Paint with Joni >> Oil Painting Lessons >> Point of Focus in Painting
Point of Focus
"If all the world were clear, art would not exist."
-Albert Camus
First decide what the main point of focus should be. There is no correct point of focus. Each artist will look at the same scene and choose a different point of focus. And each will be right, because it is their creation. Ways of emphasizing your main focus objects may be to make then larger, brighter or clearer than in real life. Other objects can be rendered less distinct or maybe smaller.
What other objects should be included in the composition? Do they add
to what you are trying to accomplish? Or do they detract? Should they
be removed or simply deemphasized?
Another quote might help here:
Art results not when there is
nothing that can be added, but when there is nothing that can be taken
away.
-James O. Collins
Visualize the final result. In your every day life, try to imagine how
you could improve the composition of the things you see.
Claude Manet uses Light and Dark to draw the viewer's eye to the Beer
Waitress instead of the larger, closer foreground figure.
3. Now that you have decided what your main focal point will be, it is time to sketch your composition. Brightness, color, size and detail are not the only tools you can use to draw the viewer's attention. Through clever composition you can actually guide the viewer's eyes through the picture and cause them to linger on the point of focus. Most viewers start at the lower left of the painting move through the scene to the right.
Notice How Manet draws the eye from the lower left to the right, then
back into the painting and not off the right edge.
Lines, clarity, size and brightness can be used to lead the way. You should not let the viewer keep going right and off of the painting. Use your composition to lead their eyes back to the focal point.
Can you see the techniques that Rembrant uses to draw the
viewer's eye to the focal point?
The pictures below are mirror images of each other. Does one seem better than the other? Why?
