How to learn basics of good composition?

November 2, 2005 2:12 PM

Calling all artists - my husband has been learning to draw and paint (watercolor) for about the last 1.5 years. Can you recommend good books on principles of composition?

He has already learned loads about technique from books at the library. He knows about and understands the Golden Mean. What else needs to be considered? I know this is art and not science, but are there any exceptional books that can help a budding artist design a well-composed painting or drawing? If there is some consensus on a particular book, I'll consider it for a Christmas gift. Thanks!

posted by dbmcd to media & arts (6 comments total)

I'll mention Michael Freeman's Image. People seem to consider it the final word on artistic composition. I don't know about that, but it is a fantastic book that covers all aspects of composition.

True it has a photography bias, but lines are lines and negative space is negative space.

It's out of print, but Amazon at least always seems to have a few used copies.
posted by sevenless at 2:55 PM on November 2, 2005

I lack the talent to call myself an "artist" with a straight face; but for whatever it's worth, I found The Natural Way to Draw to be wonderful.
posted by cribcage at 3:06 PM on November 2, 2005

Chaet, "Art of Drawing"; Josef Albers
Frankly, I think the best way to learn composition is to copy great paintings. Make a loose copy of a Poussin and you begin to understand how he constructs things. Copy Diebenkorn and you see how colors work together. There are no rules, only successfully worn paths.
posted by johngumbo at 6:48 PM on November 2, 2005

I would suggest taking a look at the conceptart.org forums, and make a thread there asking the same thing. This forum at its base has alot of professional and semi-professional artists who help each other out, critique each others work, etc. Anyways, the point is, they will know which books are good.
posted by JokingClown at 11:40 PM on November 2, 2005

Joking Clown - What a fabulous suggestion!
Someone already had a recent thread that gave me much of the kinds of information I was looking for.
I'll check out the other books as well, and suggest copying as a means of internalizing other's composition.
Thanks to all of you!
posted by dbmcd at 12:22 PM on November 3, 2005

Glad to be of service.
posted by JokingClown at 12:20 AM on November 8, 2005