Visual Language- Composition

In visual language on Wednesday we talked about composition and how it can make for great illustration, we read a handout from a school in Connecticut which was so interesting. Amongst other things it said that composition meant the selection and arrangement of appropriate elements within the picture space so that they express the artists idea clearly and effectively. This put it so simply to me and made me so painfully aware of how much I'd not been considering composition in my work enough at all. 

In the hand out it also said that a good way to consider composition is to make all the shapes that you know will feature in your picture simplified and then just re-jiggle them until you find the best arrangement. I think in future projects I might consider doing this using paper cutouts and a photocopier. BUT, for this task, we were given three elements we had to include in a drawing and were told to sketch it out from three different viewpoints.

My three elements:
- a detective
- a coin
- a kitchen

Then we have to whittle these down to the best composition and make a final image from it using wet media (which is exciting because I've not painted anything in ages). 

For this task I think I need to keep in mind that sketching can be rough and still look effective, I need to keep telling myself to look at these Josh Cochran sketches, that are so simple compared to the final image but still get across exactly what he intends to do in the finished piece. I also need to remember to use light and shade in my sketches to my advantage, to create a sense of mood in an image.