C O M P O S I T I O N
C O M P O S I T I O N
The composition is an arrangement of elements of the artwork that unites the elements into one whole. Pay careful attention to the object placement inside the drawing from the beginning. There must be a balance between the drawn objects and the space around them. In other words, the drawn objects should not be too small or too big, "fall off" from the paper or be shifted to the left or to the right. This is the first stage of drawing the still life.
Drawing is a complex skill. You need to learn things like manual skill, pencil techniques, precision, perspective, gesture, anatomy, light and shadow... But even when you're a master of it all, even if your picture has all these elements in place, there still may be something wrong with it. This elusive factor is called composition.
Note: Bad composition can destroy the impact of even the most polished artwork. Yet this topic is often glossed over in drawing lessons, with only a few examples of good and bad compositions presented, leaving it all to your intuition. See examples below:
Unbalanced composition.
Objects are too small.