The Big Picture – Focals, Centered, Rule of Thirds
Chris Gryder, composition in ceramics tiles.
(For the next month or so, if you are in one of the clubs, you may notice that the blog is sounding familiar. That’s because these will be abbreviations of the full lessons found the week prior in the Club subscriptions. I am transitioning from the full design lessons being free in the blog back to them being in the subscription content so if you are serious about your education in design, do sign up for the Devotee Club and support your own growth as a knowledgeable creative and impassioned artist.)
Here we are. November 1st. What do you aim to accomplish in the last two months of this tumultuous year? May I suggest, stepping back at looking at the big picture for a time? We can get so close to our work that we can’t really see what’s going on. Stepping back can help. And that’s also what I am doing with the design lessons this month.
As outlined last week, the principles of design, those next logical steps in the growth of your design knowledge after learning all the elements (marks, line, shape, form, color, texture, and size), are the concepts that help rule your design choices. However, in the coming month, I want to give you the end goal first –your composition. This should give you some grounding for what the principles are used for as it encompasses the visual big picture of any piece.
So, what exactly is composition?
Composition is really the most important aspect of your work. It’s the convergence of all the elements and their characteristics. It’s the presentation of your design choices.
When we talk about the design of a piece, we are talking not just about the collective use of elements but about how you have arranged those elements into a single, cohesive piece. Those relationships are still rooted in the characteristics of the elements but it is how those elements are arranged that establish a relationship of the elements to the whole piece. That is composition.
The cool thing about composition is that there are a lot of standards, guides, and formulas you can use to develop useful arrangements. A lot of them we can identify intuitively even if we can’t name them or point out why the composition works. When things are arranged in a balanced and unified manner, we sense it even if we can’t identify why.
My goal, however, is to make you more aware of the “why”. As a creative, you want to be able to adjust your composition when it doesn’t feel right so being able to identify why it does or doesn’t’ work is a big part of that.
So, this week, let’s just dip our toes into the idea of composition and contemplate two rather fundamental but potentially powerful compositional considerations. To do so I do need to bring in at least one of the basic anchoring concepts for composition, that being focal points.
Focal Points
Focal points are where our eye goes to when we first look at a piece. Most artwork needs a focal point. I say most because you can have work that doesn’t seem to have a focal point but if the viewer doesn’t have a point where they naturally start the exploration of your piece, the viewer may feel lost or unsettled.
That said, let’s look at two compositional ideas that focus on focal points.
Carol Salisbury; sterling silver, brass. Photo by Dan Kvitka.
Centered
Placing your focal point smack dab in the center of your piece is a very valid method of composition. It’s not often considered the most exciting option but it can be the “right” one if it supports your intention. If you are trying to create something with calm strength, a very grounded feel, or a regal display, for instance, a centered composition can do this for you.
Unfortunately, there has, for too long, been a misconception that centered compositions are not sophisticated. Well, that’s only true when they are centered as a kind of default approach to composition rather than a choice to fulfill an intention. Centered compositions can be very powerful and terribly beautiful but there does need to be a specific reason to choose them.
The Rule of Odds
Anarina Anar, acrylic on polymer. As a whole the composition of this necklace is fine but if you took any one of those circle sets with dangles off and created pendants, which would be the most successful?
Anarina Anar, acrylic on polymer. As a whole the composition of this necklace is fine but if you took any one of those circle sets with dangles off and created pendants, which would be the most successful? The ones with one or three dangles feel more “right”. The one with two would feel undone. As a whole, with 3 sets having dangles and 7 beads chained together, the majority of the composition works on odds while the two dangles work to keep the piece from being too stagnantly centered.
The rule of odds suggests that an odd number of objects, elements, or, especially, images are more interesting than an even number. It’s considered part of composition because the arrangement of the number of elements is where this preference for odd numbers shows itself.
The bottom line is that we find an odd number of subjects more interesting than an even number and when it comes to focal points, this becomes particularly apparent.
There are quite a number of other compositional ideas I’ll be sharing with you but take those two and consider them. Take a look at your own work and see where you used these compositional concepts or where they might be used to strengthen the design.
What Else Did You Miss?
This past week in the club content, I started a month-long series on ways to increase your focus and get work done in the studio. It is going to be a distracting month for many reasons. So, if you want help there, $9/ month will get you professional grade advice along with the full design lessons, specials, and member’s first offerings.
