Composition: where things sit and why
Composition is the quietest decision in a picture and the one viewers feel most strongly.
Part of your national curriculum
- Practical skills: Use a range of techniques to record their observations in sketchbooks, journals and other media as a basis for exploring their ideas
- Developing ideas: Use a range of techniques and media, including painting, to develop and refine their ideas
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Compose an image with intent
Key learning points
- • Structure
- • Focal point
This lesson at a glance
- 25 minutes
- 9 parts to scroll through
- 3 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 9
Watch first
Composition: where things sit and why
An English teaching video on this topic from The Artful Parent. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
In a nutshell
Compose an image with intent
Explore the idea
Part 2 of 9
Learn
Structure
Rule of thirds, leading lines, framing and negative space guide the eye. Dead-centre placement is a choice, not a default.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 9
Learn
Focal point
Contrast, detail and isolation create a focal point. If everything is equally busy, the eye has nowhere to rest.
Quick check
Part 4 of 9
Quick check
Negative space is…
Quick check
Part 5 of 9
Quick check
A focal point is created by…
Quick check
Part 6 of 9
Quick check
Leading lines are used to…
Challenge round
Part 7 of 9
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Mastery quiz
Part 8 of 9
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Composition: where things sit and why
3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Negative space is…
2. A focal point is created by…
3. Leading lines are used to…
Lesson round-up
Part 9 of 9
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
Reading a portrait
Artists make choices before they make marks. A sitter placed high in the frame looks powerful; the same sitter low in the frame looks small. Light falling from one side sculpts a face into shadow and bone; flat light makes it open and plain.
Objects do work too. A book says learning, a dog says loyalty, a wilting flower says time passing. Viewers in the past read these signs as easily as we read a logo.
When you look at a portrait, ask three questions: where is the light coming from, what has the artist put in the sitter's hands, and where am I standing — above, below, or level with them?
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Choose a portrait and answer the article's three questions about it.
- Explain how you would light a portrait to make someone look kind.
- Plan your own portrait, listing two objects you would include and what each one says.
Sketchbook page
DiagramMake your own piece, then photograph it for your sketchbook page.
1 finished piece
Annotation
WritingWrite around your work: what you tried, what worked, what you would change.
6 sentences
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 9 · Watch & discover
How this is going
- Not looked at yet
Use a range of techniques to record their observations in sketchbooks, journals and other media as a basis for exploring their ideas
- Not looked at yet
Use a range of techniques and media, including painting, to develop and refine their ideas