Version 1. Middle? No. When designing the composition of a drawing or painting you need to make it interesting to the viewer. Try not the place your focal point dead center. It’s boring. Artist’s no.1 no-no rule.
Version 2. A little better… Here change happens in the composition when the focal point hits a “sweet spot” in the composition. But it’s not quite there – the horizon line is too close to the center of the paper.
Version 3. The keeper! This composition offers a pleasing balance while being more dramatic & interesting than version 2. The horizon line 2/3rds high.
Here’s a couple things I said as students were drawing:
Types of composition:
Two Ways to Look at Composition: Focus and Effects.
We can use compositions to guide the viewer’s eye to a point or points we want them to look at. Focus.
The background creates a circle to draw the viewers focus. Primavera by Sandro Botticelli.
The books and piles create a circle like focus on the subject. The Parable of the Rich Fool by Rembrandt.
A reverse L shape in “Whistlers Mother” by James M. Whistler
The Virgin and Child by Sandro Botticelli.
Composition that draws the eye across the painting. The Holy Family with Angels by Rembrandt
A composition can also create a feeling, an effect on the viewer.
Stańczyk by Jan Matejko
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt.
Diagonals create a feeling of movement and action. Here’s a classic impressionist painting I love. The artist’s viewpoint on the bridge creates diagonal lines that draw the viewer into the painting and give a feeling of action.
Can you sense the energy of the environment in Le Pont de L’Europe by Gustave Caillebotte?
The street, the sidewalk, the bridge, the buildings in the background. But what’s interesting is how they are in contrast to the people in the frame.
The dynamic diagonal lines are everywhere in the environment, in contrast to the casual attitude of the people.
A couple casually walking, a man peering over the bridge with his head resting in his hands, a dog strolling.
Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Balance
Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Balance can create feelings of Unity or contrast
Example of symmetrical balance used between the paintings on the wall to create calm feeling. The Concert by Vermeer.
Example of asymmetrical balance creating a sense of contrast. The Artist in his Studio by Rembrandt.
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