PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION
The general arrangement of the characters and surroundings of a picture is implied in the word ^'composition/' By a composition is meant an original grouping of the objects and the light-and-shade scheme comprising a picture. The simplest manner is generally the most harmonious and satisfactory.
Things to Avoid in a composition are too many isolated groups and too many spots of light and shade. Few absolute rules can be laid down for composing a picture. All dresses are not alike. One's own good taste, one's sense of proportion, one's individual judgment must prevail. No inflexible standard of arrangement to guide us is found among the works of the painters of old or of modern times.
Changing Component Parts. In composition of pictures, that which is seen in nature is frequently displaced or altered by means of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and transposition.
By addition, we add objects that we do not see in nature, if such addition appears to add grace, symmetry or balance. For instance, we place a tree where no tree grew before, because another tree in the composition needs a companion to remedy its apparent loneliness, or to give that appearance of connectedness necessary to the general effect.
Subtraction if something of nature obtrudes or we wish to erase it we subtract it from the picture.
Multiplication if we find only a single fence post, in order to get the necessary line that imagination demands, we stretch a dozen fence posts towards the horizon, diminishing them in size as they approach the vanishing point.
Transpostion We may transpose a mountain from one side to another in our picture as easily as we would a book from one shelf to another. This is true in sketching from nature, where adaptability and mobility are desired. It was Ruskin who said that it was the artist's privilege to move his
objects around be they mountains or pebbles just as a chess player moves the figures on the chess board.
Sections
- Action Drawing
- Advice To Teachers
- Beginners Instructions
- Blocking In
- Clay Modeling
- Copying By Triangulation
- Decorative Ornamental Art
- Drawing From Nature
- Early Exercises
- Elementary Lines
- Elementary Perspective
- Expression Emotion
- Foreshortening
- Geometrical Form
- How To Draw Animals
- How To Draw Cartoons
- How To Draw Charcoal Crayon
- How To Draw Flowers
- How To Draw Women Men Children
- Lettering
- Light And Shade
- Materials For Drawing
- Models Measurements Proportions
- Outlines For Beginners
- Paper Folding Cutting
- Pen And Ink Drawing
- Principles Of Composition
- Simple Story Pictures
- Solid Black Effects
- Stimulating Imagination
- Tracing Transferring
- Two Handed Exercises