The term composition means 'putting
together,' and can apply to any work of art, from music to writing to
photography, that is arranged or put together using conscious thought. In the
visual arts, composition is often used interchangeably with various terms such
as design, form, visual ordering, or formal
structure, depending on the context.
Composition of piece, be it traditional, digital, 2D, 3D is
vital for visual appeal and overall success of the said piece. The piece can
fail drastically if grounded in sloppy or poorly thought out composition.
Things to consider when planning a
composition:
Line.
Line is possibly the most basic element
of visual composition. Strangely enough though, lines don't actually exist in
nature. Lines
serve many purposes in visual composition. They can divide the composition,
they can direct the viewers eye, they can define shapes and they can make a
statement to the feel or interpretation of the image by the viewer.
Vertical
Lines
Vertical lines create a bold statement.
They tend to suggest power with a strong foundation. They indicate a feeling of
solidity.
Horizontal
Lines
Horizontal lines indicate stability as
well, but in a much more calming way. They suggest balance, harmony.
Diagonal
Lines
Diagonal lines also create a strong feel,
but indicate a sense of energy or motion. Mixing diagonal lines with vertical
or horizontal lines can create a nice blend of power and dynamics.
Organic
Lines
Organic lines often come from nature. The
start to introduce feelings of chaos, complexity and beauty. Lines
that
suggest lightening have an angular quality and could seem intense. Lines in
patterns like grass or wheat fields might suggest a sense of calming beauty.
Implied
Lines
Implied lines are possibly the most
interesting if used correctly. Implied lines in composition don't exist at all
and are not even shown visually. They are created with directional elements
such as shape, hand gesture, eye contact (or direction) etc. They are possibly
the hardest elements to work with, but usually have the strongest impact when
done well.
Examples:
Shape.
Shapes are defined by contrast of
differing light or colour
areas, they can be geometrical and or abstract. At their most obvious they tend to be
object identification. A silhouette of a chair can be identified as a chair
because its an object just about everyone can identify. Same with any other
subject or shape of familiarity.
Cropping
Cropping can be done either with the
entire composition, or by obstructing the subject by other elements of a
composition. Cropping refers to the information you are willing to give the
viewer.
Scale
Scale is important to draw attention or
bring a sense of size to something that's not obvious.
Scale can also be created using
perspective. Objects closer to the point of view are larger in scale than the
same object far away
and are treated as more important.
Focus
The use of focus or blur in art and
photography allows the artist to draw attention and create a sense of
importance about a particular focal point.
The amount at the discretion of the
artist and can be use to give drastically different effects, a little
bit of blur can create a sense of abstraction, nostalgia or even subconscious representation,
while extreme
blur
can turn shapes into simply textures.
Lighting
Somewhat similar to focus, lighting can
also bring emphasis to a subject that's brightly lit and less attention to
subjects that are over and under lit. This effect can be similar to focus and
blur but objects will retain their outline definition as long as they are
separated from the background.
Negative Space.
Negative Space is the technique of using elements
of low impact to contrast your subject in a picture. Negative Space isn't
always a flat colour,
its a
contrast to the high impact nature of the subject. This could be a flat colour,
but
could also be an area of low contrast, low texture, subtle gradient.
Rule of Thirds.
The Rule of Thirds is a common technique
for achieving balance in your composition. If you subdivide your photo into
thirds both vertically and again horizontally, you'll wind up with an evenly
spaced grid. The sections where lines cross are points of interest. These
points are where you want to place your subject, parts of the image where you
want attention to be drawn or show points of activity. Rarely will you use all
four points - many times one or two - but this is what creates balance in your
composition.
Sub Framing.
Sub framing is
simply taking an object or subject in your image and framing it with lines
within the composition, thus having a picture in a picture and
giving emphasis to something in the composition.
Mastery of all these elements and
implication of them in works far surpass the end product of random chance, it
will be one of an iterative process of conscious decisions made to control the
viewer to see the composition, unconsciously as the artist intended.
The research stage of this post has
really opened my eyes on this topic, it has really been a learning experience
with quite a number of web pages saved to revisit. The ideas brought forth In
various techniques to almost modularise -in a way- your work so that it is
repeatedly visually appealing from a stand point of almost mathematic like
decisions.
This also lessens the daunting cloud
around planning large and or complex painting for me, the idea of completing a
process like one of these really boost my confidence.
External References:
