5 ways to improve your illustration composition
In this in-depth guide, we’ll be talking about ways to improve your illustration composition.
Introduction
So what is illustration composition anyway? Illustration composition is the organization of elements in an illustration. Illustration composition can dramatically improve your artwork.
1. Focal Points
An illustration always needs to have a clear focal point. This means that there is one element in your piece that the viewer’s eye is drawn to and that stands out. it is the thing that people will notice first when they look at your art. In most of my drawings, the focal point is a person’s face.
Okay, so how do you make something your focal point? First, you make this element the object that is most in focus. You can do this by slightly blurring other things around it. Another way to make it stand out is by adding lots of interesting detail to it. For example, I drew a full-body character and people would notice her face first. Why? The answer is simple. In the drawing below, There isn’t much to see down by the person’s feet. However, there are interesting elements in her face that make the viewer look at that first such as her hair, her bright eyes, her lips, etc.
2. Shapes
One thing you must do to make your art more interesting is by using many varieties of shapes. For example, a curved line can be balanced out by a straight line. In the drawing below, the person is almost entirely made up of circles and curvy lines. However, I balanced this out by using the sharp, straight lines of her collar and the line of her sword. This helps make the illustration more pleasing to the eye.
3. Rule of Thirds
The rule of thirds can help your illustration’s overall look. To use the rule of thirds, divide your canvas into thirds on a new layer or by doing this lightly with a pencil. In order for this rule to work, your focal point should land on one of the intersecting lines. This keeps you from placing the focal point in the center, which is pretty much what every single artist that ever lived did at least once in their drawings.
However, this rule is not mandatory. I sometimes place my focal point in the center when I’m drawing portraits or animals because it can be aesthetic-looking. The choice of whether or not to use this rule is yours!
4. The Golden Ratio
The Golden Ratio, or Golden Spiral, as some call it, is a way of directing the viewer’s eye throughout the illustration. The Golden Ratio looks like this:
Generally, your main focal point will be in the smallest part of the spiral and the viewer’s eye should be drawn there and start working its way outward.
5. More Tips
Another tip is to have 2 elements of the same kind near each other and a third far away from the other two. This is simply because three trees right next to each other or three birds flying in the sky together can look unnatural. As seen below, I used this rule in my landscape. I placed two birds together and one far apart. I also placed two landforms together and a third far apart.
The last tip is to use the compound curve. The compound curve is useful in landscapes and is shaped like an S. The compound curve can be used to represent rivers or anything else you choose to shape like it.
Chong
19 Nov, 2022