I wonder if you have any thoughts about format (size, shape, orientation) and scale (life size, sight size at arm's length or ten feet, etc), and how they apply to composition.I took a look at format last week, so now let's look at the scale issue. Below are six paintings, each showing the human subject in a different scale in relation to the format. Notice how each puts you, the viewer, at a different distance from the person depicted in the painting. That's what scale is all about.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSBNflAGMD8gs7w6YmKjc7aUCiDB8_eXih1WpjdXjg2m3TNssH2wMcxSoBjKQ6NmA7U_egy3jzN3vyueRaYxgUFUlzctn0ANuzYj8mVmWbfCjeo_5hkFs8MowgpgxBX5ZsBcXGmvWU7Yg/s400/scale_december_5.jpg)
These comparisons show that each of the above painting places a different kind of emphasis on subject. Whereas painting #6 brings us right into the little girls thoughts, painting #2 is as much about the market and street as about the person making a selection at the market.
So, when we compose, the closer we want the viewer to be to the subject, the larger the image of the subject becomes in our painting. The more important we want the surroundings to be to the subject, the smaller the subject becomes as compared to other things in the painting.
When we are very close to the subject, our composing of the elements switch pretty much to shapes within the subject and with less attention on fitting the subject into space. On the other hand, when we want the focus to be about human beings in a particular environment or situation, our handling of the elements changes in order to place the emphasis where we want it to be. Whatever our intent, the compositional principles are tools that can help us make the painting say and do what we want it to.
Compare these two paintings by Edward Hopper and Anders Zorn:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7DB-BlUaHVx-6ombLcuFKMAJOkBxsTKiYQR-ouWiMbtrprsC5Koap9S5jigUDQ9BC09mjB2pxKBCkSGz2O3z8BpuWaSg7U14Ic_In_6bfX5ciFq3ZZR60eUSr9RA_n2qite2lPLEphrM/s400/scale_december_5-2.jpg)
These same principle works with other subjects. Look at these paintings by Marc Hanson.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitjQlRu5rYw3Vy4PwM1gT9LTBmygKoql74Ya2_qGO-bOW3lDWHJHxlJQfV1EZCg1bvhE8VNtEOWZk-uADkUcjSop0Fknw_aZKv4j3AGUp2V5UH_1ZdNVROTgBod244OffI7e5md_d6FB8/s400/marc_hanson_scale.jpg)
Do a bit of blog surfing and look for your reaction to paintings based on how close the artist has placed you to the subject. One place to start is HERE where Karen Jurick, in her new book, shows fifty of her recent paintings on one contact sheet. Seeing them all together, you can sense the role that scale plays in creating a relationship between the viewer and the subject.
It becomes, after all, a matter of what you want to say. The composing principles then become the tools to help you say that successfully.
I hope in these two posts I have addressed what Diana was asking for.
4 comments:
WOW! I get to be the first comment! Beautiful blog, very concise and valuable. I'm going next to Karen Jurick's site. I sometimes look at my source photos from Europe and wonder why I got so zoomed in on my subjects. I think I am thinking get the detail, but sometimes I wish I had more background.
thanks for a good one.
Wonderful information, Dianne. Thank you so much for exploring it. You answered my questions and then some.
Dar, I just realized it was you who asked the question, not Diana. I'm not really senile, just absent-minded. Anyway, I've made the correction in both posts. Thanks for asking the question--it gave me a fun topic to explore. Ask more.
You'd better install a paypal button. I have lots of questions!
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