Home › Forums › The Learning Center › Composition and Design › Suggestions for Improvement of Composition
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July 8, 2022 at 9:42 am #1476815
Using same elements (people, tree, water, etc.) what would improve the composition of this piece?
10″ x 8″ digital painting using Corel Painter. From reference photo, but hand drawn & painted. X-posted to Digital Art.
Skill is nothing more than talent practiced relentlessly.
July 8, 2022 at 1:13 pm #1476839It is an unconventional composition but I like it. I would basically keep it like it is but move the tree and people away from the extreme edges. Then move the tree forward so – you have the tree on the left side but in the foreground, the people on the right side but in the mid ground.
As the tree comes forward would make it half again larger.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/wetcanvas-hdc/Community/images/18-Sep-2019/1999899-sigsmall.jpg
STUDIOBONGOJuly 8, 2022 at 3:25 pm #1476848@bongo Thanks for your input. As soon as I read your suggestion I could see how such simple changes would improve the piece. Had to do some fiddling, but painting layers in a digital work makes that so much easier than repainting the entire thing over and over.
It looks much better. The branches of the tree are actually doing more than holding up the leaves – they draw the eye towards the couple despite nothing to the right.
Unless someone else comes up with additional suggestions I’m going to leave this as is for a few days or even weeks before I attempt any more changes.
Skill is nothing more than talent practiced relentlessly.
July 11, 2022 at 5:18 am #1477141I think the original becomes more dramatic simply by changing the aspect ratio, as seen here (although you may want to compress the sky rather than just crop it in order to preserve the interesting color and clouds going on there):
July 12, 2022 at 5:24 am #1477285One of the drawbacks to painting digitally is the ease with which a piece can be changed. For someone like me, who is never quite satisfied, playing What If can become an end in itself. There are, now, four iterations that would not have been possible if it wasn’t done digitally.
Although I am exploring one of them with a different sky/underpainting, the square aspect ratio below is almost as pleasing as @bobc100’s suggestion.
I am considering giving it a go with either acrylics or watercolors. Or maybe both. The original idea behind delving into digital painting was to, hopefully, improve my physical brush painting and drawing.
Skill is nothing more than talent practiced relentlessly.
July 26, 2022 at 11:49 am #1479167The composition is much improved. It’s interesting to me, though, how different the mood is in the “extreme” (poorer) composition. Can you keep the sense of space and yearning while strengthening the composition? Enjoy your painting!
July 27, 2022 at 4:56 am #1479233I keep finding minor technical errors and jotting them down, but for now I’m leaving it alone to percolate. To be honest, I have no idea how to keep that sense of space within the confines of the square. Enlarging the tree helped, but I don’t think making the couple smaller will improve it without going back to a rectangular ratio.
Things to consider, though. Thanks, BeLing
Skill is nothing more than talent practiced relentlessly.
January 6, 2023 at 6:51 am #1497389Hi! I’m here a bit later, I realize. Anyhoo! Better late than never?
I would move the figure in red over to the other side of the figure in blue and leave just a bit more room to the edge. The red would attract the eye but the blue would be a block from falling off that side, in theory. Then I’d crop the left side almost to the main trunk because then there would be a unified dark shape along the bottom and up the side, dividing dark against the light of the background. I’d feel better about it abstractly that way. Fun to think about, thanks! (I’m wondering if there will be email notification to anyone about new posts such as this.)C&C welcome
"If you go out in the woods today, you're in for a big surprise!" Jimmy KennedyJanuary 28, 2023 at 6:36 am #1499955… (I’m wondering if there will be email notification to anyone about new posts such as this.)
Nope, I’m not receiving notifications despite having the “notify me…”? block ticked.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll block out some time to give them a try – relatively easy to do with digital.
Skill is nothing more than talent practiced relentlessly.
December 21, 2023 at 6:50 pm #1535811Yes! I like making the tree or the people bigger. To add perspective.
PMc
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