pleasing the eye

In this chapter, we will look at how viewers are most likely to scan your painting. With this information, you will be able to consciously determine the path that the viewer’s eye will follow as it investigates your picture. If you manage to attract and retain your viewer’s attention while pleasing or fascinating him, your painting will be a compositional success.

Good composition is the result of conscious planning on your part. It doesn’t happen by accident. The time to do this conscious planning is before you start to paint. You need to

carefully consider how the viewer is going to look at your painting, and design the painting accordingly.

How and why we look at something is the basis for our ONE RULE OF COMPOSITION: Never make any two intervals the same. When the intervals vary, the eye has more to scan. If too many of the intervals are the same, the viewer can figure out the pattern quickly and move on without an entertaining exploration. With a variety of intervals, the viewer’s eye must trace through the picture. Unable to discern the pattern at first glance, it lingers to figure it out. This game amuses the eye. It’s fun and that makes the painting more interesting.

path of the eye

The viewer’s eye follows a definite path through the painting as it is scanned. The artist can use strategies to deliberately control this path. Our job as artists is to make the path as interesting and as enduring as possible. We don’t want to create an easy exit for the viewer’s eye; we want to invite a long and pleasantly entertaining stay within the boundaries of the painting. We also want to create in the viewer the desire to return for another look.

When a child learns to read, he learns to start at the upper left of the page and moves down toward the right. After twelve years of schooling and a lifetime of reading, starting in the upper left becomes an ingrained habit. Because this is such a strong tendency, we usually look at a painting by scanning it the same way. The upper-left corner then is a good entry point for the viewer.

Going from upper left to lower right
Most people would describe this line as going from the upper left down to the right. Why? Because it aligns with the visual path we usually follow as we read, from upper left to lower right.

Going from lower left to upper right
Most people see this line as going up from the lower left to the upper right because reading from the right to the left contradicts the normal path of the eye.

Left to right
These lines “go with the grain,” that is, they seem to follow the eye’s tendency to scan from left to right.

Countering the norm
These lines counter the normal path of the eye and therefore look more energetic.

compositional “magnets”

A good painting has to be about something. It must have a specific subject that attracts and holds the viewer’s attention. Without a subject, a painting appears empty or incomplete, quickly boring the viewer.

Every painting needs to have one main area of interest, the reason the painting was created in the first place. The painting can evoke a mood, express emotion or inspire some reaction in the viewer, but it does that by making a statement about its subject. Even a nonrepresentational painting needs a main area of interest to avoid being glorified wallpaper.

In other words, every picture needs a dominant feature that acts as both a magnet and an anchor. As a magnet, it must be an almost irresistible attraction that pulls the viewer in. As an anchor, the dominant feature keeps the eye from drifting away once it has been captured. A painting does this by being both visually and psychologically compelling.

Magnets for the viewer are of two types: a focal point and a center of interest. The focal point of a painting is the spot that attracts the eye of the viewer because it is visually appealing. The center of interest is the spot that attracts the mind of the viewer because it is intellectually appealing.

Lead the eye
In this painting, the viewer is first attracted to the strongest eye magnet, the fish’s mouth, which is the main center of interest. Once it has gathered information about that area of the picture, the eye quickly moves on to another eye magnet, the fly. Then it will go to the next most interesting point, the splash of water to the right. From there it will follow the curve of the fish’s bottom back to its mouth, from which the circulatory path through the picture originated.

Rainbow Trout Rod Lawrence 7" x 10" (18cm x 25cm) Acrylic on panel Private collection

center of interest

The center of interest is a magnet for the mind. It is where the viewer wants to look to find information. Two elements may be visually identical in terms of contrast or energy, but if one offers more meaning, that is where the viewer looks first.

The best example of something in a picture that attracts the mind is a figure. We can’t resist the human presence in a scene.

A landscape without a figure often appears oddly and, perhaps, disturbingly vacant. Even if the subject from which you are working doesn’t include people, consider adding them. Remember, they will become the picture’s center of interest, so use the devices mentioned on focal point to make the figures an eye-arresting focal point.

Also, be careful about including words or numbers in your picture. They can unintentionally become a competing center of interest, stealing attention from where you want the viewer’s eye to go.

subjects that attract the mind

Demand closer study
The eye is naturally attracted to the figures in front of the house. Visually, other points of the picture are as attractive to the eye, but the mind naturally picks out the figures for closer study.

Pocono Impressions Tony Van Hasselt 15" x 22" (38cm x 56cm) Watercolor on paper

Lead the eye The eye naturally follows the strong blue path of the water right to the figures on the beach, making them a powerful center of interest.

Tidepool Louise DeMore 30" x 40" (76cm x 102 cm) Oil on canvas

Give life to a landscape
Although reduced to almost unidentifiable spots of color, the eye is drawn to the figurative shapes in the landscape.

Shepherd and Flock Greg Albert 9" x 17" (23cm x 43 cm) Acrylic on watercolor paper

focal point

A focal point is a magnet for the eye. It is a feature in a composition that draws the viewer’s eye to it. The viewer will look first at any part of a painting that has these characteristics:

• Contrast in tonal value

• Concentration of visual energy or detail

• Bright or intense color

• Hard edges

• Gap in a pattern

• Anomalies in a pattern

• Tangents

• Intersections or convergence

All of these are really different types of contrast. What attracts the eye is some sort of contrasting characteristic that makes an element stand out because it is unlike any other. In the examples on this page, notice how the eye is attracted to the contrasting element.

You can use any of these characteristics to make a particular feature in your painting a magnet for the eye, but there should only be one dominant feature, one “star.” The focal point and the center of interest should be one and the same. In other words, the eye and the mind should be attracted to the same spot. If there are competing features, such as two focal points or two centers of interest attracting the mind, the viewer doesn’t know where to look.

Contrast in tonal value

Concentration of visual energy or detail

Bright or intense color

Hard edges

Gap in a pattern

Anomalies in a pattern

Tangents

Intersections or convergence

Color and value draw the eye
The focal point of this painting, at the left, is created by color and value contrast at the base of the rock cliff in the foreground.

Paria Kevin Macpherson 20" x 22" (51cm x 56cm) Oil on canvas

Detail and value draw the eye
The focal point is at the upper left and is formed by sharp detail and value contrast. Note how the boat’s bow points to this area, as do the diagonals from the left.

Catch of the Day Tony Couch 20" x 33" (51cm x 83cm) Watercolor on paper

placing the focal point

The overall effectiveness of a painting’s design will be a function of the location of its focal point and center of interest. Luckily, the ONE RULE OF COMPOSITION: Never make any two intervals the same can be used to find the right place every time. The focal point should be located in a place that is at a different distance from all four sides of the picture.

The Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds says to divide your picture into thirds vertically and horizontally. (Think tic-tac-toe). The intersections of the two horizontal dividing lines and the two vertical lines create what I call the four sweet spots. Any one of these intersections is a good location for the center of interest because each location is unequally distant from the four sides.

An alternate way to locate the center of interest is to divide the format into four equal quadrants. The center of each would be a good position for your primary subject. Either method will give you an interestingly off-center place to put the focal point.

Divide the picture area as for tic-tac-toe
Divide the picture into thirds vertically and horizontally. The intersections of these divisions form the best locations for your picture’s center of interest.

Use sweet spots as guides
The center of interest does not have to be at the exact point the Rule of Thirds indicates. Close is good enough.

Find the intersection of thirds
Each point determined by the Rule of Thirds is a spot at different intervals from all four sides, complying with our ONE RULE OF COMPOSITION: Never make any two intervals the same.

Divide the picture area into quadrants
An alternate way to locate good positions for the center of interest is to divide the format into four equal quadrants and find the center of each.

exploring the four “sweet spots”

Once you become aware of how to locate a center of interest with the Rule of Thirds, you’ll discover that this idea has been repeatedly used by many great artists. It is a very easy method to remember and use (just think tic-tac-toe). But beware: Even when you do remember to use it when planning your painting, the urge to put the center of interest in the geometric center is very strong. If you’re not careful, you might find that the center of interest has drifted toward the boring center despite your use of the Rule of Thirds.

The Rule of Thirds is one of the handiest applications of the ONE RULE OF COMPOSITION: Never make any two intervals the same. If it is the only way you practice the ONE RULE, you will find that it almost automatically improves the design of your compositions.

Occupying the sweet spot
The center of interest is the largest, brightest flower in the upper left. It occupies a sweet spot.

Locating the focal point
The white house in the field, located at one of the sweet spots, is the focal point of this picture.

lines, leads and pointers

Directing the viewer’s attention as she scans your picture is part of your job as an artist. You can control what the viewer sees and when the viewer sees it. You also want to keep the viewer’s attention freely circulating. You can accomplish both by the use of lines, leads and pointers which direct the eye to where you want it to go, and by avoiding leaks that allow it to escape.

You want to provide a clear visual trail for the eye to follow through the picture. Lines, leads and pointers form the path of least resistance, naturally attracting a viewer’s attention. Any linear element in a picture, such as a line or long, narrow shape, will create a path for the eye to follow. An arrow-like shape can act as a pointer, too, directing the eye to wherever it points. These devices can lead the eye out of the picture as well as into it, so you need to be aware of their affect on the viewer’s attention.

Shapes lead the eye
The shapes in this painting, including the boats, lead the eye into the painting and keep the viewer from straying out.

Marina Friends Margaret M. Martin 22" x 30" (56cm x 76cm) Watercolor on paper

Diagonal lines
Diagonals, naturally dynamic lines in a composition, form powerful pointers to the focal point.

Zigzag lines
A meandering line leads the eye to a focal point at a more leisurely pace than a straight diagonal. Don’t let it run into a corner, and apply the One Rule: Never make any two intervals the same by making sure the angles and lengths of the “zags” are different.

blocks and exits

As obvious as it sounds, you want to direct lines into the painting, toward the interior and not toward the periphery. However, any line has the potential to lead out as well as lead in. As important as knowing what to do to keep the eye within the frame, is knowing what to avoid in order to keep the eye from drifting out.

direct attention into the center of the picture

Avoid leaks and drains

A line from edge to edge will pull the eye right through a painting. In fact, any line that touches the edge of the painting’s format is a potential eye leak. A line touching the edge provides a ready exit for the eye right out of the picture by drawing attention to the edge.

A line that touches a corner of a painting is like a drain. Because the corner is where two edges (both places where the eye can drop out of the painting) meet, the outward pull is strong. Any line that directs the eye to a corner is an invitation to leave the picture entirely.

Create blocks and eye magnets

To keep the eye from following a line out of a picture, you need to use view blocks as well as eye magnets. A view block can be a line, shape or some other graphic element that stops the eye on its way toward the edge of the picture. It blocks the eye from following the path out of the picture and redirects it back in.

View blocks are usually placed close to the edge or in the corners of a picture. In a horizontal format, the blocks would normally be placed on the right or left edge, since the eye naturally follows the horizontal orientation to those edges. The eye is less likely to fall out the top or bottom. View blocks are more often placed in the lower corners than the upper ones.

By using a combination of blocks and eye magnets, you can keep the viewer’s attention inside the picture.

Don’t run lines into corners
Corners are natural drains for the eye. Every corner of this painting has a diagonal leading the eye out of the composition.

Don’t place figures facing out
Don’t play “made you look” with the viewer by placing a figure looking toward a nearby edge of the painting. This naturally attracts attention outside the composition.

Don’t place shapes tangent to the edge
These tangents become unwanted focal points that lead the eye right out of the picture.

Don’t place lines leaning out
Don’t direct the eye to the edge of the format with lines that thrust away from the center of the painting.

attract, entertain and retain the viewer

A good composition will attract, entertain and retain the attention of the viewer. In this chapter, we examined ways to invite the viewer’s eye into the picture and then create a path that circulates it within the borders of the composition. By carefully considering how the viewer is likely to scan his picture, the artist can create a compelling piece of art.

Provide a path for the viewer’s eye to follow
In this painting, the spreading limbs of the tree funnel the eye upward, and act as view blocks to keep the eye from wandering off to the right or left. The oblique thrust of the tree limbs generate a visual energy that animates the whole composition.

There are two eye magnets, the boy’s face and the birdhouse, both located at sweet spots as determined by the Rule of Thirds.

The boy’s face is a center of interest because the eye naturally is attracted to faces; so much important information for social interaction is conveyed by facial features. The birdhouse is a focal point because its “face” is the brightest spot in the picture. Tom has arranged the composition so the boy and the birdhouse are facing each other, compelling the eye to go back and forth from one to the other.

Other minor focal points, such as the hammer in the boy’s hands and the spots of sunlight on the tree limbs, circulate the eye as it scans the picture: face, birdhouse, hammer, face is the circular path the eye generally follows.

Although the face and birdhouse are equally balanced, the visual weight of the picture is centered on the left where the boy is standing. On the right, the birdhouse and light-dappled limb from which it hangs counterbalance the composition dynamically.

The Landlord Tom Browning 30” x 24” (76cm x 61cm) Oil on canvas

Santa Clara Coppersmiths Gerald J. Fritzler, AWS 19' x 14" (48cm x 36cm) Watercolor on paper