Art Composition

Intro
Composition is all about placing the elements of an art piece where they deliver most impact and overall balance. If you've ever studied the art works of the masters, you might have noticed how easy they are on the eye. With an almost magical effortlessness they slip inside you, delivering great viewing satisfaction. This is not only because they might be stunningly realistic to behold, but also because the artist have taken great care in placing the various elements in the right places. The important elements are usually placed where they create most balance, and communicates most effeciently across to the beholder.



TIP: Remember this always when starting on a new piece; Place the important elements of your work where they are most pleasing to the eye, and have most effect/impact on the viewer.



The above goal can be accomplished in many ways, and one of those is to conform to the rule of thirds. By dividing your piece into nine equally sized rectangles or squares, and placing key elements on some of the focal points you will create a much more eye-pleasing piece of art. The four spots where the lines meet are called focal points, where the upper and lower right spots are the most important. This is because most of us have learned to read from left to right, hence it is the most natural way for us to look at an image also. Look at the image below.



More Composition Styles
There are many different ways to compose an art piece; the L-Composition, the Iconic composition, and the Cross composition just to name a few. They each have their strenghts in communicating across to the viewer. Look at the illustrations below of the three different compositions styles I mentioned. By placing important elements on top of, and/or along the lines, or directly on the focal points you can create a more effective work of art.



Returning shortly to the rule of thirds, it is important to mention that the focal points do not necessarily need to be covered by solid objects. For instance, if you wish your piece to be spacious (like with wide stretching fields, far-stretching mountain ranges or an endless sky) then you can easily let the area around the focal points have alot of surrounding space. Another important thing is to not have several important elements on the different focal points in one piece competing with eachother over the viewers attention. That way it'll do more harm than good, and confuse the beholder instead.

The Final Words (and more composition stuff)
This short tutorial is only meant as a preliminary step into the world of art composition, and a brief reminder that composition is indeed very important. Once you are comfortable with the basics you can even combine different styles of composition but it takes alot of practice. The possibilities are pretty much endless. Before the final punctuation of this art tutorial, I wan't to share a link to one of the best in-depth composition tutorials the web has to offer (well atleast in my own humble opinion) The webs best art composition tutorial.

Enjoy!