Frame & Arrangement

I hadn't been taught about the rule of thirds before, but now i've read about it i find I'm looking at pictures more carefully to see if the 'hotspots' technique has been used. It's a method used in photography & arts to enhance the visual strength of your image.  If you imagine dividing your photo into 9 equal parts - by adding a grid of two equally spaced horizontal and vertical bars on top of it - the areas of the photo that are on the lines or at the line intersections become visual ‘hotspots’.  

Photos that take advantage of these ‘hotspots’ are much more pleasing to look at than photos that have the subject centered in the middle of the frame.  As humans we tend to appreciate symmetry; and the rule of thirds allows for nice symmetry between the subject and the background.

Rule of thirds 'hotspots'

bad example

good example

Practical Task - Butterfly,Elephant & Myself 

1 hour to knock up some rough compositional sketches followed by a final A3 image, in just ink, of myself with an elephant and a butterfly. Speed really isn't my thing, as far a a final piece is concerned, so was good to be put under a bit of pressure - sketching out roughs i can do quite swiftly though, so i'd come up with a number possible scenes. Matt had seen them and asked if i always wanted there to be lots going on in them, and to be honest i didn't. So I sketched out some compositions using minimal elements, and from a different viewpoint,and with a narrative (most unlike me).The inking took a bit longer than the hour time limit as i got a bit precious. Again, it's something that I've not done a whole lot of, and i found myself trying to replicate the cleaness and consistency that i would have been getting if id been using fine liner. Which i know,replication isn't the point of it all! I enjoyed working with a grey wash to get the elephant feet texture though.I feel like I've achieved more at the end if its been entirely created by hand without any computer intervention, like a 'proper' artist.

Initial sketches of the 3 main elements. SO cheesey and soft 

looking,i hate them, don't know what i was thinking?!

Approached at from a different angle, literally. Making the emphasis on  

the space in the middle rather than on the characters in the frame.

Final inked A3 'You Ok?' image

I'm pretty happy with it, more so than some of my digital pieces,as its not my usual way of working - but I've managed to retain a fair bit of detail whilst just using the caveman tools of brushes and ink. Working with a wash was also a learning curve, which gave me some satisfying results, simple as it was to achieve.