Post 124: Composition 1. Rule of Thirds

Composition: Rule of Thirds

Part 1 of my series on Composition

If you are shooting at a target with a bow and arrow, hitting the target dead center is the goal. If you are shooting via a camera, or painting that target, dead center is not where you want to target.

What is the "Rule of Thirds"?

Draw a tic-tac-toe grid. Hey, you're an artist, you can go back to the basics and no, we are not solving quadratic equations in algebra - maybe. (I'm not talking about putting an X² in the center) When designing your artwork, by placing a tic-tac-toe grid over the artwork, you can find your best "rule of thirds".

There are a lot of rules of composition that you may or may not follow. I tend to think most artists WANT to break as many rules as possible, but maybe that's me... Anyway, this is one of the main rules used by cinematographers, photographers and artists (artamographer?) world-over.

Divide an image into thirds using the tic-tac-toe grid which as you can see, divides the image into nine sections and four intersection points. Place your horizon at either the top horizontal line or the bottom horizontal line while positioning the subject(s) image at the intersection points. Your target is off-center which is considered much more pleasing to the eye. There is a better visual use of the negative space / subject and background.

The eye tends to view an image (of any type) from the upper left, then move down going to the bottom left. Then the eye sweeps to the upper right then drops to the bottom right, all very quickly. 

What do you want the viewer of your art to notice first?

Many artists design their painting on their computers first then move the design onto their canvas. Working via computer would make easier work of moving the elements around 'on the grid' pre-painting. Do you consider this rule in your compositions?

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This is the first part of a series of blog posts on the guidelines, or rules of composition. I plan on posting them every Monday going forward until I run out of rules. Look for all of them in the Search this Blog feature at the top right by searching for the word "composition". I hope you enjoy the posts!

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Local Art: Visit us at Clearbrook Center of the Arts at Tackett's Mill in Lake Ridge, VA on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 – it’s free to see the artwork! Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

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Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com & her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/.