Are you struggling to create balanced drawing and paintings that really pull the viewer in? How can you start incorporating smart composition design into your creative process so that you can create better original art? A major mistake many beginner artists make is attempting to copy reference photos exactly as they are, without considering composition. It is essential to learn about this art fundamental because 99% of the reference photos we're planning on using for drawings or paintings will not lead to the best results exactly as they are. Even those that have been taken by yourself or professional photographers. You want to be able to remove, relocate, enhance or add extra elements with ease if it'll improve the composition. Not to mention, it's important to bring yourself into your art by making stylistic choices. Someone can be incredibly skilled with a drawing or painting medium, but if their composition design is poor, even art that's technically good can fall flat. In the video below, I explain essential information on composition that all artists should be aware of, and how you can start using the Rule of Thirds to improve in this area.
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Composition design involves the selection of elements you'll be bringing into a drawing or painting, as well as their arrangement in space. 3 Key aspects to have in mind to ensure that your compositions will be successful are: a) Establishing a focal point: There should always be visual hierarchy in your drawings or paintings. Where do you want to call the viewer's attention to first and how are you going to develop a heavier visual weight in this area? Make sure you're accounting for positive (active areas) and negative spaces (inactive areas) because they play off each other and are both essential when striving to create balance. Remember that, if everything is equally important, then nothing is that important. b) Achieving a sense of balance: Radial, symmetrical and asymmetrical are the three types of balance in art. Usually, we want to achieve asymmetrical balance because this is more interesting to look at and, through strategic planning, we can keep the viewer's eyes flowing through the piece for a longer time. Achieving a sense of balance has a lot to do with effectively developing lesser and heavier visual weights throughout the piece. This is done through creating greater contrast, manipulating color, detail, playing with size/scale of different elements, etc. c) Visual Flow: As artists, we want to pull the viewer in and keep their eyes flowing through the piece for as long as possible. We do this through establishing a focal point, developing a heavier visual weight in this area, and creating visual pathways (literal and/or suggested). How we group elements together, overlap them, and position elements in space is part of creating that visual flow. Sometimes, visual pathways are created in a more literal sense, such as when we're drawing or painting a scene that includes a river, street or some kind of linear perspective. These create a visual path that the viewer's eyes will naturally want to "flow" through, so it is essential to give thought to how they will be leading to or away from the focal point. The Rule of Thirds supports us in achieving all of these things!
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