Saturday, January 8, 2011

making composition managable

composition is one of my weakest areas.  I say this even though I know all the conventional rules that are in place to guide artists.  The problem for me is putting it all together.  So ive been trying to come up with a process for thumbnailling.  here is where I am right now.


1. Proportion of light to dark, working in just black and white the canvas must be divided into areas of light and dark.  Either the light or dark must dominate in surface area.  It is not necessary to group or link all your dark areas but it is well to note that most images will benefit from this.

2. Within the light and dark areas there must be interesting overall shapes.  after the general proportion of light and dark is laid in it is best to make the shapes of these areas more planed while keeping the general proportion the same.


3. Edge complexity should diminish as you move away from the center of interest as well as complexity of shapes who's contours should be made of fewer lines as you move away from the focus of the piece.

4. Now you can start refining the objects in the light and dark shapes.  It is better to give dominance of scale to one object or group of objects over everything else, generally this will be on or near the center of interest.

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