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CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Classic Compositions - Post Your Images Here

Post your images that conform to one of the classic "art school" compositions.... rule of three, S curve, cruciform, for example. There are lots more classic compositions, of course... they're all fair game. Tell us which classic composition you intended to use, and why this piece of art is a good example of that composition.

I used the word "classic" composition, because if I used the word "rules" of composition... the whole thread would be a debate about whether there should be rules of composition, and when the rules should or should not be "broken"... and I didn't want that.

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Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

repetition
Urban abstracts, Marlene Burns Art Prints

 

Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

balance
urban abstracts, marelne Burns Photography Prints

 

David King

9 Years Ago

S
Art Prints

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Marlene: Definitely!! I also see some Rule of Thirds sneaking into Thou Shalt Not Steel.

 

Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

That's cuz it is a triptych, Cheryl! lol

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

David, yes, the S. Like how the clouds in the sky continue the S shape, it's very subtle.

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

Sell Art Online

Rule of Thirds - I placed the apple and the book corners on the intersections.

 

Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

movement including s curve
abstract expressionism, birds, marlene burns Prints

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

Leading lines + rule of thirds.

Photography Prints

Train tracks - classic leading line. Caboose places in the top third and off center.

 

Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

theme and variation of the themeurban abstracts, marlene burns photography Prints

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

These are great!
Edward, I didn't know about "leading lines." Learned something new today. ( :

 

Shana Rowe Jackson

9 Years Ago

S Curve, Leading lines (Road) and rule of thirds (balloon).
balloon landscape summer happy

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

Photography Prints

Rule of thirds. Triangles. 3s.

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

Sell Art Online

Rule of thirds - subject - gun, place at intersection.

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

Sell Art Online

Limiting focus

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

Photography Prints

Rule of thirds. Negative space.

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

Rule of thirds. Simplification.

Photography Prints

 

Abbie Shores

9 Years Ago

I have learned none of these so all of this is illuminating

 

David King

9 Years Ago

Steelyard (balance)

Sell Art Online
Photography Prints
Art Prints

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

Leading lines.

Art Prints
Photography Prints

 

Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

direction
Urban Abstracts, Marlene Burs  Prints

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

Photography Prints

Symmetry

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

Framing

Sell Art Online

 

Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

similarity
Urban Abstracts, Marlene Burns Photography Prints

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Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

contrast
Urban Abstracts, Marlene Burns Photography Prints

 

Valerie Reeves

9 Years Ago

Rule of thirds and use of negative space

Sell Art Online

 

Valerie Reeves

9 Years Ago

Leading lines (one-point perspective) and repetition/rhythm

Sell Art Online

 

Valerie Reeves

9 Years Ago

Framing, depth and rule of thirds

Photography Prints

 

Jim Sauchyn

9 Years Ago

Leading line and rule of thirds.

Sell Art Online

 

Valerie Reeves

9 Years Ago

I would say framing would also apply to that one, Jim.

 

MUKESH RAJPUROHIT

9 Years Ago

Art Prints

 

Jim Sauchyn

9 Years Ago

Thanks Valerie, I'm self-taught and I'm not really sure about the terms used in composition.

So this one is leading line, S curve, framing, and rule of thirds.

Art Prints

 

Toby McGuire

9 Years Ago

I'm really not up on all the rules of composition but I'm guessing this would be considered 'S Curve'

Photography Prints

 

Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

Cheryl,
Bull's eye composition has been my personal challenge for most of my career. Nearly all of my paintings are squares. Thanks for the compliments!

 

Kathleen Bishop

9 Years Ago

What a great thread! I know good composition when I see it but I never knew why.

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Jim and Toby: Yes, and Yes.
Toby: To be a "Rule of Thirds" composition, your center of interest (place where you want your viewer's eye to end up) is the base of the leaning-over tree, in the upper-right quadrant of the photo? If my comment doesn't make sense to you, I'll explain what I mean when I talk about the Rule of Thirds.

Marlene: You're welcome!

 

Jonathan Nguyen

9 Years Ago

Sell Art Online

 

Valerie Reeves

9 Years Ago

Cheryl...that's Jim with the tree photo (not Toby). I wondered the same thing. I looked closely to see if it uses rule of thirds...if it does, it is very loosely. I guess you could maybe say that the trees occupy the top third.

 

Jim Sauchyn

9 Years Ago

Thanks Cheryl. Yes that leaning tree is the center of interest in this shot. I think the entire scene is interesting but that tree seems incongruous yet at the same time makes the picture. It has since been washed away but the scene is just as good without it there.

 

CHERYL EMERSON ADAMS

9 Years Ago

Valerie: Oops, you're right, it is Jim (sorry Jim).

We probably all learn slightly different definitions of these "Rules" depending on who taught us art. The Rule of Thirds that I learned about was essentially taking your canvas and pretending there's a tic tac toe board grid on it, that divides your canvas into thirds, both horizontally and vertically. The center of interest (the object that you want the viewer to focus on) gets placed on one of the intersections of the grid. Using this definition of the Rule of Thirds, Jim's leaning tree, specifically the base of it, would be the center of interest, because it is the area of greatest contrast that is placed right where the gridlines would intersect. I don't see anything that would qualify as a center of interest at the other grid intersections.

If we're talking about simply dividing the canvas into thirds, either vertically like a triptych, or horizontally. Sometimes artists start off their piece of art by placing the horizon on one of the 1/3 lines, especially for landscapes. I've heard that called the Rule of Thirds, or alternatively the Rule of Three. Jim's picture is not a good example of that, it's not really divided into clear thirds, as you pointed out.

Just to make things more confusing, the Rule of Three can also mean: including three similar objects in the same picture (the work posted in the thread about Three that Abbie started are almost all great examples of this version of the Rule of Three).

 

Rumyana Whitcher

9 Years Ago

leading curve

Photography Prints

framing
Sell Art Online

 

Jim Whalen

9 Years Ago

Rule of thirds / Horizontal Banded

Sell Art Online

 

Jim Whalen

9 Years Ago

cruciform

Sell Art Online

 

Jim Whalen

9 Years Ago


S

Sell Art Online ... Sell Art Online

 

Jim Whalen

9 Years Ago

Balance / Rule of Thirds / Negative Space

Art Prints ... Photography Prints

 

Jim Whalen

9 Years Ago

Arabesque

Photography Prints

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

Steelyard composition (I'm starting to find this in my work now!)

Art Prints

Also - "Your Horizon Isn't Straight" - Bait

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

Great SAT word! Had to Google that one:

Arabesque - an ornamental design consisting of intertwined flowing lines, originally found in Arabic or Moorish decoration.

 

Kevin Callahan

9 Years Ago

In school so many years ago, I was taught the formal rules of composition, along with good design principles, as I was a Graphics Design major. They were inculcated into me, but I have long forgotten their formal meanings. I have (at least by my mother) [joke] been praised for my use of composition. I like to keep my paintings a little off balance, while moving the viewer around the canvas and then back to center.

Sell Art Online

 

Jim Whalen

9 Years Ago

All of the classic teaching of composition and design are only guidelines. I find ignoring them to be a challenge I can't resist when I have an idea that begs to be expressed that doesn't follow the classic ideas.

Sell Art Online

 

Heiko Koehrer-Wagner

9 Years Ago

Vanishing Point
Street Stairway in the old French Town Castelnaudary Photography by Heiko Koehrer-Wagner Prints for Sale

Use of Negative Space, Light-Dark Contrast
Young Boy with Umbrella Walking in the Rain Negative Space Photography by Heiko Koehrer-Wagner Prints for Sale

Color Contrast

 

Shawna Rowe

9 Years Ago

Framing

Art Prints

 

This discussion is closed.