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Composition dictates where you place shapes in your picture

For beginners, composition is basically WHERE you place your shapes or subjects in the picture. It answers the "WHERE" question.

You try to integrate your painting with balance and provide direction to your focus or center of interest. The balance is done by using similar colors all around the painting. This unifies the piece.

Successful placement of the subject is NOT accidental; it is carefully planned out.

It is helpful to sketch out your composition in a sketchbook first or just on a piece of paper before you actually start on your canvas. Some artist will do a "thumbnail" sketch first which is just a small sketch to figure out the placement of items on the picture. You have to make the items fit your canvas. In still life painting you have total control of the placement of your objects. In Portrait painting you have to figure out how much of the person you want to paint. The right pose for the person you are painting is important. Many artist like to include painting the models hands in the portrait. In landscape painting you will have to "single-out" an area and identify it as the focal point or center of interest.

In the graphic below I have drawn a grid and circled the corner areas. Each one of these circled areas could be where your focus or center of interest is located in the painting. These areas are also called the "sweet spot".



You need to have UNITY, VARIETY and BALANCE in your composition. You need your focal point to not be in the middle, have light imposing its greatest impact, balanced by its surroundings; unified by your technique, made interesting by a variety of sizes and shapes are all considerations for your composition to be successful.

The next graphic below shows where NOT to put the focus or center of interest in the middle. The only exception would be a portrait type of painting.



Another way to help you set up your composition is to use a "view-finder". It is basically a device that you look through (like a miniature picture frame) or small window. You can use a slide holder or cut out a rectangle out of an old post card. Then you just look through it at what you intend to paint and re-arrange the items if you need to.



For more information on Composition below are books on this subject


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