Part 3 - How to Create A Better Composition of Art: 6 Composition Strategies
Carl Rungius’ Bighorn Sheep on Wilcox Pass, 1912. Rungius’ painting exhibits the Rule of Thirds. The big horn sheep take up 2/3 of the painting, and our eye is drawn toward middle two sheep first.
Composition
Composition plays a vital role in the creation and interpretation of art. It can affect how the artwork is perceived, how it communicates its message, and how it resonates with the viewer. In this blog, I’ll go over some thoughts that can help you to determine the composition for your next piece.
This is the last installment on my consideration for designing a composition. Previously in Part 1, I went over the 7 elements of art, which you can check out here.
And in Part 2 I went over the 8 principles of art (or design) here. Both blogs contain examples of how artists have used the tools and principles to compose works.
Reasons to Plan Your Composition
You may wonder, “Do I even need to think about my composition before I start creating?”. I would say yes! I get it. I only recently started thinking about being more thoughtful about designing my works, which is why I wrote this series. After I started researching art composition, it really opened up my eyes to how considering these tools and techniques could really improve my work.
If you are deliberate with designing an artwork, you can impact the aesthetic or meaning of a piece in many ways. The following is a noncomprehensive list:
Visual appeal: A well-composed artwork is visually appealing and draws the viewer's attention. By organizing elements in a way that creates balance, contrast, and harmony, you can make the work more attractive and engaging to the viewer.
Communication: The composition can help you to communicate their message more effectively. The placement of elements can create a sense of movement, depth, or perspective that can reinforce the intended meaning of the artwork.
Emphasis: The composition can emphasize certain elements or ideas within the artwork. Through the use of contrast, framing, or repetition, you can direct the viewer's attention to specific parts of the work.
Unity: Composition can create a sense of unity within an artwork. By organizing elements in a deliberate and intentional way, you can create a sense of coherence that ties everything together.
Creativity: Composition can be a tool for creative expression. By experimenting with different arrangements and combinations of visual elements, you can explore new and innovative ways of communicating your ideas and emotions.
Composition Strategies
There are some “rules” or strategies for composing an art work that have been developed over hundreds of years by artists. We are lucky because we can look back to how the artists were developing and testing these concepts, and we can see these strategies in action by viewing older works. It’s as if a lot of the heavy lifting has been done for us.
I believe it is beneficial to understand the strategies, but I certainly don’t think that artists have to stick to them. Rather, use them as a guide to help you consider how your artwork would best be portrayed. You can choose to creatively use some of them, change them up a bit, or discard them altogether.
Below, I will go over 6 types of composition strategies and I will provide at least one example of each. This is by no means an exhaustive list of strategies. There are so many out there that it would be impossible to go over all of them! Hopefully this selection will at least get your brain buzzing about the possibilities.
The Rule of Thirds
The rule of thirds is probably the most common composition advice you will find on the internet for artists and photographers. It states that you should divide your rectangular drawing space into a grid of nine rectangles. This is done by dividing the piece into thirds both horizontally and vertically. See below how the painting by Monet is divided up by grid lines.
The rule of thirds states that the best place to put your focal point is at one of the four grid cross sections (shown by the blue squares in the figure below). Note how Monet’s boat is a little off-center and definitely near the blue squares.
The rule of thirds is said to create a balanced piece. It also ensures that the focal point won’t be directly in the middle of the surface, which can create a more interesting piece.
The rule of thirds was posited by an artist in 1797. His name was John Thomas Smith and he wrote about it in his book, Remarks on Rural Scenery. I’m not quite sure how the idea took hold, but it definitely did with artists and photographers alike.
Artists and photographers also suggest that you use the grid when dividing up parts of a piece, such as the water versus the land. So for Monet’s painting, note how the water takes up the bottom two-thirds of the piece and the land the upper third. The thought is that it might look odd to have the horizon line in the middle of the work or near the top or bottom of the work.
I understand the appeal in the rule of thirds, but I don’t think that artists should be forced to stick to this particular technique (or any for that matter!). It will limit creativity and flexibility if you rigidly adhere to it, and most artists are rebels and don’t like rules (which describes me to a T).
How to Apply the Rule of Thirds
It’s fairly simple if you want to implement this idea when designing a piece. You could measure out a grid on a piece of sketch paper and draw in a rough composition to see what you think might work best. Or you could create a grid in Photoshop overtop of a reference photograph.
Claude Monet, The Studio Boat, 1874
2. Dynamic Symmetry
This type of composition uses math ratios to make a proportional piece. It is based on the rule of thirds, and it uses triangles to identify placements for focal points. It was developed in the Baroque period, which is why one of the diagonal lines was named after this time in art history.
During the Baroque period, artists such as Caravaggio, Rubens, Bernini, and Bach mixed up the static compositions by using diagonals. See the paintings below by Caravaggio, Reni, and Anthony van Dyke for examples.
I am no math expert, and you can really get into the weeds with this one, so for my sake and yours I will simplify the idea.
The two diagonal lines in the graphic below are what can be used to compose a piece of art. The line that starts at the bottom of the left side of the image and ends at the upper righthand corner is called the Baroque diagonal. Conversely, the line that starts at the bottom righthand corner and ends in the upper lefthand corner is called the Sinister diagonal. Where you have a line intersecting a diagonal at 90 degrees is called a reciprocal line. The intersection of the reciprocal line is where you are supposed to put your focal point.
How to Apply Dynamic Symmetry
So if you want to try this technique, your aim is to put your main subject at a 90 degree intersection. Then you can use the diagonal lines of the graphic to guide the placement of other parts of the work. Try to place your other elements parallel to whichever diagonal you are using.
This is the simplest video I could find on how to create your own Baroque diagonal grid. Click here to watch it. I’m super intrigued by this method, and I’ll be excited to try it out.
A diagram showing the triangular grid used to create a composition using dynamic symmetry.
Below are three examples of Diagonal symmetry from two Baroque period painters. I think the paintings really speak for themselves on how impactful this technique can be. These three paintings in particular really use the principles of asymmetrical balance and contrast to enhance the subject matter.
Caravaggio’s Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, 1595. This is an example of a Baroque diagonal piece, because the line starts from the bottom left side of the piece and ends at the upper right side.
Guido Reni’s St. Sebastian, 1625. Reni also used the Baroque diagonal, the only differences were that he applied it to a vertical canvas and he used two reciprocal line intersections when creating this work.
Anthony van Dyck’s The Lamentation Over the Dead Christ, 1635. I wanted to add one Sinister diagonal line example for you to see. Also, note how the intersection on the right isn’t perpendicular but this still works very well.
3. Simplification
This strategy will feel like a relief after all of that math! I just states that you can simplify supporting elements in your piece to ensure that only your focal point stands out. This can be accomplished by using a limited color palette, blurring out unnecessary details, compressing the value range (not having such a range in lights and darks), and by painting using larger brushstrokes.
The artists that best exemplified this strategy are the Impressionists. They only used detail where necessary, they used large brushstrokes, and they used a smaller range of values in a lot of their paintings. See the two paintings below for examples of this strategy.
How to Apply Simplification
This method is simple to do. Haze out your background and get rid of unnecessary objects that don’t help to tell the story you want to convey. Consider using a simpler color palette on unnecessary elements and/or less value change.
Claude Monet, Sunrise, 1872. Monet’s focal point in this piece is the bright orange sunrise and the boat in the foreground. For the other elements in the piece, he didn’t use much of a value range and he blurred out the details.
Georges Seurat, Bathers at Asnieres, 1884. First of all, Seurat was only 24 when he painted this. Wow! Notice how the focal points, which are the bathers, are in more detail than the elements in the background. In the background he also used less value changes so that the bridge, factories and sailboats wouldn’t stand out as much.
4. The Rule of Odds
This rule states that elements of a piece can look too symmetrical if there are an even number, and therefore it’s better to have an odd number.
I think this idea makes sense and we probably intuitively do this without thinking about it. I remember when my mom asked me how I knew she was supposed to create a flower arrangement with an odd number of flowers. I had no idea where I got that idea, but I just thought an odd number looked better. Which is the basic idea here. Paul Cezanne’s painting of skulls would have looked too symmetrical with two skulls.
How to Apply Simplification
This is a simple idea to incorporate into your art. Just make sure you don’t have an even number of something in your piece.
Paul Cézanne, The Three Skulls, 1900
Winslow Homer, Listening to the Voice From the Cliffs, 1882.
5. Triangles
You are probably thinking “Oh no, not more geometry”. But I will keep this one simple. The triangle is a stable shape and so therefore it is thought that if you plan out your piece in a triangular shape, you will create a sense of unity and balance and evoke a sense of calm. Also, the shape will draw the eye along the lines of the triangle, which serves as the focal point.
How to Apply Simplification
To try this strategy yourself, think of placing your subjects into the shape of a triangle. Let’s look at some examples so you can see what I mean.
Edouard Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass or Dejeuner Sur l’herbe, 1862-63. Check out the triangle in this piece! It definitely serves to focus your attention.
Leonardo Da Vinci, Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, 1501-1519. Leonardo liked to paint his subjects in triangles and this is a perfect example. I do think it’s odd that everyone seems to be sitting on one another, but that’s besides the point.
6. Gestalt Theory- the Law of Continuity
In the early 20th century a new school of thought was developed, called Gestalt psychology. It emphasized that the whole of anything is more than its parts.
When this is applied to art it means that the viewer will try and make sense of an artwork by finding the simplest meaning.
There are many applications that can be taken from Gestalt Theory, but I am only going to go over one in this blog- the Law of Continuity. I found this information at this website, which offers a course that you can purchase that covers many design elements of Gestalt Theory.
The Law of Continuity in terms of art states that you can use the placement of elements to guide a viewer’s eye across a work to enhance movement and unity. Let’s look at some paintings to see how this works. These images are from the website that I referenced above.
William-Adolphe Bouguereau, The Nymphaeum, 1878
Bouguereau used ellipses and arabesques in this painting to draw the eye across the painting. They also provide a sense of unity in the piece without being obvious.
Sir Lawrence Alma Tedema, The Favourite Poet, 1888
This painting has ellipses and arabesques as well. The composition is not quite a circle, but serves to focus our attention in the middle. The flowing position of the woman at the top helps to accentuate that she is swooning while listening to a reading of her favorite poet.
Conclusion
I hope you have found this series of blog posts to be as interesting as I did while researching the topics.
If you want to try and create your own interesting composition for your next piece I have a few pieces of advice. Sketch out your layout first on a piece of paper. Decide what you want to be the focal point, and think about how you can use one of these strategies to direct the viewer’s eye around your piece. Make sure you don’t have too many competing elements of art in your piece. Select one or two main elements and let the other elements have a supporting role. Have fun with all of the possibilities!
Did you find this blog helpful? Do you think you will try one of these strategies? Love to hear your thoughts.
