Lesson 9 - Design Templates

There are a variety of compositional formats artists use to organize material to make a strong design. In this exercise we took flowers and sketched them thinking about four possible design formats.
In an 'S-Curve' interest flows in curves from top to bottom . In a 'Pyramid' composition the viewer circles around withing the picture rectangle.

A 'Cruciform' design with touch all four edges. A 'Division of Space' composition is often used for close ups and relies on different sized spaces for interest.

This exercise is fun to do as a timed study. In this case we gave ourselves four minutes each to complete four 5"x7" small paintings in each of the compositional formats.


Kay came up with these small studies. And below are examples of each of the formats.

Bev created an interesting 'Division of Space' in this close-up.

Carla let the flowers and leaves form an 'S-Curve'.

Dan incorporated an basket and created a 'Pyramid' design.

Selma came up with a 'Cruciform' arrangement.