I’m giving you a bit of theory today. It’s about composition, because many of you want to read about panel layouts, which is really a question about composition. Composition is such a huge subject that I despair of covering it though, even in broad strokes. This is a part of it. Bear with me while I figure this out.
Focal Points
Good visual compositions have a focal point or centre of interest, something that draws the attention. There are many different things that can make something a focal point:
- It is the largest element
- It is brightly coloured
- It’s in the centre of the image
- Lines of the composition or perspective point towards it
- Several characters are looking at one point
- It contrasts strongly with the background
- It is the only human figure or face or eye in the composition
The eye is naturally drawn to faces, figures, and the centre of images. One image can use several of these techniques at the same time to create a powerful focal point.
To get the hang of this, look at professionally produced posters, adverts, shop displays, etc. as you go about your daily life, and think about it in terms of focal point. Where is it? How does it draw the attention? What else is going on in the picture? Having a focal point is not just important when you’re drafting a poster, cover or ad. The question “where is my focal point?” is useful when creating comic page layouts and panels, too. Ask yourself questions like these:
- Which panel on this page or spread is the main panel?
- Where in my establishing shot do I want the eye to linger?
- How can I draw the attention to my main characters in a crowd scene?
I also have some suggested reading for you this week: Basic Thoughts about Visual Composition The navigation is a bit weird, but there’s some good tips there, and it doesn’t take long to explore. See you next week with more How To stuff.
{ 2 comments }
You can also use radiating lines, patterns of black and white objects, slow curves through the composition of the positioning of figures to lead the eye to a focal point. For the alltime master of this- look at Titian. If you look at most comic book backgrounds- you’ll see how they’ve been altered to drag the eye around the page. This is why “copying a photo” as a background is actually more of an artistic decision than most people think. Not sure i’d agree that placing something in the middle of the panel is a good composition device, however! Perhaps for extreme emphasis once or twice- but otherwise it’ll leave you with pretty bland compositions.
~John~
I don’t think I said putting something in the middle is a good composition device, I said the middle draws the eye. That’s why it makes for static compositions, I think. They eye is naturally drawn to the middle of the image, and if there’s nothing to pull it away from there, it just kind of sits there and nothing happens.
Thanks for the additions. ^_^
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