Hello! Today I come to talk about "how to create a good composition of a scene", rather than a technical process I will tell you some little tricks and tactics to use when creating a scene and make it look more natural and dynamic. At the end of this short article you will have some basic tools to highlight items and make a difference when making the final art.
Let's get started!
To start I should mention the importance of the composition in each scenario, it is always important to see and bring out the elements in the image that we are developing, the aim of our drawings are not to simply illustrate with a good finishing touch, you have to know that a good image or piece of art always communicates something, and have a way to read it. Images are like books, have a beginning and an end, a walk on one side and the other salts, it is important to know which are the elements we want to highlight, the other elements that simply appear to narrate the scene and one that without them the scene just will lose personality and grace.
In the picture I posted at the top of this article we highlight as important elements to the two characters who appear in it, as they have a coloured subtly highlighting over the background, they have a completely different texture to that used in most elements that make up the image, it is also the place, the trees, the river and the sunset that through the colours and shapes show in the background where they are located these two people, and Finally there are the rocks, twigs, leaves and small lumps on earth because without these small elements that harmonize and give life to the image, this would not have the same impact.
There is a small visual theory which have guided me a lot since my college years, is on the visual weights and is called the Gestalt theory. To understand how it works I invite you to see the graph below:
The theory shows the trend of what is more harmonious to our eye and in which space you can put more or less weight, in fact if we put too many elements in the left up corner our image can become unstable and cause a nuisance eye of the viewer. A simple way to check that our image is well balanced is reversing the mirror image as to find possible errors:
There are some drawing software that have this option already built, it is actually very useful on the subject of the composition, because when you invert the image it will light some occasional little mistakes that can end up ruining our image and we never will realize. It is always important to also look at the elements within the crosses, this gives a complete view of the intervention of the elements and the dynamism, a part of which play with the weights always good but following the basic rules above all, you must first know them, understand them and end after break the rules.
I have prepared a video in which I made a quick sketch of a scenario in which I draw enough lines to give my shadows and highlight small features as I go along, I invite you to know my process:
Remember that the most important part of the process of composition is writing the story of the picture so I'll give you 5 tips that will help you make this process easier:
1. Take a peek at my tutorial on composing scenes in it. show a very basic and simple way to learn how to design a scenario that you imagined in your mind.
2. If you can not imagine the cross of the weights and divide the images with your mind, you can always do it manually, you can draw a cross on top and then delete it when you checked the dynamism of the composition.
3. If you want to make an image that expresses a thought, sit first and think what you want to achieve, then take a pen and write a script with the items you want to appear in the picture, the expression of the characters, where they are located, their clothing and small extra elements that harmonize the whole picture.
4. I recommend you look at my post about the power of the sketch, will give a clearer light on the language you want to use in your image, about how you want to have more identity on your own drawing.
5. Take references, photos and even pieces from other artists and try to apply those elements and learned references to each image you make.
Remember that I am always attentive to answer any questions, queries or suggestions, I'm still pretty active on my Facebook page or on Twitter and I'm always up extra material and some other work process itself I'm ahead. I hope you enjoyed this article and see you next! greetings.
