Composition

What is composition?

Composition is the arrangement of elements within a picture area.

This is a basic element of all illustration and design, but I've never really given it much attention or consideration before.

This is what makes the difference between image making and sketching - planning! Creating an illustration with a strong composition requires planning and preparing by selecting the most important information and arranging it on the page in the most effective way.

Looking at examples of good composition in today's session, I wanted to have a go at analysing composition myself. I need to get to grips with composition and train my eye to notice the design decisions that impact on how the audience reads the illustration.

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/383791199475517067/

FLORIAN PIGE

This is an endearing image that I want to crawl inside and live within. There's no characters to meet or anything really going on, but it has a calming, quiet atmosphere that is enticing. It is only a small frame of a place, but it seems safe and comfortable.

DEPTH

This scene definitely has depth. Pige has achieved a sense of depth through the layering shapes and elements, suggesting that there is distance between objects in the foreground, mid ground and background. The landscape is made dimensional and inviting by having this illusion of depth.

I would like to see a little more information disappearing into the clouds and blurring out of focus from the viewer's perspective, as the information stops without describing anything far away.

TONE

Pige has used tone to interpret the way in which light falls on the scene.

The rocks are darker towards the front of the scene, whereas the largest cliff at the back is cast in a lighter tone. This image is back-lit by the sunrise. The viewer is submerged by the light and looks into the scene from a vantage point before the sea.

The juxtaposition of light and dark values in the foreground makes the seagull stand out against the dark rock behind it, drawing attention to the front of the image and making this the focal point of attention, despite the dominant information further behind.

This is also aided by the warm horizon behind the water which grounds the scene and softens the divide between water and skyline.

Even though the lighthouse has the second most vibrant and warmest tone of red on the page (only second to the slightly lower horizon), it has been made muted and murky to tone down this information as a slightly less immediate element.

BALANCE

The lighthouse is a strong feature and alongside the biggest cliff, these take up more than half of the frame. To balance the information in this illustration and make the frame sit comfortably, interest has been centred on the seagull on the front left of the image. Like a see-saw, the illustration then has equal values on either side and sits comfortably with the viewer rather than giving them a sea-sick wobble.

The darker rocks at the front feel heavier than the lighter rocks further behind in the frame due to the value of their smooth lines and heavy tones - physically weighing down the foreground to stand sturdier and read as the most important area of interest.

LINE OF SIGHT

Viewer is drawn to the seagull, the brightest area of white in the image and then follows the big cliff to the top in a diagonal line (directed by the sharp edges of the cliff). Pige draws the eye gradually to the 'final destination' of the lighthouse and takes the viewer on a journey through the landscape in this way.