Watercolor Composition - Simple Tactic that Makes A HUGE Difference

Composition can seem like this large abstract idea and it can feel very overwhelming. So in this week’s video, we talk about some very basic composition principles that can make a big difference in your paintings.

I have three simple steps that can help you as you're composing your paintings:

Should the Ground or the Sky be More Prominent?

First, you’ll want to think about what you want featured in your scene - the ground or the sky. Once you answer this question, you can compose your horizon line. The horizon line is simply where the ground stops and the sky begins. If you are featuring the ground, you’ll have a higher horizon, and if you’re featuring the sky, it will be lower.

What we don't want to do is split our painting right down the middle and have the horizon in the middle of our scene. This is a pretty universal rule that applies to landscapes, street scenes or whatever you're trying to paint, don't put your horizon right in the middle of your scene.

Determine the Most Important Elements in Your Painting.
What elements are most important in your scene? Do you include figures? Is there a tree that's more prominent in your landscape than anything else? Are there livestock or some type of life that is featured?

Generally, our eyes are attracted to the “signs of life” in a scene - like we've talked about in another video on creating feeling or emotion in your painting. Once you understand which are the most important elements of your scene, you’ll then want to place these elements on one of the thirds in your painting.

Place Most Important Objects on the Thirds

The basics of composition is learning to divide your paper into thirds - like a Tic-Tac-Toe game. You want to place two vertical lines within your painting, a third of the way apart from each other. And then you want to split your painting into three equal sections horizontally by placing two horizontal lines over your scene. It can be helpful to even lightly draw these lines on your paper when you're creating a composition.

The points where these lines intersect is where you want to put the most interest in your scene. This rule of thirds is helpful to use as you're composing your painting and deciding where to place the major elements of your scene. It creates a more interesting composition and it engages the viewer.

As always, thank you for spending some time with me this week. I hope that you are growing and learning and feeling inspired! Keep moving forward, keep practicing, and I will see you next week.