Composition exercises?

[Exoats]

Hey, so I've determined that one of my major weaknesses is composition, bringing together seperate elements to make a whole, complete picture. I want to know if anybody knows of any articles on the net (or books off the net) that have guidance on composition, or if you've got any ideas for exercises I could do to improve my skill in composition.

That sounds lame. Obviously what I need to do is practice composition, and I can do that by pulling out my sketchbook and drawing things overlapping each other and backgrounds and things until I start getting things that look right, and then I'll be on the right track and can keep going because I'll know what the hell I'm doing. So I'll do that. Thanks me, for answering my call for help!

Has anybody got any advice on grokking composition, though?

[dogfood]

There are a lot of books that deal with it to some degree. I like Harley Brown's Eternal Truths for Every Artist. Just sitting in the bookstore can do it for you, though.

[el coro]

i have found using a sumi brush to rough in thumbnails has helped me enormously. balancing light and dark shapes is taken to its simplest form that way, and the brushes organic nature makes for more fluid movement. also, just look how other muthafuckaz do it. good luck and i hope this helps :)-c36

[ReAkshun]

If you want theory:

Read Loomis's section about composition (formal and informal) in "Creative Illustration."

Also, do a search on Marshall Vandruff (word around town is this guy knows a little something). His key concept is "contrasting opposites."

You're gonna have to smoke on that one or take his class...
and then, smoke.

If you wanna explore on your own:

Get a camera, a sketchbook, and your eyeballs outside and just start framing some shit the way you like it.

if you don't have a camera/viewfinder:

TAKE your left hand and put it a foot away from face, palm forward flat and thumb sticking up.

TAKE your right hand with backhand facing you, the same distance as the left.
MAKE the right hand thumb touch the left hand fingers to make a ghetto viewfinder.

....start framing.

Carnivore method:

Get pictures of everything you like and make studies/copies of it. Pencil tonal sketches work fine. Sometimes, marker or something more prone to value is better. Don't just copy it. Devour it. If you have a project or subject matter that you know someone else handled pretty damn good...get their shit and pic it apart. But, don't "bite" it...just "eat" it...so you can make your own "shit". hehe.

abstract method:

draw random overlapping rectangles, circles, squares, arcs, and parallels and see if any of that shit makes...uh...

fukkit.

just try some shit and see what comes out.

have fun. :}