How to use elements and principles of design in creating a good drawing composition.

1. COMPOSITION
FUNDAMENTALS
DRAWING

2. What is composition?
Good composition is the process of arranging forms and tones in a
way that is pleasing and that guides the viewer's eye to bring
attention to your subject. In a good composition, you will know
precisely what the subject of the image is.

3. In a bad composition, you might find yourself thinking: I'm not sure what the point of
that drawing is, or, what am I supposed to look at?
Good composition can reveal things in the drawing that the viewer might not notice on
their own: patterns, repetition, a play of light and shadow, or in a very effective, a
feeling about the particular moment that was captured.

4. All FORM,
ALL THE
TIME
When discussing composition: we
are going to be looking at
drawings purely in terms of
the shapes and forms within the
image and ignore the subject
matter.
A poorly composed drawing of a
really dramatic subject will still
be a poorly composed, less-
effective image.

5. LOOKING VS SEEING

8. What Good Compositions Have?
All drawings should have four
things:
- clearly defined
subject and background
- sense of balance
- point of view

9. ELEMENTS OF ART &
PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
IN COMPOSITION

10. The Visual
Elements
of Art:
• Line
• Shape
• Forms
• Space
• Color
• Texture
• Time
• Motion

11. Principles of Design
• Balance
• Emphasis
• Movement
• Pattern
• Repetition & Rhythm
• Proportion & Scale
• Scale
• Variety
• Unity

12. LINE
• the simplest and the most complex of the
elements of art
• serves as the basic building block for all
art
• has the capacity to evoke thoughts and
emotions
• Line may be perceived as delicate,
tentative, elegant, assertive, forceful, or
even brutal with its various expressive
qualities.
• Lines can: rise, fall, disappear, divide or
connect, thick or thin, short or long,
smooth or agitated, real or implied

15. SHAPE & FORM

18. Shape as Icon
• Certain shapes carry with them immediate
associations that resonate within a culture.
– Christian Cross
– Jewish Star of David
– Chinese Yin Yang

19. SPACE
&
POINT OF VIEW
• Objects exist in three-dimensional space.
• Some art is truly 3D, such as sculpture and
architecture.
• Other art/design tries to depict space on a 2D
surface.

23. BACKGROUND and FOREGROUND
(negative shape) (positive shape)

24. Figure-ground reversal

27. ATMOSPHERIC PERSPECTIVE
(or aerial) representing the effects of light in
Creating believable space.

29. Color

30. Bands of Colors separated by a prism, known-spectrum.

31. There are 12 HUES
SATURATION:
Color’s relative
brightness
or
dullness
(intensity)

32. Color mixtures of reflected pigment— subtractive process.
If mixed together we end up with black, the absence of color.

33. Color mixtures of refracted light (colored light)—additive process.
When full spectrum combined results in white light.
Primary:
Red-Orange
Green
Blue
(RGB):
Secondaries:
Yellow
Magenta
Cyan
:

38. Psychological impact of color:

39. Vincent van Gogh. The Night Café. 1888.Oil on canvas. 28-1/2 × 36-1/4 in.
SYMBOLIC USE OF COLOR
Red through its association with fire and blood is used to represent danger, anger and violence. For
the same reason it is also associated with affairs of the heart: love and passion.

40. Vincent van Gogh. The Night Café. 1888.Oil on canvas. 28-1/2 × 36-1/4 in.Yellow is the color of the sun - the life support for our planet. As such it has
come to represent life, energy, happiness, hope and wisdom.

41. Vincent van Gogh. The Night Café. 1888.Oil on canvas. 28-1/2 × 36-1/4 in.
Blue is the coolest and most calming of all the colors.

42. Vincent van Gogh. The Night Café. 1888.Oil on canvas. 28-1/2 × 36-1/4 in.
Brown is the color of earth, wood and stone. As such, it evokes craftsmanship and the
great outdoors. It is also used to represent humility: a down to earth virtue.

43. COLOR SCHEMES
ANALOGOUS: hues that neighbor each
COMPLIMENTARY: hues that lie opposite
TEMPATURE: WARM and COOL colors
SIMULTANEOUS CONTRAST: complimentary colors appear
brighter next to each other without mixing

44. Shirin Neshat. Fervor. 2000.
Gelatin silver print. 66 × 47 in.
FULL RANGE OF VALUE!!

45. Texture

48. Principles of Design
• Balance
• Emphasis
• Movement
• Pattern
• Repetition & Rhythm
• Proportion & Scale
• Scale
• Variety
• Unity

49. Taj Mahal, Agra, India. Mughal period, c. 1632–48.
VISUAL
BALANCE

52. ASYMMETRICAL BALANCE

54. SYMMETRICAL BALANCE

55. RADIAL BALANCE

56. EMPASIS AND FOCAL POINT

58. PROPORTION – relationship between
the parts and the whole

59. SCALE – the comparative size of an
object in relation to other objects and
settings

61. REPETITION AND RHYTHM

63. Pattern

66. UNITY & VARIETY

68. Time
&
Motion

69. Actual Motion

70. Implied Motion