Famous Artists Schools, In Composition — how to make pictures Westport, Connecticut Lesson Albert Dorne Fred Ludekens Norman Rockwell AlPorker Ben Stahl Stevan Dohanos Jon Whitcomb Robert Fawcett Peter Helek George Giusti Austin Briggs Harold Von Schmidt‘You are saying Ye loo fo make Irs tn your Cour you wl oor thw pers mn Tanne sate ‘nyhing you con sa ot Imagine, Bt ‘ate mor hon drewing tae « ple rt tas rowing plot poning. Bo eos ploming the errengement of the ‘inci the pure apocr et ba, we ten trong you fo ht simple fondo. tevtls very on your hed ron Waar Toast eso sn wil crane In meceing er vole Wh srry ase fons Tern your Course we wil Soka mmre edvnced wan ins vry par ton capt of malig pisuren, whch le town or Compostion Composition ‘Composition means the selection and arrangement of appropri: ate clements within the picture space s0 that they expres the farts’ idea clearly and effectively. Ht makes # great deal of Aliference how we pit together the things we dase within our picture space. Often, pieture will suceet or fil, depending ‘om ow wel i x composed ‘Composition, in baie sense, means combining forms and space to prodaces harmonious whole. When we make a picture, swe arrange the picture elements mich the way 2 composer of runic arranges musical notes and themes to form a harmonious result. The composer of msi creates an arangement in sound See, a8 aris create 2 visual arrangement. In composing. a Picture we ate chiefly interested in where we place our objects In the picture space how fenportant we make them in ste ane ‘aloe, sre how they relate to each other and to the oataide borders of the pictre. ‘Good pictures we se, do not simply happen. They are not the result of thoughtlely throwing” together miscellaneous ‘objects or fling upa background with details. No matter how ‘well we draw of paint, unles we plan our picture caeluly it BrTcy to eave the viewer with an unsitised feeling. A well composed picture, on the other hand, will give the viewer a Satised seme of onder or beauty, although he may not realize ‘by what metheds this satisfaction was produced Every picture stars with an idea ~a story we have well, an etlect or mood! we are striving to communicate. In composing, Wwe veletthowe things fo our picture which clarify our idea and wre discard thoe which may distract oF conte: [No matter what the subject of your picture may be, bin by aking youre: "What isthe basic idea I want to get actow? What things most I putin the picture so thatthe sewer sil tunderatand i at once? What is important —and what in' 0” Tm composing, you emphasize those elements of your pictare that will dramatize ic the mos. Usually this equites a change in the sizes of things. You make important objects larger oF clearer or stronger than they may appear in reality, and lee important objects you nike imaller or lew distinc, Objects can be featured or played down by adjusting thei position as well a their sie, For instance, you might place a powerful, important figure in the middle of your picture space nd draw him large, so he would dominate the picture. By con rasa shy, retiring characcr might be shown much smaller and to the side, dominated by the space and the objects around him. The arts can actually control which part of his picture the viewer will linger over and find most mesningtul. By the way he arranges the objects, he ean establish a definite focal point or enter of interes. and lead the eye to it indiecly or direc He can also use light and dark tones to help emphasize this center of interest ‘Often the artist cam use the natural shape of his subject to ood elect in establishing his composition and the proportions ft his picture. For example, if the subject isa wide expanse of meadow or sa, it might well sigest a picture ofa long. ho ont shape, For a picture of «Tong, narrow subject Hike a tall ‘man or aehurch tower, 2 vertical picture of similar proportions tight dramatize the height of the subject mow strikingly. Dit ferent forme ae often best expres by eiferent picture shapes All of thee are principles you can apply in developing your cown compositions Once you have leet how t0 ise these Principles, you will soon find yourselt giving sharper clearer txpresion 4 your ideas saying what you want to say directly Sand interestingly im pietares,The picture starts in your mind Iefore making a picture, the artist mast decide what he wats to show ini He has to select is subject matter and then he tno ara that he pte wl ea ete 3 pos Ideas bogin in the mind, and that is preciely where pictures bogin too. In ft, dhe minor fagination in natural creator of pictures When we hear a word or think of an idea, the fag ination goes to work at once and project a picture inthe mind. Suppo we bear the phrase “Two lovers ate ating on tench in the park.” Instantly the imagination create a picture fof young man and woman close together on a bench, pethaps locked in each other's arms, We visualize the walk, the st rounding tres. the grassy Lawn, (Or, we may be Tistening to the radio and hear a crime play which begins with theve words "Tt is dusk, A blue sedan driver Lup t a gas station. From it the figure of a man emerges the Tower half of his face covered by a handkerchiet. He moves silently toward the sation, hie righthand thrust ominously in porkss” Inumedintely we coujore up a seen iammgey = cv of the whole tension packed sene: the ear, motor at hing. drawn up alongside the gas pumps, the deor swinging ‘open, the sinister figure of the gunman moving swiftly toward the station, Every word is fel to the imagination. ‘We ate always forming such mental images of things which we hear, read or think about. These images are the Taw mu terial of which pictures are made. he first mental image which our mind forms in response to picture idea is jst one posibilty. Ave think about i other find better views may occ fo us, We mast ty out these vari tions before deciding which will make the bet picture. The art thinks on paper. Av one image follows another through the mind, we put them down on paper ia the form of rough sketches, working out the arrangement of the objees whieh we sce in our imagination. Both our thinking and our ‘keiching should be broud and flexible at this point. This isnot the time to bother with details! Serna gla 8 dno lie a PPh Sa ney poate we ihr pase ans ese eed pt oe ti