Think of your drawing as a map. Where do you want the viewer to travel? Should they take the scenic route or get straight to the main attraction? Whatever the case may be, don’t lead them astray! Here are the key components to drawing:
Make A Run From The Border
Always try to avoid emphasizing the border of your composition – unless, of course, that’s your focal point!
Use diagonal lines to point to (or guide the viewer’s eyes to) the focal point. For instance: your focal point might be a bicycle leaned up against the trunk of a tree. Add a house nearby with the diagonal roof pointing downwards to the bicycle. The tree trunk will act as a vertical wall preventing the eye from wandering further horizontally. Depending on how you create the tree, it might lead the eye vertically upwards – in which case, you might need to add another object to keep the eye from wandering vertically upwards and right off the page!
Example: Add a branch pointing back to the sloping roof. This will create a cyclical map for the viewer’s eye to follow:
From the roof to the bicycle
From the bicycle up the trunk to the extending branch
From the extending branch to the roof
From the roof to the bicycle…
Try adding partial objects along the edges of your piece. These will act as walls and prevent the eye from wandering off the edge of the work. These partial objects can best be used as directional guides if they contain ‘pointers.’ The extending branch and sloping roof discussed above are examples of a ‘pointer.’
Landscape
Use roads or rivers running into the distance as a guide. Conventional perspective works this way with all lines converging at the vanishing point within the drawing. Rivers and roads can be used to guide the viewer’s eye to the focal point of the piece.
Still Life
Create spaces around and between your objects that are as interesting as the objects themselves. Doors and windows link inner and outer spaces in an interior view.
Use the shadows to your advantage! Shadows can be used as directional guiding lines (much like the roads or rivers in a landscape drawing).
Figure Drawing
One of the most valuable ‘pointers’ is the eyes of the subject. The direction of the subject’s (figure’s) glance is often the next place the viewer looks to see. If you want to create emphasis on a particular part of your piece, have the figure glancing in that direction.
The Triangular Composition
Using a triangular shape (or suggested shape) to unite your objects within a piece is an excellent way to create a composition. As an example: Picture three people sitting in a row one short, one tall, one short. The eye is guided across all three heads –> from the first short figure’s head diagonally upwards to the tallest figure’s head, from there the glance is a downwards diagonal slope to the third head. From that point the eye can be directed back to the first figure to close the triangular form. Many still lifes are created this way: short object, tall object, short object.