View Points and Composition

View Points

The following pictures illustrate several different points of view, for our purposes we want the object to be below eye leve.

Avoid the top view - no horizon line is seen in this view. The objects appear to be floating in space and are not anchored.

The viewer is still too far above the object - still no horizon line. The objects appear to be floating

Eye level - look at the base of the objects - everything lines up - there isn't much sense of depth . The horizon line is at the base of the object, the viewer is too low.

The viewer is looking at the object from below their eye level. Notice the base of the objects and now the ones in back appear higher on the picture plane. Notice also that the horizon line appears to have moved up in the background.

Composition

Pooly Composed: The subject is seen from the correct view point, but the subject is WAY too small for this picture plane. The negative space has a very generic shape and the subejct becomes insignificant.

The subject fills the picture plane - this is an example of a closed composition. The negative space has taken on a shape of its own and is now a dynamic part of the composition.

The subject fills the picture plane and our eyes understand that there is even more beyond the picture plane edges - this is an example of an open composition. This composition feels off balance and slightly awkward. Why is that?

All text and images are excerpted form Drawing: A Contemporary Approcah b Claudia Betti and Teel Sale.

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