Composition in Drawing Art Techniques

Tonal Contrast
Repetition and Variety
Symmetry
Proportion
Focal Points
Gravity
Overlap
Visual Balance
Framing Eye-Movement
Passage
Unity of Objects
Using Tangents
Harmony

Composition techniques of arrangement and creation are essential to drawing. It begins with a fundamental understanding of the line, which is used to distinguish objects and represent a visual language. Marks are arranged and composed using several essential elements.

Tonal Contrast

 
 
Drawings can either be:

  • Dominantly Light
  • Starkly Light and Starkly Dark
  • Mono-bright
  • Dominantly Dark

Artists punch the starkness of dark and light areas in drawings to make them stand out. The eye will immediately be drawn to the area of most extreme contrast and enliven the art. Compositions typically have a dominant dark or light color, and one dominant area of contrast. Small areas of less contrast add interest and diversity to the drawing.

Ugo da Carpi in the early 16th century developed the chiaroscuro technique of creating alternating patterns of darkness and brightness. Shadow lines can establish a very clear relationship of objects, and suggest an overall texture to the art.

A diversity of line darknesses expands the environment within the art, whether achieved by the darkness of the mark itself or through diverse hatchings. Gradient can give a more realistic relationship between the objects.

 

Four contrast designs: Background contrast for figure drawing:
1-56 1-81

Repetition and Variety

 
 
Repeated hatch lines suggest shadow and texture. Because they have so little variety the viewer sees all the hatch lines as a single object- a single shadow or texture. Repeated lines or objects get grouped together by the viewer into a single object if they have no variety.

Objects created from the lines should also be repeated but with more variety. Repetition of objects is visually interesting. Grouped objects suggest a similarity yet uniqueness within the scene.

Too much variety of the entire drawing makes it chaotic, but too little variety makes the drawing cold and static.

Hatching– repetitive but little variety: Objects– less repetition than the hatching of the objects have, but more variety: 
 

 

Symmetry

 
 
Symmetry is NOT a mirror image.

The mistaken notion that something is symmetrical only if it has a mirror image severely limits the aesthetics of design. Vitrivius said:

Symmetry is a proper agreement between the members of the work itself, and relation between the different parts and the whole general scheme, in accordance with a certain part selected as standard

The standard for measurement is a module from which all parts of the design are measured. The entire artwork can be based on one standard, or there can be multiple modules that relate to each other and build other objects. Symmetry is the method for how these modules relate to each other and repeat.

Symmetry makes the design automporthic. It relates everything into categories of fields and objects. Automorphism is always isomorphic, and therefore the grouping of objects and hatching of textures is necessary to establish symmetry. There must be a clear difference between lines that give variety and lines that give repetition.

Proportion

 
 
Lines have 3 important qualities to distinguish themselves from other lines:

  • Length
  • Angle
  • Breadth

The relationship of these lines or objects with these 3 qualities is proportion. The human eye is able to detect the smallest variance of proportion, particularly in familiar objects such as a human face. It is therefore important to be very precise in the placement of lines and objects.

The complex sizes and shapes of objects begin with the module of the symmetry. The 3 systems of proportion in architecture can be applied to determine the design:

  • Natural ratios in music – The spacing between musical notes in the various scales builds into harmonics and complex soundwaves. This was used in early times before standardized lengths to relate the length, width, and breadth of lines.
  •  

  • Golden ratio – The Golden Mean is a ratio that determines the relationship of an object’s size and distance. Objects naturally get smaller as they proceed farther away in projective space. Using the golden mean we can know the perceived size of two or more objects viewed from a certain distance.
  •  

  • Square – Objects of similar distances form a square. Objects of various sizes can relate to that. The square forms a grid as a basis of finding the length, angle, and breadth of lines.

 

The center object is the module for other objects’ size and distance: Square grid determines lines to form objects: 
proportion1 proportion2

 

Focal Points

 
 
The viewer’s eye is drawn to the focal point first. The eye moves to sub-focal points in the art, and continuously moves back to the focal point. It is important to plan on how the viewer’s eye moves by establishing a clear focal point, typically the most significant area of the art.

  • Light/Dark Contrast – With subservient areas of darkness and lightness, the eye will be drawn to dominant areas, where the contrast between light and dark is the greatest. The relationship between objects is the greatest, and a separation line between objects is almost always the focal point.
  • Color Contrast – When color is used, the area with the greatest contrast of color hue and saturation will be the focal point.
  • Proportion – The viewer will instinctively look at a focal point based on the proportions of the objects. For example, the viewer will look at the tip of a pyramid. Focal points are often near the center of a drawing.
  • Eye movement – Lines and objects point to the focal point, using a framing technique.
  • Intensity – The more time and effort an artist spends on a certain area, it will tend to become the focal point. People seem to disregard areas that have less artistic consideration, despite how much contrast those areas may have.

 
Focal point is achieved with color, intensity, and contrast:

1-149 1-148 1-147

 

Gravity

 
 

All our lives we experience gravity. We expect things to move downward.

The movement of air upward and heavy objects downward makes a drawing natural. We expect lower objects to be generally large and upper objects to be small, like branches on a tree.

Methods of movement such as staircases and ladders reinforce gravity. Large hanging objects and architecture evoke a certain oppressiveness in the viewer.

 
Overlap
 

The overlap of objects is important to the relationship between the objects. The separation line lets us know how the objects overlap. The variety or repetition of lines can contribute to this relationship.

An object might be translucent and reveal the objects behind it, or reflect and refract objects. A stack of objects might be suggested, a pattern from some logical procession.

It is hard to tell if objects are far away or small if the objects don’t overlap, because we don’t have a way to reference them. Perspective projection can help us determine distance, along with atmospheric perspective.

 
Visual Balance
 

The artist should carefully consider how the scale, color, and brightness of objects in the art relate to each other. Draw as if the objects are sitting on scales from the center of the art piece. A large object nearer to the center will balance a small object far away on the other side.

Each element of art contributes to the visual balance. Areas of greater tonal contrast will overpower areas of small contrast. Bright red objects will overpower grey objects. Carefully consider how the quality of objects balance each other.

Visual balance can be used to evoke emotion. For example, in the Raft of Medusa, the viewer feels vertigo and some amount of sea-sickness because the objects are so imbalanced. One feels as if they are being rocked about and dragged into the ocean.

Lines bring balance by directing the eye to an object. A shadow line makes something stand out for exactly this reason, it brings completeness to the composition. Balance around the focal point contributes to meaningful eye movement.

In Vermeer’s portrait of The Girl With The Pearl Earring (shown to the right), the girl’s earring is re-enforced as the focal point because the other objects point to it. The blue headdress droops down toward the ear. The eyes lean down toward the ear. The base of the nose, the lips, the bottom of the jaw, the neck of the dress… everything points to the earring. The yellow cloth to the right of the earring buffers the eye and prevents it from continuing right; strong vertical lines keep the eye focused on the earring.

The focal point is thus a pivot point around which objects balance, like weights on a one-legged table.
 

Framing Eye Movement

 
 

The direction and quality of eye movement gives visual balance and in large part determines how the viewer will feel about the artwork.It is vital to give the viewer roads and highways to explore the composition so that everything doesn’t get jumbled up into a mess.

Using the previous example of The Girl With The Pearl Earring , consider how directional lines, as established by shadow, separation of objects, negative space, and grouped objects leads your eye around the painting. The major lines have been highlighted in red. The viewer probably looks at the eyes first. Then he might look at the nose and mouth, or the headdress, and always the lines direct the eye to the ear. Strong vertical lines of tonal contrast on the left side of the paining prevent the eyes from straying off the painting. Likewise, the vertical lines of the headdress on the right side keep the eye focused on the ear. In this way the painting as rotational eye movement, around the focal point of the ear.

Common schemes for directional eye movement include:

  • Rotational

1-90

  • Pyramidal

1-40

  • Criss-cross

composition1

  • Vertical cross

court_of_lions_in_alhambra__spain_by_blankenbehler-d4ojkvb

Passage

 

Visual balance and the framing of eye movement can help establish passage through the painting. The viewer feels as if he has entered into the artwork and is walking through the streets. The imagination can invent what lies beyond that cloud over there, or past that mountainside.

The Rule of Thirds dictates how proportion helps suggest passage. If you divide the drawing into thirds, the closest group of objects should take up one third, and the farthest group of objects one third. If objects are grouped into thirds in this way, and the golden proportion dictates the distance of the objects, the illusion of passage will be very strong.

Passage of time also brings in the viewer. Natural elements aging the landscape, movement of sun in the sky, rain drops, a figure reacting to someone else, light reflecting off another object… many devices suggest time. How much time passes in the painting itself? Is it an immediate snapshot of a runner in a race or a lengthy pondering of a sunset?

To achieve effective passage, the artist needs to consider each object completely, even faces that we don’t see- the history of the object, how the object has changed over time, and how all the objects come together to complete the composition.
 
 
Unity of Objects
 

As each element of composition is carefully considered and brought in line with each other, the drawing will gain a clear sense of order and clarity. Tonal contrast, repetition, variety, symmetry proportion, focal points, gravity, overlap, balance, framing, and passage must all correlate to express the atmosphere and motivation of the art.

A hierarchy of objects can help give unity. Repeated objects might gradually become smaller, or darker, or brighter, or moving quicker. Symmetrical proportions and careful eye movement might make a pattern on floor tiles stand out.

An object is made of parts; otherwise it seems empty. Two objects suggest simple repetition. Three objects suggest a series or group.

The relationship between size and distance of objects are determined by the golden proportion. The golden proportion can be used as a starting point to determine the size and distance between sub-objects of an object.

Vitrivius defines the numbers 10 and 6 as the perfect numbers, as these sub-divide the best. Repeating objects and groups of objects should consider these numbers to suggest a unity of the objects.

Greenish blue, the color you see when you look at the edge of a piece of glass, is the color of light when it is refracted the most. Think of this as the color light will be when it has traveled the longest, a very distant hill in a landscape or the distant horizon of the sea. Red stands out the most.
 

Using Tangents

 
 

A tangent is something that looks wrong because a design principle hasn’t brought unity. A good example is Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. The finger of Adam almost touches the finger of God. But because they don’t overlap and they are the same size, we can’t tell which person is closer to us. The almost touching fingers are the focal point, but where does the eye move from there?

Far from being a mistake, this tangent communicates the message of God’s closeness to Adam yet his distance, his similarity and yet his mystery. Other elements of composition reinforce this message: the red cloth surrounding God and his angels is similar to the blue landscape surrounding Adam and his green hillside.

Breaks from a unified design can serve as poignant messages about the art’s subject.
 

Harmony

 
 

Rhythm helps bring harmony to an art piece. Just the right amount of repetition and variety, the right space to the size of objects, and the implied movement give a pleasing affect. A sophisticated color palate uses more than just one or two colors. A variety of colors are considered, grouped according to eye movement, proportion, and other design principles.

Groups of objects with different harmony could overlap, a hierarchy of harmonies that all relate to each other in a complex web. Horizontal lines, for example, might correlate with certain hues of color, and all be broad strokes, while diagonal hatching gets a dark and stinted treatment. Yet the horizontal lines and diagonal hatching relate because they are opposition colors and all gesturing to the focal point.

The same juxtaposition can be seen in the gentle roundness of the hills versus the roundness of the clouds in the sky, which gestures the eye to the circular sun near the middle. A composition of design elements should consider how objects unite and reverberate in a complex harmony to affect the viewer.
 
 
© Benjamin Blankenbehler 2012