Today we’re sharing a great FREE mini class from art agent Lilla Rogers on composition for illustrators, to help you become a composition master!
As an educator, Lilla has taught everyone from little kids to professional artists, but one thing remains constant: she breaks down complex ideas in a way that makes it whimsical and fun, and accessible for everyone. Or as Lilla says, “I trick you into doing your best work.” Just check out this lovely composition for illustrators class to see what we mean.
Kick-ass composition for illustrators by Lilla Rogers
Lilla here. Years and years of illustrating full-time taught me ways to design a page, and now I’ll share them with you. I’ve gathered some flora from my mother-in-law’s bucolic country garden in Western Massachusetts to show you some of my own favorite composition layouts.
How your artwork is composed is so important! I’ve seen really great imagery passed on by art directors because the overall layout is not as strong as it could be. Don’t let that happen to you!
Perhaps you’ve taken Creating Collections for Home Décor and you want to present your product ideas in a striking page. Maybe you’re making fabric patterns or a magazine illustration and you want the items that you’ve drawn to make a beautifully designed page. There are a million ways to compose a page. Some of you like making a calm and quiet piece of art and some of you love a massively full page. What is your busy-ness quotient? Today, you’ll explore this, and look at six compositional layouts, before making a composition using random items you find.
Composition Style #1: Big/Little Layout
Vary scale. Show one really, really big thing and then a few little things.
Let’s look at a terrific compositional layout I call Big/Little. Here’s a really big grape leaf and then bits of other things that are much smaller. The little bits can be lined up vertically on an invisible grid, like so:
Big/little composition 1
Notice how everything fills the rectangle nicely. Even the stem of the big grape leaf plays a role.
Very often, I notice that artists are afraid to draw something huge on the page. Everything is the same size, and sometimes that makes the artwork less dynamic than it could be. So think about showing a BIG thing. It adds instant drama.
Let’s do Big/Little yet another way.
Big/little composition 2
Again, we’ve got a really big item—the orange day lily—and then smaller items that are placed on the right, lined up vertically.
Here’s another Big/Little:
Big/little composition 3
This time I haven’t lined up the small items vertically on the right. They aren’t round and small like the ones above; they are verticals. The big white hydrangea bloom is a strong horizontal which balances out all the verticals. Isn’t composition amazing? It’s such a puzzle to solve.
Composition Style #2: Lush with Borders Layout
In this example, I’ve used the composition I showed you first (with that grape leaf), and then filled the page to the brim. I’ve then used long stems, vines, and branches to make an informal border.
Lush with Borders Layout
Do you love a really full, busy page? Is too much never enough? Is lush your middle name? Then the above is for you.
Composition Style #3: Big and Thin Layout
Here’s a variation on the Big/Little composition format. I call it Big and Thin. I’ve tipped the big False Solomon Seal at an angle.
Big/thin composition 1
Here’s another example of Big and Thin going in another direction. It’s very much about lining the items up on an invisible grid. You graphic designers out there know what I’m talking about. This should be an easy game for you.
Big/thin composition 2
Composition Style #4: Symmetry
A classic favorite is Symmetry. It’s easy and fun to do. You can make such beauty on a page with a calming, structured, and balanced symmetrical design.
Symmetrical composition
I like the little nuts at the bottom. A bit of wit.
Composition Style #5: Triangle Symmetry
Now, let’s do a semi-symmetrical variation. Here, I’ve made a pyramid for you. There’s a very tall item in the middle, and then the items get shorter as they go outward to the sides. It’s a kind of symmetry—not identical on each side, but still.
Triangle symmetry 1
Here’s another Triangle Symmetry:
Triangle symmetry 2
In case you’re interested, (from left to right) that’s False Solomon Seal, Bee Balm, grapes, I don’t know, and a tiny rose petal.
Composition Style #6: Mosaic
Those of you that have taken my class know that I refer to an all-over design as a mosaic. It’s got spaces in between and stuff is every-which-way. It’s not easy to do well. Do remember to vary the sizes and shapes of your items. Try for verticals, horizontals, and diagonals; not just round stuff.
Mosaic
For more inspiration take a look at the work of @5ftinf on Instagram, who works wonders with nature and objects on her iconic wooden table.
I’ve never really found anywhere that teaches composition for illustrators the way I wanted to see it, in a way that shows you with concrete examples. Someone might say, change the composition, or the composition isn’t working, but I’ve never seen anyone break it down and give the different layouts names and explain them. Composition and design are hard! I hope that this has helped you to take some challenging concepts and start to understand them in a concrete way, and to add ammo to your tool kit. These are my made-up terms, by the way!
So now it’s your turn. You can dump out your bag, pocket, diaper bag, junk drawer, shell collection, or whatever. Then, make a well-balanced composition and share it with us. Do you like serene and minimal, or are you a maximalist? What pleases you in the laying out of objects? As always, there are no rules, so have fun. When you’re done, share it on Instagram with the tag #MATScomposition so I can see!
Lilla
xo
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We hope that you enjoyed the lesson! If you want more of Lilla’s whimsical teaching style then you can sign up for one of our self-paced classes and start TODAY! How about Lilla’s Art Recipes: Drawing Faces, in which Lilla teaches you how to draw faces in a way that is both accessible and fun?
See you in class!
Love
The Make Art That Sells team xxx
