Drawing handout no. 3 Fall 2015 Art 20 and Art 22 College of Alameda Instructor: Drew Burgess

This outline is borrowed from chapter seven of Creative Drawing by Howard J. Smagula, McGraw Hill 2002

Composition and Space

“Successful drawings do more than render accurately what the artist sees. They invariably define space in personal ways and organize all of the drawing’s elements, such as line, shape, value and texture into unified, harmonious compositions. “Composition” is a term that refers to the way all the visual elements are used and has nothing to do with the choice of subject matter or the media used. The principles of visual organization that govern a drawing’s composition include balance, placement, rhythm, repetition, and variation. It is important to remember that these basic principles are guidelines that determine the way spaces and forms are organized, not inflexible rules.” p.151

Choosing a format The first drawing decision you make when you begin a new assignment—besides choosing your media or subject—is to select a format.

Concepts of Space In compositional terms there are two distinct ways in which space can be represented. We can either create an illusion of three-dimensional space (this has been the strategy in the West since the Renaissance), or we can acknowledge and exploit the reality of a drawing’s flat surface—also referred to as the picture plane.

Placement No hard and fast rules define the arrangement of shapes and spaces in a composition. Generally their placement is determined by the visual concepts the artist wants to express and the forms that will be emphasized.

Negative and Positive Space Many students, when they first begin to draw, regard the white space of their paper as a neutral backdrop upon which their drawing is placed. But, in most effective drawings, artists have conceived of the white space of the paper as an integral part of the drawing and an equal partner in the development of the artwork’s space.

Balance In terms of organization balance is one of the most significant elements of composition. We can immediately see when a drawing has lost its equilibrium. Spatial relationships are awkward and seem to be visually unbalanced. When a composition is in balance all elements appear to work in harmony.