Visual Composition

     Visual composition is an important stage, this is the time for the artist to decide what emotions he or she wishes to provoke in a image. Pictures are used to tell a story and convey an emotional feeling resulting in a response. Just like film makers, it all relies on how you place objects in the scene (mise-en-scene) lighting, angles and much more. This is key to making a piece that the audience can identify with. Humans are emotional creatures, we find emotional stimulation in everyday concepts, there is not a moment that goes by where someone can not feel anything, understanding these feelings will help you gain an understanding of how different aspects of a drawing can make someone feel.

     For example, if I image is created looking up at a person, this means the artist has chosen to show the person from a low-angle creating the feeling that the person is strong and dominating. If the angle was reversed, the person would seem small and inadequate. A wide angle image, would provoke isolation emotions, as the person would seem invaluable being surrounded by the vast abyss. An extreme close up would allow the audience to sympathise with whatever the person was feeling, this shows that the audience is getting into the personality of the person in the drawing.

     Lighting and colours can also provoke different responses. Images with large amounts of red project the feeling of anger and danger as we recognise red from warning signs and the colour of blood. Whereas filling the scene with blue, gives a sad, cold and calming aspect. An object that is lighted by moonlight would give a scary feeling, if you were to replace the moonlight with sunlight, the object would appear much more friendlier.

      If you do not plan out your visual composition your image would be dull and could provoke the wrong emotional response, this is alright if it’s just a singular image, however creating images for a game would require some sort of continuity of emotional response. Even juxtaposed images need to be carefully thought out, as the audience will not want to be confused with what is happening. It needs to be clear.

     As an artist it would be important for you to be able to control and manipulate the feelings of an audience, however you gain this knowledge with trail and error, I useful trick is to detach yourself from your work and look at it like you’ve never seen it before, and then concentrate on how you are responding to it, are you happy? Are you sad? Frightened? If you feel nothing, you haven’t provoked enough response to convey a significant meaning. It would be best to look at other artists work then see how you feel looking at the image, and look at how they have planned the scene and setting.

     In conclusion, visual composition is the stage where you begin to aim your artwork in a general emotional direction, different artistic aspects change the way an image is perceived and this is important for portraying an image correctly and efficiently.