance and grace. Horizontal lines create stability, peace, and serenity. Vertical lines reflect strength, grandeur, and dignity. Diagonal lines offer a sense of movement and power. When diagonal lines meet to form an arrow, they can direct the viewer's eye.

Examples of Line Curves Diagonals

Balancing Subjects in a Composition Most good drawings result from carefully planning the balance of the various subjects. A balanced drawing is more aesthetically pleasing and harmonious. When creating this balancing act, you must take the sizes, placements, and values of the subjects into account. Playing with the teeter-totter principle Balancing values and shapes Masses of light and dark values become shapes. These shapes need to be identified and planned before you begin to draw. Balance dark and light values in your drawing space, in much the same way as objects. Grouping all the dark objects or all the light objects on one side of your drawing space can create a visually lopsided composition. Sometimes simply moving objects slightly to the right or left in your drawing space, or making them lighter or darker than their actual values, can balance the composition. Placing an odd number of objects into a grouping (rather than an even number) makes a composition more artistically pleasing. Balancing three objects on one side of a composition and five on the other is much more interesting than a static arrangement of four on either side

Delegating Proportions to your Subjects When you plan a drawing, you have to decide how big to make each object in the composition. The proportion of each element relative to the others depends on what you want to emphasize in your composition. Gaustave Caillebotte, 'Paris Street: Rainy Day' (1876-1877)

Questions to Consider What do I consider to be the most important subject within this composition? The answer to this question may decide what your focal point (center of interest) should be. Where should I put my focal point and how much of my total drawing space should my focal point occupy? Many beginners choose to make their focal point the largest object in the drawing. How much of my drawing format should be background (negative space)? Negative space is sometimes thought of as a resting place for the viewer's eyes.

Tools Improve your drawing composition by learning about formal elements of picture design, how to draw thumbnail sketches, and composition principles such as the golden mean (golden section) and rule of thirds. Thumbnail Sketching is a simple, effective way of testing out compositions and making notes on your subject. Use a viewfinder to find a composition in a scene. Rule of Thirds Golden Mean/Ratio

The Making of a Thumbnail Sketch Draw a small box that resembles the format you are going to use for your drawing. Make it really small: less than 3 inches across since (it is called a 'thumbnail' sketch, after all Now place an abstract or rough version of whatever makes up your desired center of interest in that small box. Remember to place it slightly off-center. Forget about the details; identify the largest shapes, the longest lines, and go from there. Only add what is necessary to suggest the essential characteristics of the object. Next add the supportive or “subordinate” masses--the shapes or lines around the focal point. Keep them fluid and loose. Move these elements around your miniature “canvas” until the whole piece looks right to you. Keep the composition rules in mind as you do this. In addition to line drawings, you can start to shade the masses and plan the overall tonal relationships. Use just three tones: light, middle, and dark. You may also find it helpful to make additional thumbnail sketches of the same subject in different boxes. This way, you can explore how the format influences the overall spatial relationships within the painting. You also can just redraw the borders of your small box until you come up with the optimum format.

Example of Thumbnails

Viewfinder Use This is a scene in its entirety, before using the view-finder. Notice how cropping the mountains with the viewfinder makes the foreground important. A vertical arrangement of the viewfinder emphasizes the figure.

Using a Viewfinder Part II Interest is concentrated on the middle and foreground by cropping the sky. Centering the viewfinder gives all the elements equal importance.

Rule of Thirds The rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts such as painting, photography and design. A rectangle has been divided horizontally and vertically by four lines. The rule of thirds states that the centers of interest for any rectangle lie somewhere along those lines.

Rule of Thirds Example Charles Reid

Another Rule of Thirds Example Leonardo da Vinci

Golden Mean/Ratio There’s a mathematical ratio commonly found in nature—the ratio of 1 to 1.618—that has many names. Most often we call it the Golden Section, Golden Ratio, or Golden Mean, but it’s also occasionally referred to as the Golden Number, Divine Proportion, Golden Proportion, Fibonacci Number, and Phi. Usually will find the golden ratio depicted as a single large rectangle formed by a square and another rectangle. The appearance of this ratio in music, in patterns of human behavior, even in the proportion of the human body, all point to its universality as a principle of good structure and design. Used in art, the golden ratio is the most mysterious of all compositional strategies. We know that by creating images based on this rectangle our art will be more likely to appeal to the human eye, but we don’t know why.

Example of the Golden Mean Parthenon, 4th BC

Another Example

How to Use the Golden Ratio If you want to use a golden rectangle in your own compositions, here’s how you can make that happen without any special tools or mathematical formulas. 1. Begin with a square, which will be the length of the short side of the rectangle. 2. Then draw a line that divides it in half (forming two rectangles). 3. Draw a line going from corner to opposing corner of one of those halves. 4. Rotate the top point of that diagonal line downward until it extends your square. 5. Finish off the rectangle using that diagonal length as a guide for the long side of your golden rectangle.

How it works…..

Keep in Mind – Make Good, Dynamic Compositions Pick a good subject Choose the size you want Create your own crop Think about placement Control your lines Balance positive and negative space Add contrast Simplify distracting elements Avoid an undesirable merger – “trees growing out of the head”, “shadows near your subject that looks like a blob”, and “two or more objects appeared stacked together” Choose your values/colors deliberately