Book recommendation request (composition)

[Sepulverture]

I'm looking for for recommendations on books that can help give a solid foundational knowledge in composition, and dynamic/dramatic lighting.

The names of the authors as well as the book titles would be greatly appreciated.

Also if anyone knows of any good instructional videos that'd be cool too.

Thanks!

[Jason Rainville]

There's a book I got: Drawing and Painting Fantasy Landscapes and Cityscapes by Rob Alexander that had a few good nuggets on composition. Among those are how to mass things together properly, creating good eyeflow, colours, how to create the sense of morning and dusk.

Though it might not be specifically what you're looking for. There's also Picture this: How Pictures work by Molly Bang that elwell recommended to me a while back. It approaches composition and picture making at its most basic level, and even though it's short, it has a lot of info in it.

[Elwell]

I'll second my own recommendation of Molly Bang's book, it's the bast basic intro out there.
The Art of Color and Design by Maitland Graves is more advanced and in depth. It's out of print, but used copies are pretty easy to come by and not too expensive (although shipping to the far east might be).
There's some good information on composition in Loomis' Creative Illustration, Speed's the Practice and Science of Drawing, and the original Famous Artists School course, all of which can be found on line with some digging.

[briggsy@ashtons]

The Art of Color and Design by Maitland Graves is available free online as page images at the Digital Library of India. As usual from this source the illustrations are very bad, but the text is clear.
http://dli.cdacnoida.in/DL.aspx?BookID=5780

The page links are:
http://dli.cdacnoida.in/c/Delhi%20University/DUHDD40-00293/PTIFF/00000001.tif
TO
http://dli.cdacnoida.in/c/Delhi%20University/DUHDD40-00293/PTIFF/00000470.tif

Tips on batch downloading here
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1837971&postcount=79
or I can upload a pdf if anyone wants

[AndreasM]

H R Poore - Pictorial Composition:
Edit: in case you didn't know, it's a free downloadable pdf.

http://www.archive.org/details/pictorialcomposi00pooriala

[Noah Bradley]

I can upload a pdf if anyone wants

Pretty please? :asspat:

:)

[Sepulverture]

Thanks guys for your suggestions, I'll check them out and see if shipping for the hard copy books isn't too outrageous.

That pdf would be cool also, if you could post that up that'd be cool!

Thanks again guys!

[briggsy@ashtons]

Here it is:

Maitland Graves, 1951. The Art of Color and Design.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/yxzmxnmh9ub

[Elwell]

Thanks for the PDF. My copy is the '41 first edition, so there's quite a bit of additional material.
Someone should really make an on-line version of the Graves design test.

[tensai]

One of the most extensive and well written books I know about composition is 'Design and Composition' by Nathan Goldstein.
It's great to have in combination with How Pictures work by Molly Bang; which is super concise, while Goldstein is pretty extensive.
Chapters:
-Design and Composition (principles like balance, emphasis, unity, visual elements).
-A chapter each on Line; Shape; Value; Volume; Space; Texture; Color. Each chapter with examples, varieties of each element and how they work and the relations to the other elements etc. etc..
-Further Compositional Factors; about elements interacting, tension, etc.
-Forming of Compositional Order; outlay and examples of basic compositional structures (the grid, the diamond, the bridge etc etc).
-Compositions, some case histories (analyses of paintings).
278 pages of high quality content, good picture examples, and none of that fluff or filler you get in so many books.
Highly recommended..

[Sepulverture]

Thanks a lot for the link to the graves downloaded. I've downloaded it and started reading it. Looking forward to getting what I can out of this book!

Thanks again to all you for your book recommendations!

[Farvus]

Wow. Thanks a lot for the PDF download! I tried reading Pictorial Composition by H R Poore but it's lots text and not enough of visual examples.

[Farsh]

Thank you very much briggsy.

[Kalen]

Try " Art and Visual Perception" by Rudolf Arnheim. It is quite unique mix of art theory and psychology explaining not only ways to organize your composition but also how it will be perceived by viewers on subconscius level. I second Elwell in recomending Creative Illustration and ( especially )Practice and Science of Drawing as well. Haven't red rest of recomended books though

[bhanu]

GOt these results from keyword composition art
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Composition%20(Art)% 22