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In art schools and workshops, we learn (usually in this order) drawing, values, edges, and color temperature. If we’re lucky, we are given some exposure to composition or design principles…but it’s almost an afterthought.  The truth is that composition is probably the most important element in a painting.  A painting with wonderfully painted objects that are poorly placed will probably never sell, but a piece with killer design and mediocre rendering will still fly off the wall!

 

When I first went to art school at the University of Illinois, I had a design class but the textbook dealt with abstract concepts that weren’t pragmatic enough for me. Our paintings were supposed to have “unity and variety and balance”...without explaining how to achieve those. It took me YEARS to unearth what I believe are the foundational composition principles:

 

• Placement of centers of interest
• Designing using a dominant value
• Designing using a dominant color
• Common motifs
• Narrative

Where do you place your primary and secondary centers of interest (COI) on the picture plane? We’re told to avoid putting them in the exact center of the canvas. But where can you place them?

 

One (albeit a very simplistic) method is to divide the picture plane into thirds, like a tic-tac-toe board. The idea is that you can put a COI at any of the intersection points. However, if you’re not careful, this can lead to a painting that feels out of balance…like it’s tipping over to one side or the other.

 

A more interesting method is to use what Juliette Aristides calls “the armature of the rectangle”. If you connect the opposite corners of the rectangle, the centers of each side to each other, and center to corners you create a “cats cradle “ of lines and intersection points. The idea is that a center of interest can be placed at any of those intersection points (usually avoiding the exact center) or in an area bound by those lines. Hint: you don’t have to use them all.

Look at the famous painting, “Baking Bread," by Anders Zorn. You can see that the head of every figure touches one of the construction lines. The main figures’ heads are also bound by two or more of the lines. Although the painting looks very unposed it has a feeling of rightness to it. 

 

 

 

 

We see the same sort of approach in “Hylas and the Nymphs” by J.W. Waterhouse. These artists used conscious construction methods to place the subjects in these paintings. Masterworks don't happen by accident!

 

 

In my next blog I'll share Alphonse Mucha's core design theory. (If you don't know Mucha, Google him! He basically invented Art Nouveau!) If you would like to get a more in-depth look at these compositional ideas, please check out the preview for my latest video, Composition Secrets for Figure Painting by clicking here.  https://lilipubsorders.com/products/william-a-schneider-composition-secrets-for-figure-painting

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