Part 2 Project 1 Composition 2

Composition 2 - Critique

Having learnt something about composition in my last post I'm going to apply it to a couple of the sketches I did for Exercise 1.  I felt this was the best of my three sketches

Sketch 1

Critique of sketch 1

Balance   -   I think this is too cramped to be balanced.  It doesn't use the negative space at all.

Vectors   -   There are several vectors here; the small brushes, the large brush and the kitchen roll as well.  I can see that the kitchen roll and the large brush are two sides of a triangle but the small brushes lead nowhere.

High contrast points   -  There are few high contrast points but the shading on the lower part of the jar rim is hard and pretty jarring.  Certainly not a helpful device.  Maybe I should have increased the shadows on the jar.

Power centres   -   Because this was a sketch I didn't align it it any way.

Focal points   -   The focal point is the jar with paintbrushes, the kitchen roll should be support crew.  I think the kitchen roll gets in the way of the focal point.

Sketch 2 - almost the same

Critique of sketch 2

Balance   -   The balance is different in this sketch and I have used even less negative space. There is a definite triangular feel to this sketch.

Vectors   -   The large brush and the long brush protruding make a continuous vector that leads out of the picture and is therefore distracting.  Because the kitchen roll has receded a bit it seems less dominant it has less of a directional influence.

High contrast points   -   There is more contrast in this sketch and the eye is immediately caught by the shading in the kitchen roll.

Power centres   -   Because this is a sketch it has no context.  However, if the paper were square it would be using the power centre entirely.  Again there is no use of negative space.

Focal points   -   I think the high contrast point on the kitchen roll makes it the focal point although that wasn't my intention.

I'm not sure whether my critique is entirely accurate but this work has got me thinking and with a bit of experience I'm sure the penny will drop.