Composition notes

Hello everyone,

I am revamping "Pastel Lessons" because when I first created it, I designed the images section incorrectly which makes adding new information impossible and keep the images properly aligned. I will be adding new images soon.

I hope these compositional notes are helpful. A good composition is like building a house, build it strong and everything else will fall into place.

Composition

"putting together of a whole by the combination of parts. Arrangement of the parts of a work or art so as to form a unified, harmonious whole" -Websters Dictionary

When arranging those elements the artist can add to, change, or discard some of the items. There are endless possibilities when changing line, shape, and color to create a new composition.

Elements of good compositions

1) Balance-think of the weight of objects in the painting and then find the balance as you would on a teeter-totter (remember those things?) Large shapes can be balanced off with small shapes by careful placement in the picture plan of both.

2) Unity - oneness - fitting all the parts together in some kind of order. This can be achieved by repeating color, texture, lines, shapes, or groups. 

3) Rhythm 

Repetition of color and form (like in music) to create a sensation of movement. Repetition and variation are elements of rhythm. Repeat shapes and colors throughout the piece but change things to avoid boredom. 

4) Focal Point and Focus

The focal point of a picture is the essence of your subject. It is the spot where the eye and mind register the reason for the piece. What's the purpose of creating the painting? What "rings you bell", gets your attention? For landscape painters, what are you excited about when looking at the scene. To translate these questions into your painting is to create a focus or point of interest. If the focal point is placed too close to an edge the viewer's eye may wander out of the picture plane. Shapes, colors, and line should direct the viewer's attention into the picture plane towards the point of interest and then throughout the elements. The point of interest is like the "Star" of the play and the other elements are the supporting actors.

5) Overlapping

Overlap elements to relate objects and create groups to one another.

6) Lead- in

Lead-ins are elements that help the viewers eye to enter the picture plane and advance toward the point of interest. For example, in a landspace painting this may be path or sunshine spots leading up to the point of interest.

7) Contrast

Create contrast within your picture plane having one element dominant. 

Example: 1 large shape dominates the design and contrast with many smaller objects. Or, the majority of your painting is dark with one small very bright/light area that controls the point of interest.

warm colors/cool colors   large shapes/small shapes   light tones/dark tones   high key/low key

You would not want these paired elements to be equally represented in your composition.

Some of the rules that I keep in mind (but remember rules are meant to be broken, but know why your are breaking them)

1) Don't cut your painting in half. Example: having the horizon line exactly half way in the picture plane

2) Have an odd number of elements. Example: three trees in a group are more interesting than two

3) Have something dominate -warm/cool large/small light/dark and high key/low key