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Composition
ARTS 121 – Drawing 1
Pam Winegard
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Composing a Composition
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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.
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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.
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Elements of Composition
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Focal point: A primary center of interest (or focus) in a drawing.
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Overlapping: The visual separation of a drawing into foreground,
middle ground, and distant space by overlapping (or layering) objects.
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Negative space: The space within your drawing not occupied by a focal
point, important subject, or area of interest.
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Lines: Navigation tools used to guide the viewer through the different
elements of a drawing.
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Balance: A stable arrangement of subjects within a composition.
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Contrast: Extremes of light and dark values that create shapes and
patterns in your composition.
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Proportion: The amount of space allocated to the various components
of a drawing.
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Focal Point
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Focal Point — a specific area where you want your viewer to focus
the majority of their attention when looking at your drawing
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Always place your focal point off-center in your composition.
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Make good use of secondary focal points.
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Use objects within your drawing space to point to your focal point.
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Define the focal point with more detail and a stronger contrast in
values than other aspects of your drawing.
Claude Monet
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Overlapping for Unity & Depth
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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.
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Observe your subject carefully before you begin your drawing
and plan for places where you can utilize overlapping.
Cezanne
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Using lines to your advantage
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Following the leading line
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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.
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Either actual lines or implied lines can be used to navigate the viewer around a
nonrepresentational drawing.
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Lining up emotions with composition lines
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Various types of lines put diverse emotions and moods in your compositions. Remain
conscious of the following effects lines can have in your drawings:
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Curved lines reflect beauty, gentleness, and calmness. The s-curve denotes balance and
grace.
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Horizontal lines create stability, peace, and serenity.
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Vertical lines reflect strength, grandeur, and dignity.
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Diagonal lines offer a sense of movement and power. When diagonal lines meet to form
an arrow, they can direct the viewer's eye.
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Examples of Line
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Diagonals
Curves
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Balancing Subjects in a
Composition
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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.
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Playing with the teeter-totter principle
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Balancing values and shapes
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Masses of light and dark values become shapes. These shapes need to be identified
and planned before you begin to draw.
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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.
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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
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Delegating Proportions
to your Subjects
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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)
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Questions to Consider
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Tools
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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.
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Thumbnail Sketching is a simple, effective way of testing out
compositions and making notes on your subject.
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Use a viewfinder to find a composition in a scene.
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Rule of Thirds
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Golden Mean/Ratio
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The Making of a Thumbnail Sketch
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Draw a small box that resembles the format you are going to use for your drawing.
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Make it really small: less than 3 inches across since (it is called a 'thumbnail' sketch,
after all
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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.
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Next add the supportive or “subordinate” masses--the shapes or lines around the focal
point. Keep them fluid and loose.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Example of Thumbnails
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Viewfinder Use
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This is a scene in its
entirety, before using the
view-finder.
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Notice how cropping the
mountains with the
viewfinder makes the
foreground important.
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A vertical arrangement
of the viewfinder
emphasizes the figure.
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Using a Viewfinder Part II
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Interest is concentrated
on the middle and
foreground by cropping
the sky.
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Centering the viewfinder
gives all the elements
equal importance.
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Rule of Thirds
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The rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in visual
arts such as painting, photography and design.
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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.
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Rule of Thirds Example
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Charles Reid
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Another Rule of Thirds Example
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Leonardo da Vinci
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Golden Mean/Ratio
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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.
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Usually will find the golden ratio depicted as a single large rectangle formed by a square
and another rectangle.
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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.
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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.
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Example of the Golden Mean
Parthenon, 4th BC
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Another Example
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How to Use the Golden Ratio
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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.
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1. Begin with a square, which will be the length of the short side of the
rectangle.
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2. Then draw a line that divides it in half (forming two rectangles).
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3. Draw a line going from corner to opposing corner of one of those
halves.
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4. Rotate the top point of that diagonal line downward until it extends
your square.
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5. Finish off the rectangle using that diagonal length as a guide for the
long side of your golden rectangle.
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How it works…..
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Keep in Mind – Make Good,
Dynamic Compositions
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Pick a good subject
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Choose the size you want
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Create your own crop
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Think about placement
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Control your lines
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Balance positive and negative space
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Add contrast
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Simplify distracting elements
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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”
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Choose your values/colors deliberately