Course Highlights


Composition

Although composition is an area for you to really trust your creative inspiration, there are a few basic guidelines when it comes to designing a composition to ensure that what you envision translates effectively and powerfully to the page.

First off, when defining a composition, we must establish our drawing space, both size and layout, by drawing a light border. Typical formats include landscape (i.e. horizontal layout) and portrait (i.e. vertical layout), however one can also use different shapes to frame a sketch, such as a circle or square if that creates a certain effect suited to the subject of your sketch. Beyond essential framing, the drawing space also helps us see relationships between positive and negative spaces, helping us to judge proportion.

Caution: Many beginners will make the mistake of not planning their composition enough before they begin to draw. In doing so, they are caught midway through their drawing without sufficient space for all of the elements they wanted to incorporate. Save yourself the frustration and map out the approximate proportions of each element in your composition before you get too far ahead with the details of one area.

Other pages of interest

Composition
Arrangement
Sketching a portrait
Sketching facial expressions
Shading a face

Course Navigation

More resources