Lesson video

Hello, my name's Miss Nadia.

Welcome to our art lesson.

I'm really looking forward to learning with you today.

And let's have a look further at what we'll be doing in our lesson.

Our lesson title is called "Compositional Strategies: Designing Engaging and Balanced Artworks.

Your learning outcome today is that: "I can apply different approaches to composition to help me plan my own work." Your keywords today are "composition." This is the combination of a selection of elements arranged and organized within an artwork.

And your second keyword today is "balance." And this is the arrangement and distribution of elements such as color, texture, shape, and space to create a sense of stability.

The lesson today will be split into two separate parts.

The first part of our lesson is called experimenting with layout.

And this is where we'll begin today.

Look at the composition on the screen.

Now, where does your eye go first? What makes the layout feel balanced or dynamic? Artists arrange visual elements using principles like balance, unity, and emphasis to create a visually compelling artwork.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Cerebrum, and Richard Hamilton experiment with digital tools, transfer, and collage techniques to create compositions that depict real and imagined domestic scenes, and carefully balanced observations of private life.

And here's an example of digital collage experimentation.

The artists that we're gonna mention today are below apply architectonic qualities, or structural quality, to their work.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby uses careful composition of elements, like the patterns in her figures.

Richard Hamilton uses perspective, color, and arrangement to guide the viewer's eye.

Benjamin Senior uses complex patterns, arranged to lead the eye and to create balance and a sense of calm.

I've got a question now to check your understanding of this.

How do these artists use composition in their artwork? Is it A, all focus only on color for balance? Or is it B, Hamilton and Senior avoid structure; Crosby uses only digital tools? Or is it C, Crosby arranges patterns in figures; Hamilton and Senior use perspective and patterns to guide the eye? And the answer is C.

Crosby arranges patterns in figures; Hamilton and Senior use perspective and patterns to guide the eye.

Looking at the artwork that's on your screen, which part of the image is most noticeable and why? How does the artist guide your eye through the composition? There are different ways to organize your composition to direct the viewer's attention.

There is the rule of thirds.

There is symmetry, asymmetry, curving, and circular arrangements, and diagonal arrangements.

Here's what the rule of thirds looks like.

So if we go back to the original image that was on your screen and we split this image into a grid of nine equal parts, the most important parts of your painting should be placed along these lines or at the points where they cross, which is known as the focal points.

Our eyes are drawn to these points.

And so if you look very carefully, there are some areas of focal points in this piece, such as the sun in the sunset and the highlights in the sea.

So our eyes are drawn to these points, and it's a way to create a balanced image.

Symmetry uses mirror imaging to create static, stable, and formal balance, where elements are identical or very similar on both sides of a central axis.

And so if we look at the stunning artwork on the screen now, and if you were to imagine there was a mirror that ran vertically between these lovely birds, we would have the symmetrical image that you can see here on the screen.

And doesn't that create a lovely, calming sense of balance? Asymmetry distributes elements around the picture using different sizes, shapes, and colors.

Artists can use curve lines to draw attention to key elements, place subjects at the ends of curves for natural destinations, and arrange elements in a circular pattern to unite them.

And when we look at this piece of artwork, your eyes wander around the curves, and they stop at certain points of interest and then continue to wander around the curves.

Diagonal arrangements create energy and tension using lines that are not vertical or horizontal.

And this creates a sense of movement and depth in an artwork, drawing the viewer's eye through the piece.

And this image on the screen certainly creates a lot of depth through the use of the diagonal arrangements and the perspective in the image.

Which of the following composition strategies uses lines that are not vertical or horizontal to create a sense of movement, energy, and depth? Is it A, curving and circular arrangements? Is it B, rule of thirds? Or is it C, diagonal arrangements? Or is it D, symmetry? And the answer is C.

Diagonal arrangements.

There are techniques that can help guide the eye, such as negative space, framing, cropping, and leading lines of sight.

Let's have a look at negative space in a bit more detail.

By leaving areas of a composition empty, you can direct the viewer's attention and you can create emphasis and add definition, and evoke a mood or emotion.

And we can see examples of this on the screen.

Framing involves finding elements in the scene, such as arches, doorways, tree branches, or even other people, to naturally surround and highlight your main subject.

And here we can see examples of cropping, which is a way of cutting out parts of an image to focus on the main subject and to cut out the clutter.

And leading lines of sight is to create visual flow, depth, and a sense of direction within a composition.

They might be physical elements, such as a road or a pathway.

Or they might be lines suggested by the arrangement of creating a connection between elements in the image.

And we can see an example of this on the screen in this one-point perspective leading lines sketch.

Is this true or false? Cropping, negative space, framing, and leading lines help to guide the viewer's eye and add emphasis.

Is this true or false? The answer is true, of course.

These techniques direct our attention, and they also enhance the composition.

This is an example of using a viewfinder.

Now, a viewfinder can be used to help to plan your composition and to reframe ideas.

Zoom it in on a small section to study detail.

You can rotate it to test portrait versus landscape formats.

You can also slide it around to explore different focal points.

You can test the balance by shifting the subject off-center.

You can also use masking tape by blocking off areas of your page to test new framing.

You can create temporary borders to crop an image without cutting it.

You can mark out a section to focus on detail or to isolate a subject.

And you can also experiment with proportion, such as using wide, narrow, or square formats.

You're about to begin task A in our lesson today.

And so here are the instructions of what I would like you to do shortly.

I would like you to create six small thumbnail sketches, which are between five and 10 centimeters wide, of the same subjects.

So you are redrawing the same subjects.

And I'd like to experiment with different layouts, arrangements, and viewpoints for each sketch.

I'd like you to focus on composition, balance, and visual flow rather than detail or color.

Now let's get started with the task.

If you pause the video here, I will be very interested to see how you get on a bit later.

And here's an example of something that you may have created today.

You should have created six small thumbnail sketches of the same subject, experimenting with different layouts and arrangements, and viewpoints.

And here we have some examples of what this might look like.

And in this example here on the screen, you can see the six small thumbnails, all of a leaf from different viewpoints and arranged slightly differently in each thumbnail.

We are now gonna move on to the second part of our lesson today, and this is called: creating compositional layouts for painting.

Take a close look at the artwork that is on your screen.

How do you think the artist has created this composition? Artists use collage to support their process in different ways.

For example, Hannah Hoch, Kurt Schwitters, and Wangechi Mutu use collage as a plan for paintings by creating visual compositions as studies and sketches.

Whereas Mary-Jo Lough uses collage as a foundation on which to build her paintings.

They combine magazines, photographs, text, and objects to explore themes, experiment with composition, or build complex images.

Is this true or false? Collage can be used to plan paintings, experiment with composition, and explore themes.

The answer is true, of course.

Combining images, text, and objects helps to create studies, to test ideas, and to develop complex compositions.

How does this composition lead the viewer's eye through using balance? Sofia says, "Do the elements feel evenly distributed, or does one side feel heavier?" And Jun says, "Could I use color or shape to balance this area instead of adding more items?" Leading the viewer's eye through your work using balance.

Balance is about arranging elements so the composition feels stable, yet interesting.

You can use symmetry, asymmetry, or distribution of colors and shapes to achieve balance.

Which statement about balance and composition is correct? Is it A, balance means everything must be identical on both sides? Is it B, asymmetrical balance can feel dynamic, and still be visually stable? Or is it C, balance only depends on using the same colors everywhere? And the answer is B.

Asymmetrical balance can feel dynamic, and it can still be visually stable.

How does this composition lead the viewer's eye through using movement? And Sofia says, "I notice my eye keeps jumping to this corner.

How could I arrange elements to move the viewer smoothly through the collage?" And Jun's response is, "Just adding more elements creates better movement, or is it distracting?" Leading the viewer's eye through your work using movement.

Movement is about creating a visual flow that guides the viewer's eye across your composition.

Use lines, curves, or the arrangement of elements to suggest direction and rhythm.

Can you answer this true or false question? Movement means everything has to be diagonal or busy.

And this is false.

Movement can be subtle, even a gentle curve or a repetition can guide the eye.

For task B today, I would like you to use printed images, magazine cutouts, sketches, or colored papers to create a collage.

I would like you to focus on movement and balance in your composition.

And I'd also like you to apply compositional strategies intentionally.

Enjoy completing this task today, and we'll come back together and see what you've created, and we'll have a look at some other examples.

How did you get on with your task today? You should have used printed images, magazine cutouts, sketches, or colored paper to create a collage.

Here are some examples.

We've reached the end of our lesson today of "Compositional Strategies: Designing Engaging and Balanced Artworks.

So, to summarize our lesson today, strategies such as the rule of thirds, negative space, framing, and cropping help to organize a picture.

Composition directs attention and creates a visual journey through the artwork.

Planning where elements go helps to create effective and purposeful designs.

And using compositional techniques deliberately strengthens the balance, meaning, and the impact of the work.

I hope you really enjoyed our lesson today, and I hope you've learned a lot.

Now, with everything in art, these things take a lot of practice and time, and effort.

So, as you go through your learning journey, creating artworks, do keep practicing these techniques.

And in time, you will find that this is something that comes a bit more naturally, and you are able to create engagement and balance in your artwork better and better each time.

I hope to see you soon.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Thank you and goodbye.