Artistic Composition Part 2 - Eye Movement

Movement is one of the essential principles of art.  Most, if not all of the eight principles of art deal greatly on composition.  If you want stronger compositions, study the principles of art.

Movement in artistic compositions may refer to something called "eye movement".  Eye movement is the way a viewer's eye moves through a work of art. By clever placement of objects in the picture plane of our artwork, we can control the eye movement of the viewer's of our artwork.  This gives us, as artists, more control over how the viewer interacts with our compositions. Viewer's of our art will still take away from it what they will.

Studies have proven that geometric shapes tend to be more visually enticing.  Therefore, incorporating geometric configurations to influence eye movement makes sense in creating good composition. These geometric configurations may result from the relationship between the positive and negative spaces found in the picture plane

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Here are some examples of geometric configurations for composition...

composition-eye movement-diagonal

composition-eye movement-triangular

composition-eye movement-l shape

composition-eye movement-oval

composition-eye movement-z shape

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