Constructive drawing of a still life of geometric bodies:
Work on the composition of the drawing in sheet space

Table of contents

Work on the composition of the drawing in sheet space

The drawing must begin with the choice of the point from which all objects of still life are best revealed, as well as with the composition of the drawing in the space of the sheet.

At this stage of the study of the figure, the composition of the figure we will understand as the organization of the space of the sheet. In the two-dimensional space of the sheet, which has only height and width, we must reflect the objects of still life so that they all fit onto the sheet and are not crowded in this space (but could not get lost in it). The mass of still life objects depicted on the sheet should be in equilibrium with the space of the sheet. We should not have the desire to move this mass in any direction or cut off part of the sheet.

Composition (from the Latin word compositio) - compilation, connection. This term is used in relation to the action associated with the creative process, and expresses the final product of the action. In this final creative product, we have compiled and combined into one whole the individual parts, we got the composition. A staged educational still life is already a compiled composition; it’s another matter that it is not perceived as interesting from any point of view, therefore it is permissible to adjust the position of objects in a still-life drawing. It is permissible to move still life objects in the space of your sheet without changing their proportional relations. Then you just need to combine the staged still life with the space of the sheet, that is, decide the composition of the sheet, which consists of two elements. This is the sheet space and the mass of still life you have chosen in the sheet space.

You can see your future composition if you use the following method. You need to cut out a viewport in a small sheet format, the proportional ratios of the sides of which correspond to the proportional ratios of the sides of the sheet of your composition, and looking through it at a staged still life, select a composition option.

Select the position of the sheet format vertically or horizontally according to the future composition. With a light line, observing the proportions, draw a silhouette of the mass of the geometric bodies of the still life on the sheet. If the composition of the sheet meets the above requirements, then you can proceed directly to the drawing.