Master Studies, Rule of Three, and Leading Lines

Master Studies:

To analyse and observe previous works of art by masters of painting, to help build an understanding of values, composition and colour. 

Reference Image | Niagara Falls by Louisa Davis

My master study, focusing on the use of colour and the surprising amount of green in a blue composition. Shards of rock break up the soft sea foam. Varying my brushes helped to explore this contrast.

Analysing the composition of my master study using the 'rule of three'. This is an artistic idea, not a rule, but it has clearly been used in this image. Dark, jiggered shapes take up the foreground and fill the right third of the composition. The other two thirds are swallowed by water, suggesting its volume outside of the frame. 

Reference Image

Colour is vital in this piece, as it sets the 'marine' atmosphere by including blacks, yellows and greens. Silhouettes of ships suggest smog, this a realistic representation of fishing, nothing has been romanticized. 

Reference Image | Canyon de Chelly by Edgar Payne

My favourite and most successful master study, mainly because I enjoy rock formation compositions, and the original was also a digital drawing. I really like the use of blue for shadow, something I would like to incorporate into my three Armilla interpretations. 

A clear use of 'leading lines' has been used.  The artist guides a viewers eyes along the path. 

Leading lines:

Leads the viewers eyes through a composition, a reinforcement. These lines don't have to be linear, just clear and effective. 

Viewers follow the path from the foreground to the shoreline in the background, a clever way of ensuring the entire image is appreciated and accounted for. 

Subtle angles will help with the suggestion of direction. In this composition, the tree stretches its roots towards the lake and in the direction of the current.

Japanese landscape paintings often suggest journeys, with less focus on realism. Leading lines are therefore an important idea. Viewers begin in the pink clouds, which transition into water and flow off the dark, solid hills and into the foreground of a lake. 

The Rule Of Three:

A compositional aid, taking an image and dividing it into a 9 sectioned grid. 

This technique can be used to reinforce storytelling. These characters could be strangers from the divide between them. 

Dimension is segregated by each third of the grid, water transitions the foreground and background together. 

The environment surrounding characters is included in the grid with this shot. A window in each third, and a table in the very centre. 

Stanley Kubrick:

An American director, writer and producer with Jewish heritage. Stanley often created dark filmmaking with a focus on dehumanisation. He was voted the 23rd greatest director of all time by 'Entertainment Weekly'. 

Stanley's focus on symmetry in composition has strong links to leading lines and the rule of three, a loyal user of these techniques. This is very evident in his cinematography design in The 1980's 'The Shining'. Along with linear methods of filmmaking, Stanley was also known for his signature use of strong colours and sharp black and white contrasts. He was poetic with his filmmaking, and incorporated symbolism frequently.