Research on composition

Composition is the design of a picture. A good composition is interesting, well balanced and pleasing to the eye, which makes the viewer move around the image as intended by the artist.

Although ‘interesting” and “pleasing” are subjective concepts and very personal, there are some visual characteristics that trigger the same aesthetically pleasing response in all of us. It’s those characteristics that we want to exploit as artists. Some of the basic elements of the composition are:

Format:

The format directs the viewer’s eye across the painting, and this can be –

• Horizontal, which make the eye go from side to side, favoured by landscape artists

• Vertical, to encourage the eye to go up and down, popular with portrait painters

• Square, to make the eye move equally, and finally to concentrate in the centre

A viewing frame or a viewfinder, (two L-shaped card pieces), will help decide the best format for the work.

Visual Balance

A good visual balance means that no one part overpowers another, and a number of different methods can be used to help achieve this, such as:

• Point and counterpoint

• Lead-ins

• Making thumbnails sketches

• The rule of thirds

References

Ian Sideway, 2016, Pastel in 10 steps, China, Bounty Books

Phil Davies, Composition for artist. Arttutor.com