Composition

I think I accidentally went over this a bit in my last critical studies post, so hopefully I won't be repeating myself too much here. To quote Dictionary.com, ' the act of combining parts or elements to form a whole'. This is true in the sense of a painting, everything in the frame must have a purpose and add to the whole. The way a painting shows the elements within it gives the painting different connotations.

The problem with many artists paintings is that they start without thinking through the composition. If you just start drawing things in randomly without any thought, it won't be a very good painting. There are different compositional rules which can be used to help.

Here are some basic compositional ideas. Firstly the rule of thirds. This is where if you break up a picture horizontally and vertically into thirds, the places where the lines cross are good places to out a focal point.

Another one that can be used is implied forms, This is where a series of forms lead the eye to the focal point. There can be a variety of ways to do this, such as using a circular, or triangular forms.

Another very simple rule of composition is to use the cross. This is where two lines cross the page, with the horizontal line acting as the stopper and the vertical one leads the eye. All of these rules are about leading the viewers eye to the main focus of your painting.

A main area of interest needs to be created by the painting. When painting a picture, we need to think of what is the most important part and make this the focus. Some rules for making the area of interest stand out are making it have:

'

• The strongest color and if possible complementary colors.
• A strong shift in value contrast (Light-dark or vice versa)
• Preferably, not essentially, it should take up a good portion of the picture plane and gradually become subdued while withdrawing.
• Man made structures, animals or human figures will further enhance the center of interest. They take the role of main actors.
• The subordinate and surrounding elements should direct or lead the viewer to that center of interest by means of pointers and visual paths. See fig 1 &2.
• It should not be placed in the center nor halfway in the picture, preferably in any of the 1/3 portions.
• This area should not be blocked, not even partially. This will diminish its importance.
• An effectively designed center of interest will grasp and hold the viewer's attention. '

This can be seen in some older classic paintings. For example, if we look at this painting ( the Thaw, by Fyodor Vasilyev) we can see that the people are the main focal point. This is because they are human which draws the eye, and also there have the greatest contrast against the snowy background. They are also at around a third of the page, so they fit into the rule of thirds as well.

This guidelines can be used to make effective artwork and paintings.

references:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/composition
http://photoinf.com/General/Johannes_Vloothuis/landscape_composition_rules.htmlhttp://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/phil_straub_composition_tutorial
http://www.artexpertswebsite.com/pages/artists/vasilyev.php