See the World Like an Artist
Module 4 — All about composition
In this module I want to talk about composition: how to make a painting more interesting to look at.
In the last lesson, you will get an assignment where you can bring together everything you have learned.
Note: In the videos I mention the date July 29. This course is now self-paced — you don’t need to follow that date. Just watch the videos and do the exercises in your own time.
Lesson 1 — Composition
Most pictures reach the viewer on an emotional as well as an intellectual level.
Pictures make viewers reflect, see another reality, laugh, dream, empathize, and even weep.
This is because they touch something very private and personal.
Composition is a major part of this process.
The centre of interest is the most important area in your picture.
The viewer sees it first and spends most of their time looking at it.
The focal points are the small areas of most importance within the centre of interest.
Exercise:
Choose a few paintings you like — in books, online, or in your home.
Look for the centre of interest in each painting.
Then look for the focal points inside that area.
Notice how the artist guides your eye.
Lesson 2 — Composition and more!
How can you make your painting or drawing more interesting?
What kind of feeling do you want to bring into your work?
Tell a story. I often do this myself.
I add small things to a painting that make you wonder about it.
They give you hints about what the painting is about, but you are never completely sure.
Exercise:
Look at a painting in your home for a longer time.
What do you feel when you look at it?
Why do you like it so much?
Lesson 3 —— Composition and more!
Composition and more
In this video I talk about an exercise I did when I was a student at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.
It is the exercise with the peanut and the elephant.
Exercise:
Make two paintings or drawings of different sizes.
Choose two objects that are connected in some way.
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Paint or draw the object that is large in real life on a small canvas or piece of paper.
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Paint or draw the object that is small in real life on a large canvas or piece of paper.
For example:
You paint a big building on a small canvas or paper,
and the people who live there on a very large canvas or paper.
What you learn from this exercise
This exercise makes you think about:
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the combination of two images
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how each image is strong alone, and also strong together
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composition
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color choices
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storytelling
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shadows and light/dark tones
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using your imagination
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thinking in forms and residual forms
