Composition Types

In trying to find good compositions using all of the various techniques, like Compositional weight, Focal Points, Contrast, etc, you tend to come across the same general sorts of compositions again and again. And while we all want to make innovative stuff, there's nothing wrong with the foundation of our compositions to be based on tried and true formulas. After all, the reason they work is because the eye and brain process visuals in a specific way, and these sorts of rules have been proven to work well with the human brain for thousands of years.
So lets go through a bunch of the more common types of compositions, and hopefully these will help explain some of your own compositions, why they work or why they don't, and inspire you to try using them as the basis for new work.
Here's two great resources on this subject:
www.amazon.com/Creative-Illus...
digitaltutorials.tumblr.com/p...
For more info and other lessons, please visit www.neilblevins.com/art_lesson...

[@abdallahbridja2651]

i love how you mentioned creative illustration by Andrew Loomis. first time i read it i didn't understand a single thing and now am actually watching your videos to understand how art pieces function and how to actually make my work visually pleasing. thanks a lot for your work.

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

Cool, ya, those books are certainly a product of their time, but there are some good ideas in there, glad you liked my modern spin on the material!

[@utrix_1121]

I first knew you from your megastructure illustrations which I cherish so much. Now I'm learning composition from you.

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

thanks utrix! Glad you enjoyed the megastructure work!

[@Sucart12]

Less than 3 minutes in and it was already a goldmine of information. Excellent video worth years of education. Thank you!

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

Thanks, glad you like it!

[@noble_rosethorn]

This got to be the best video I have ever seen on composition. Most often than not people just keep repeating the rule of thirds and golden ratio but you actually went on to explain in detail all these cool different types. You definitely studied a lot of Loomis and it was worth it! Wonderfully instructive!

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed the video and found it informative!

[@king_koby9591]

Bro it is 😭! , With examples and all , gotta get me that Loomis book again

[@haroldasraz]

This is a brilliant, simple, straightforward introduction to composition types. Valuable pointers to get started. Cheers.

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

Thanks Harold! Glad you liked it!

[@Nebulaoblivion]

Always glad when a new Neil Blevins video pops up! Thank you for teaching us!

[@AlphaSierraHotel117]

Love your work. Thanks for making these.

[@maxhuk]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge 🙏

[@rman197]

Exellent stuff as usual. Thank you!

[@arturofletcher]

Great video

[@marcosdtorres]

Another great video Neil, keep it up.

[@Dragonbras]

Cool material, thanks

[@petermgruhn]

You have discovered the secret to Golden... You can fudge it on top of anything.

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

Haha! Ya, I know some people live and die by the golden ratio, but for me, I don't think it's necessarily some sort of magic number (as you point out, many times you can find a way to fit it to an image after the fact), but many people use it and there's no reason not to use it, so have at it to anyone who wants to :)

[@SophieKae]

Excellent presentation!

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

Thanks Sophie!

[@youjustwasted3secondsofyou128]

Thank you ❤

[@CGTricks]

Thank you so much !!!

[@sefragstian6163]

your videos are always so informative and have been super helpful to me on my artistic journey thank you!

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

Thanks, glad you've enjoyed them!

[@davimolinari345]

Great video!!!

[@ugottabkittenme4752]

Absolutely amazing video…. ….and subbed!

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

Thanks, glad you liked it!

[@comicboy4944]

🔥

[@derdugati7126]

Great stuff! Especially the mixing section was very interesting. Thank you!

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@siddd__]

Thank you so much for this video! It was so interesting and well explained, I’ve been looking for so long for something like that so I’m really happy to have found your channel. The explanations were clear and the exemples made them even more understandable. I’m looking forward to watching the other videos you made on this subject :3

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

Thanks siddd, glad you've enjoyed the video so much, and hope you enjoy the others in the series!

[@user-ct1kt3ke8i]

very interesting !

[@echopathy]

my morning coffee meditation ~~>

[@Heisenburg17]

I only use the rule of thirds and it always works out

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

Haha! Well maybe this will expand your options, but ya, rule of thirds is certainly useful.

[@TripTilt]

very interesting. Just wondering, did you make that alien with the Y shaped head to have something with a Y shape in it or did you just come up with that weird face and it did fit the Y shape somehow without the intention to do so, but then, what did you think about the composition in this one?

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

Great question. So for this painting, I used this technique to do it: www.neilblevins.com/art_lessons/photobooth_mirror_sketch/photobooth_mirror_sketch.htm So I didn't decide to do Y shaped and then made the painting that way. However, when I was moving the camera around to figure out my composition, something made me stop at that particular point and say "Ya, that's cool looking", which is likely because I have seen so many paintings of that format. So yes, sometimes you plan to use a certain composition, but other times you make a composition and it ends up looking like one of the types simple because you've ingested that sort of composition in other artwork you've seen before.

[@TripTilt]

@@ArtOfSoulburn ahaha, that is interesting!!! I used to scribble around on paper and then draw faces into the scribbles, fun times, but with 3d and sitting in front of a monitor that is lost. Thanks for reviving my interest in such abstract techniques.

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

@@TripTilt It's a lot of fun to try and get happy accidents back into your digital work. It can still be done, just requires more work :)

[@RamShankarDeo]

All it positions.

[@allweb429]

Fibonacci was Italian

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

He was indeed, but the earliest investigations into the golden ratio happened thousands of years earlier by the greeks from what I've read.

[@Neptoid]

I love how pseudoscientific this is

[@ArtOfSoulburn]

Haha. While there are a few scientific truths in here, certainly the link between art and science is a murky one :)

[@Neptoid]

@@ArtOfSoulburn guess what rectangle we think is the most beautiful? It's not the golden rectangle. So what is the point now then?