Laws of artwork composition

    While learning how to draw one of the first and basic steps should be the laws of composition. A lot of self-taught artist skip this topic, as they follow their inspiration, however in order to progress, sooner or later, these laws should be learned and here they are:

1) Focal point as a center of the composition

Focal point is not just geometrical center on the paper or canvas you are working on, it is a main object or a figure around which the whole composition revolves. Determining where is your composition center suppose to help to highlight the dynamics of the art work. The focal point is the first thing that catches a viewers eye, all the rest - is just additional strokes that lead eyes to the composition center.

2) Elements quantity and location 

Quantity of the elements on the composition is a very tricky thing, even amount of elements can make your drawing really static, while odd amount of element makes the composition look more realistic and dynamic. Human brain has this magical ability to pair and analyze objects to interpret them, therefore in order to prevent the composition to look dull or too symmetrical artist needs to think through the right combination and right location for each element in the composition.

3) Perspective of view

Distance between elements and angles of their location - is a perspective of view. This is the most important thing to learn in order to make dynamic artworks. Objects that are far away look smaller than objects that are near,  a view from above makes drawings more dimensional and less flat, objects on the back usually stand behind the one in the front and never touch edges together, the are better located one behind another. And the last thing to remember is that changing the angle of the composition from the straight view gives the artwork more intriguing and edgy look.

4) Balance of the composition

Symmetry creates a balance and peacefulness, while asymmetry brings more action and excitement. Balance is also controlled by the shapes and colors. Soft and round shapes can be mixed with sharp and square shapes, same as warm colors can be matched with cold, but mixing those is a very delicate process. Its really important to make sure that everything looks in place and not out of balance. Even chaotic at the first glance artworks are very well balanced.

5) Colors and shades

Balance in colors is quite important, you can mix warm colors with cold, as long as one of them is dominant, same goes for shades. Colors are creating another depth for dimensions, shadows and shades highlight the curves and textures, they are to help create volume in the composition.


And the last thing I want to be mentioned is: always, whatever you drawing, experiment with lines of the horizon, dimensions, angles, shapes and proportions. Don't let yourself get caught in drawing same usual composition types, there is no good in routine when you are an artist, it prevents you from growth.