Studying Composition

This week, I went back to 2D art for a bit so that I could learn about composition.

I started with a rough sketch of the characters I wanted to use for the picture. I decided to combine the lesson with a prompt to draw a gargoyle.

After I finished sketching out the characters, I divided the canvas into thirds and did my best to line everything up according to the rule of thirds. Since I'm still new to composition, I went with a more sedate, horizontal layout, since that felt like it would be easier to work with.

Once everything was lined up, I added some details to the mid and background to give it some visual interest. I went with a low horizon line to help emphasize just how big the gargoyle is.

Once I was happy with how the sketch turned out, I started finalizing the outlines. I did my best to use the curve of the road and the plume of smoke to sort of lead the eye back to the characters who are the focus of the image.

Here's where I've gotten to now. This is pretty close to being done, but this isn't necessarily the final version I'm going to go with. Following some suggestions, I think I'll probably move the cityscape in the background over and break it up a bit so that it frames the characters, rather than blending into them. I might also darken the characters so that they pop out a bit more, and I'm considering adding some more detail in the foreground, so that the bottom left of the picture isn't so empty.

That's all for this week!