Composition

Before start this topic, i suggest you to have a look on the page "Tangents"

What is Composition in Art?

Composition in art is a combination of all the physical attributes which make up a single artwork. To break that broad definition down, artists like to talk about composition in two separate categories: elements of composition and principles of design.
These two categories help artists better survey art by simplifying the meaning of composition in art.

STAY ROUGH AND QUICK FOR THE FIRST COMPOSITION

Design by Derek Laufman

Focal Point

Determine the subject you want to stand out or to be your main focus (Usually the main character).
Focal points can more than one in composition...

Your focal point must easy to understand, so your audience will not get confused.

Good composition in art is incredibly important. In visual arts especially, composition is often referred to as a way to arrange the artwork. Good artists understand how to use scale, color, shape. and other physical properties of art to create a story through a piece of work. A tell tale sign of a lack of compositional knowledge is a painting that seems jumbled or unbalanced for no particular reason or a film that seems confusing to follow visually. When the physical properties of art are used correctly, a story is told with color or line or depth.

RULE OF THIRD

The Rule of Third is a guideline that divide the canvas or image into two horizontal lines and two vertical lines, creating nine equally sized sections.
This is used to arrange subject composition in Visual Arts as well in photography and Movie or cinematography.
To use it you can place object on the intersection line or inside the box.
Of course this rule can be broken if necessary, but it helps to have a good balnce in the image.

Leading lines are used to leads our eyes to the focal point of an artwork.
Artist usually use a line, curve line, Triangle shape and more

The Etherington brothers

Thumbnail is a good way to start the composition without focussing on details.

Explain how the artist's compositional choices work to guide the viewer's eye to important elements of the image.

Evaluate how the compositional structure of a work affects the tone of the painting, or communicates information or emotional content to the viewer.

There are 7 elements of composition in art : line, shape, volume or mass, color, texture, light and space.

LINE : When examining line in a visual work such as a painting, artists look for certain qualities of the line.
Are the lines thin and light or dark and thick?
How curved or ragged are the lines?
Where do most of the lines point?
What could the artist mean by curving a line here and leaving one sharply angled somewhere else?
Deciding what each choice in lines mean is the viewer's job.
Much like an abstract metaphor in a poem, line can be used to represent an abstract idea or feeling.

Artwork by Dan Panosian

Shapes : Lines come together to create shapes.
Artworks can include geometric or natural shapes.
Some abstract works mix together organic (or natural) shapes with simple geometric shapes to create a story.
Geometric shapes such as squares, circles, triangles, etc. are often used to simplify a composition or make it seem more formally structured.
Organic shapes are often used to make a composition feel wild or uncontained.
Though these are common uses for shape in a piece, artists can use shapes in a myriad of ways, each one highly specific to the artist of the artform.

Volume and mass are a little more complex than line or shape.
Figures in a painting can appear to have mass based on the shadowing of the figure, its size, and how it interacts with the rest of the composition.
This means that a two-dimensional painting of a ship can appear to be massive if the ship's shadow is proportional to its size or if it seems to break the waves sailing through them, etc.

Color is one of the most discussed elements of composition.
Colors can be cool (blues, some purples, etc) or warm (reds, oranges, etc).
Often, blues are used to represent night in media, and purple represents the supernatural or mysterious in literature.
This is one of the simplest ways to use color.
Additionally, each artwork uses a different mixture of colors called a color palette to create the mood and meaning the artists intends.
Color palettes are created based on the color wheel.
There are two different kinds of color wheels: light and pigment.
The pigment color wheel is used in all physical media such as painting, and it lays out the colors as they form naturally in a rainbow.
Colors facing opposite one another create high contrast and can be used in a palette to draw attention or create importance.

Texture can be used either figuratively or literally. Oil paints dry solid, so an artist can give a painting literal texture with the paints at hand. This can create interest and variety in a piece or excite the viewer, making the piece interactive for touch as well as sight.

Artists also use various brushstrokes and shadings to create the illusion of texture in a painting. A two-dimensional pillow can look fuzzy with a few light brushstrokes. A man's skin can appear rough with a little shading in the right areas. When examining texture in a piece, it is useful to imagine what someone touching the texture in real life would feel. A good artist is able to create that feeling in the viewer.

Light is another element of composition which can be used in a multitude of ways. Some artists, like Caravaggio use only one light source in a painting to create high contrast and a more exaggerated tone. Light, and shadows in its absence, can be used to create dimension in a piece. Objects often get lighter as they recede into the background, creating atmospheric depth.
Artists can also use light to create a flat look by representing only the light hitting the figures straight-on and not including shadow. This is apparent in paintings from the early medieval era, specifically. Figures often appear flat due to lack of shadow, much like a stick figure created only of color.

Space can refer to the amount of space an artwork takes up as well as the space within a composition. A canvas, film shot, or stage can be broken down into spaces such as the foreground, background, left, middle, and right. Any area on a composition can be referred to as its own space as well, and artists use these spaces to create depth or place importance on a certain figure or show power or weakness in an interaction, etc.

The sections of a stage can be broken down this way in order to create a composition in theatre. Characters who are "down center" are closer to the audience and in the center of the stage. This emphasizes the character, giving them attention in an important moment for their character.

Composition

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Composition

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