Cartoon vector illustration of stick man rocking and falling with chair from table.
Mondays are design/composition day in our 30 day challenge. You are 5 days from the finish!
Composition Types
There are multiple composition types. Here are two: static and dynamic.
Static Compositions
Static compositions are stable, peaceful, and tranquil. A static composition might have a focal point (centered), but it has no movement. Static compositions are often composed with mostly horizontal and vertical lines. To avoid vibration and movement, the colors are subdued and analogous, and the range of tones is compressed into medium values. Morandi’s bottles are an example of static compositions. See how even the subtle shifts in brush stroke and line slow us down and pull us in? Since people tend to gravitate to drawing horizontals and verticals, these compositions tend to be easy to draw, but harder to paint, because stabilizing lines come naturally, but the subdued tones are often inadvertently painted brighter and bolder.
Morandi, Giorgio; Still LifeThe Morandi objects combine to become one single centered stable object surrounded by space. Color and value contrast is low, with a subtle variance in brushstrokes.
Dynamic Compositions
In a dynamic composition, there is instability, movement, and tension. Dynamism can be built within a rectangle by implementing weight, contrast, and diagonals. High contrast values (skip the medium tones and put light next to dark) and high contrast colors (red against green) add to the intensity. George Bellows’ Stag at Sharkey’s is a great example of a dynamic composition. See how all of the shapes and faces point us back into the fight? And complimentary colors play off each other just like light and dark do. Look at how the red of the fighter’s faces bounces off of the little green shape in the upper left. The shorts are also green, which returns us again to the red in the faces. Dynamic compositions are often difficult to draw or paint, because of our natural tendency to stabilize shapes, and our hesitancy to be decisive and selective with dark areas.
George Bellows, Stag at Sharkey’sThe Bellows is high color and value contrast with a lot of diagonals. There are a few horizontals but they are broken up, and tend to lead us back into the action.
Today, use the SAME objects to make two compositions: one static, and the other dynamic. For example, a chair upright on level ground would be static, and a chair tipping over on uneven ground would be dynamic.
Post it
Post your work to social media with the tags #30sal & #seattleartistleague. To find more followers for your page, you can cut/paste these tags and add them to your post:
Washing a brush seems simple enough: Step 1. Get the paint out Step 2. Congratulate yourself on your success. Obvious, no? I was years out of art school, and I had ruined several hundreds of dollars of brushes before I learned how to properly care for my tools. Below are two simple videos on brush care. …
Among his monotype and pastel works, Degas did a series featuring a young model bathing in private interior scenes, many with the light coming in from a window. The model appears to be caught midway into a movement, making triangles with her body. While the bathing models make a variety of shapes in various …
Every week in figure drawing I teach a different drawing approach. Today was straight line measures; which always feels to beginners like they’re getting tangled up in bicycle spokes, but it’s invaluable and even relaxing for returning students. The basic idea of straight line measures is that you use straight lines to measure out the …
[image_with_animation image_url=”10475″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Lucy Garnett These figure drawings were made in the last couple of sessions of my 5 week Beginning Figure Drawing Class. They are drawn with confidence, style, and sensitivity. Each week we practiced a different style of drawing, and a different way of approaching the figure. One style was …
30SAL Challenge: Static / Dynamic
Mondays are design/composition day in our 30 day challenge. You are 5 days from the finish!
Composition Types
There are multiple composition types. Here are two: static and dynamic.
Static Compositions
Static compositions are stable, peaceful, and tranquil. A static composition might have a focal point (centered), but it has no movement. Static compositions are often composed with mostly horizontal and vertical lines. To avoid vibration and movement, the colors are subdued and analogous, and the range of tones is compressed into medium values. Morandi’s bottles are an example of static compositions. See how even the subtle shifts in brush stroke and line slow us down and pull us in? Since people tend to gravitate to drawing horizontals and verticals, these compositions tend to be easy to draw, but harder to paint, because stabilizing lines come naturally, but the subdued tones are often inadvertently painted brighter and bolder.
Dynamic Compositions
In a dynamic composition, there is instability, movement, and tension. Dynamism can be built within a rectangle by implementing weight, contrast, and diagonals. High contrast values (skip the medium tones and put light next to dark) and high contrast colors (red against green) add to the intensity. George Bellows’ Stag at Sharkey’s is a great example of a dynamic composition. See how all of the shapes and faces point us back into the fight? And complimentary colors play off each other just like light and dark do. Look at how the red of the fighter’s faces bounces off of the little green shape in the upper left. The shorts are also green, which returns us again to the red in the faces. Dynamic compositions are often difficult to draw or paint, because of our natural tendency to stabilize shapes, and our hesitancy to be decisive and selective with dark areas.
Today, use the SAME objects to make two compositions: one static, and the other dynamic. For example, a chair upright on level ground would be static, and a chair tipping over on uneven ground would be dynamic.
Post it
Post your work to social media with the tags #30sal & #seattleartistleague. To find more followers for your page, you can cut/paste these tags and add them to your post:
#30sal #seattleartistleague #drawingchallenge #drawing #art #illustration #sketch #artchallenge #drawings #artist #draw #artistsoninstagram
#sketchbook #instaart #drawthisinyourstyle #artwork #drawingoftheday #dailydrawing #inkdrawing #drawingsketch #artoftheday #myart
#pencildrawing #drawthisinyourstylechallenge #creativity
#creativechallenge #composition
Padlet
Please post your work to Padlet so that we can admire your work, and award you nifty prizes.
PADLET JAN 23-30
https://seattleartistleague.padlet.org/SAL/snvqpkkjjv3dsuo2
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