composition

When thinking of composition it's important to understand the subject in which you plan to draw. The most basic form being landscape and portrait. The form of a person is tall, yet the form of a landscape is wide. Hence why the page would need to be one way for one and the other way for the later. Obviously this is the very basic definition of the word but this can be applied into other aspects. A tall building for example would need portrait. but it's a landscape really. Images with clutter distract from the focus of an image. Understanding the focus of a scene is also important. When someone looks at a painting, that persons eye should be drawn to main focus of the piece of art. A photographer for example would have his lens focused with other areas blurred. This can also be applied to paintings. Line and shapes have and influence of how someone's eye would focus on objects in the scene. Brighter colours can catch someone's eye as opposed to darks. But blacks are very strong colours. That often appear at a far. But strong blacks in the distance of a picture can distract the focus of the main focal point. So contrast is important. The feel and mood of a picture can be composed by colour but also positioning. Looking up could suggest dominance for example. A lions leap would have more of an impact if it was viewed as the lion was towering over rather than viewed from afar. As I spent time as a chef we were taught the rule of odds. presenting in odd numbers is more appealing to the eye than even numbers. I agree with this entirely but it's hard to understand why. You would think that uniformity would have more appeal. Maybe chaos plays an important role in beauty because it offers more interest. The unknown plays an important role in interest. The focus on something in the dark can draw in the attention of the onlooker. The same as why people need to look at accidents as they drive past on the motorway.