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October 2, 2012
The suggester states "This is a very detailed tutorial on the aspects of good composition. The images are helpful and prove the points the artist is trying to make. It explains everything very well and is a great resource." The Secret to Composition by =lulie
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Suggested by reynagroff
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The Secret to Composition

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Description

This should be applicable to both painters and photographers — and all other visual artists — with occasional tips for one or the other in particular.

Always love questions, comments and criticism!


UPDATE: I was always skeptical of the rule of thirds/golden ratio, but in this post James Gurney explains a bit about why, and how the eye actually moves. The main thing I neglected to mention in this tutorial is that the eye is scanning for information. All of these compositional things are ways to make the right information more obvious to find at the right times.

UPDATE 2: Wow, thanks so much for the DD! I didn't realise what a big difference it can make. You guys are what inspire me to make tutorials, so if there's anything else you found a little mysterious about art, don't hesitate to suggest it!

LINKS

Feng Zhu's FZDSchool tutorials on YouTube

"In this place..." ConceptArt thread

Bill Tiller's How to Draw Monkeys the Lucas Arts Way

Feng Zhu videos
- Make subject bigger
- Atmospheric perspective

Great tutorials on composition:
- Matt Laskowski's Perspective & Composition
- Johannes Vloothuis's Landscape Composition Rules


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I'm taking tutorial suggestions here: lulie.deviantart.com/journal/p…

Follow me on Twitter, where I post tips, useful links and cool art-related things I stumble across:
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PabloMartov's avatar

I found great books on composition by Evgeny Stasenko. It is possible that this is the only real theory of composition.

There is just nothing of that stuff like "rule of thirds", "golden triangles", "Fibonacci spirals", "golden ratio". A very clear system that is easy to use in practice. There are two books on Amazon: "Composition of a Picture: Theory and Exercises" and "Composition in Photography: A New Approach". Highly recomend!