Composition: tasks of the month
Sessions on the basics of composition: rhythm, masses and scale, lines of force, the compositional center. Plus breakdowns of Deineka and Vasnetsov, and live streams with feedback.
Tasks
31 May — 6 June
Three thumbnails of one subject
Pick any subject and make three compositional thumbnails the size of your palm: the main shape placed differently, a different frame format. Work in shapes, without details — at that size only the composition shows, and that is what you need right now. Choose the best one and write down why it is the one.
7–13 June
Rhythm and pause
A composition of several objects of the same kind — trees, houses, figures. The task is to build a rhythm: groups, gaps, one large pause. Spacing them evenly at equal intervals is the dullest option there is. Break the step. One sheet, value in two or three steps.
14–20 June
The crop decides
Take one of your own old pieces and re-crop it three different ways — cut a frame out of paper or crop it in an editor. Look at how the meaning changes: in one the figure becomes the main thing, in another the environment does. Then draw the version you chose again. Show both the crops and the final drawing.
21–27 June
Contrast as a device
A composition built on one contrast: large against small, dark against light, dense against empty. The contrast has to be single and obvious. When there are three at once, the eye darts about and never finds the main thing. Any medium.