With all the things to keep in mind while drawing – materials, medium, gesture, proportion, perspective, angle, lighting – it’s easy to forget what is probably most important out of any of these things: composition. At the open studio session today at Studio Incamminati, there was a similar model and pose to the one I did there a few weeks ago, so I was excited to have the opportunity to redeem my shortcomings from that week in proportion. Overall, I was very happy with my work today – body proportions were much more accurate, shading and highlights were refined and correct, form and cast shadows looked realistic, and even the feet and hands, while not detailed, were proportionate and indicated well. Then I realized the subject model looked like he was floating in the air.
I placed the model to the right side of the page, only occupying about 2/3 from top to bottom. It was a bizarre looking picture, to say the least. I tried, toward the end of the session, to add some of the platform on which he was standing, but it still didn’t help the composition. This will be something about which I will need to be more conscious moving forward; figuring out my composition before laying down my first pencil or charcoal strokes. In photography, you compose the shot before releasing the shutter. In drawing, you have to at least visualize the composition before making marks on the page.
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