Part 3: Illustrating Visual Space

Thoughts on the exercise

During my Drawing 1 module there were many opportunities to consider and research composition. That module provided me with both valuable basic knowledge and reflections on the issues of composing a pleasing artwork. I'm glad that I've now got the opportunity to consider again, and build on previous notes and evaluations. I don't believe that there can ever be an end to the study of effective composition and perspective; I feel that there will always be new knowledge, insights and experience to gain. I'm particularly fascinated with issues about composition, and the more I study and reflect, the more questions and conundrums I seem to have. I strongly believe that effective composition should be as much a source of experimentation, study and ongoing practice as any other aspects of producing images (i.e. mark making, colour, texture, etc).

Exploring composition

The exercise asked me to take an image of a running child, tree and build and to play around with composition. In the series of images below I tried to experiment and play around with different ideas and thoughts.  I kept with the child, building and tree request, but for interest factor I did toy with that a little:



My favourite composition from the six panels above is number three.  Overall, I like the sense of movement in it and the trees guide the eye away down into the image towards the house. I feel it is a strong composition.

Composition research notes and reflections:

Reflecting on how I think of composing images, I've realised I tend to have a pattern to my thinking and decision making.  Roughly as follows:
  • Overall symmetric vs Asymmetric arrangement?
  • Move things around to comply with the rule of thirds... (especially moving things to intersection)
  • Think then of aligning things along the diagonals
  • Make that there are odd numbers of things not even.
However, I'm conscious of the dangers of the thinking process above. I don't want to have set thinking patterns; I want to develop a richer range of questions and considerations that can help me compose strong images.  

I'm quite a practical person and I like having a toolkit approach to my composition.  I like rules and guidelines that I can directly apply.  It is probably why the Rule of Thirds is a strong part of my composition thinking; I feel it has practical impact for me and improves the organisation and composition of my work.   However, I'm also aware that such "rules" are only general guidelines and pointers, and should be disregarded when needed. 

This exercise is reminding me of the need to develop and improve the way I think about organising my artwork.  I've been captivated by the illustrations and information in Molly Bang's, How Pictures Work.  I loved this book! I found its examples of composition to be extremely enlightening; she brings composition ideas and theories to life in interesting illustrations using shapes and characters. For example:


Further thoughts/reflections/notes after the study of this book:
  • "When two or more objects in the picture have the same colour, we associate them with each other."   
  • 'The upper half of a picture is a place of freedom, happiness, and triumph: objects placed in the top half often feel more “spiritual. The bottom half of a picture feels more threatened, heavier, sadder, or constrained; objects in the bottom half also feel more grounded.”' (Bang, 2016) This is a fascinating assertion to make.  And I'm going to consider this in more detail as I view artworks and go on study visits
  • Molly Bang asserts that, unless care is taken, emotional impact can be sacrificed for prettiness. She advises not to worry about the "prettiness of a picture,..worry about how effective it is."  I think this is very good advice, and reinforces the point of this exercise.  I want to be ever more mindful of effective composition.
- - - 

Further study notes below:

Tangents
Although I had heard of tangents (and a need to avoid them in the composition), I took the opportunity to do some further basic research.   In summary, tangents are those places where lines and objects touch. This can be visually jarring and can create confusing perspectives and 3D perception. For instance...
Still image taken from video - http://tinyurl.com/jjfnutx
...there is a tangent where the line of the hill touches the top of the house.  This is visually jarring and doesn't look right.

Fixing tangents involves doing either (or both):
  • Separate the objects so there is a slight gap between them,
  • Or overlap objects.
I want to have more awareness of tangents and be more mindful about spotting them in my own compositions.  For instance in my panel 1 above there is a tangent where the edge of the tree touch. In panel 2 I overlapped the trees with the house.  This fixed the tangent and created a more visually appealing composition.


Rabatment

 The rabatment is closely linked to the golden section concepts. To use this principle you place the subject within the "rabatment" of the rectangle; this is the perfect square found inside any rectangle (the rabatment’s sides are all equal to the short side of the rectangle).   It is essentially a guide, very similar to the rule of thirds.


I think that using the Rabatment is a useful compositional tool.  Although I haven't had opportunity to apply the principles of rabatment in this exercise as we are working completely within a square anyway.


Notan

 Notan is a concept which fascinates me.  I think further study of notan principles will develop my composition.  I'm beginning to understand that applying notan isn't about thinking about values within the artwork, it is about the use of shape and pattern within a composition.

In future I may use quick notan sketches so that I can be more mindful of the skeleton and pattern of the piece.  In order to gain some insight, I've produced some notan studies of some Eric Ravillious' watercolours (an artist recommended by my tutor in my feedback).  Below is my sketchbook page inclusive of notes and reflections:


Notan remains a mystery to me.  (A good thing I think - I like some mysteries in life!)
But what makes for a pleasing arrangement?  What works and doesn't work in a collection of shapes? Determined to do further studies.


Sources used during this exercise:

Bang, M. (2016), How Pictures Work.  UK:Chronicle Books
Dow, A.W (1914). Composition. USA: Doubleday.
James, R. (2015), Ravilious, UK: Philip Wilson Publishing

Video sources:
Artistic Tangents:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbHe1oxLhcM, 11th January 2017
Notan, Exploring Shape and Compostion, https://youtu.be/7AS9zvjwmUM, 16th January 2017
Quick tips - Tangents, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emVOHR8W22U, 11th January 2017

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