A goodcomposition
canmakea painting
ordrawing,anda bad
compositioncanruinit.
InthisarticleI will
exploresomeofthe
tricksI’veusedtoconvey
whatI’mthinkingabout
a subject,usinga variety
ofcompositions.Having fun
with Composition
A
s a wildlifeartist,oneofthe best
waysto getmyartisticmessage
acrossis throughtheuse of
composition(thewayyouarrange the
visualaspectofyourart).Youcan be
ascomplexorassimpleasyoulike,
andyoucanuseyourimagination as
muchasyouwish,butI believeit’s
reallyimportantto thinkcarefully about
composingyourartwell.Theruleofthirds
Firstlywecanexplorethemostbasic, but
useful,of compositions,theruleof thirds.
Thismeansthatyouputthefocalpoint of
yourartonanimaginarylinedrawn a third
of thewayin/down/upyourpainting or
drawing.It createsa pleasingand balanced
aspect.If youplaceyourfocalpoint right in
themiddle,it cancutyourartin two. The
followingexamplesillustratewhat I mean.Here I have an old photograph of myself
looking tanned on a beach in Thailand. In
one photo I am placed a third of the way
into the image (Fig 1), whereas in the
other, I am halfway in (Fig 2). I think it is
fairly obvious which is the more pleasing
and balanced image. I’ve drawn lines
through the major focal points, in this case
me on the vertical and the dark land mass
on the horizontal.
You will also note that I am “looking into”
the picture, which gives the viewer space
but is also more pleasing than if I was
“looking out” of the picture (looking in the
opposite direction while still placed in the
same area). I’ll discuss this later.
Let’s now relate this to our art. My
example of a lion’s eye shows clearly that
I have the focal point a third of the way in
from the right and also a third of the way
down. (Fig 3)Fig 1 Fig 254 artistsTOOLS By PaTrick HedgeS