Achieving a good composition is crucial to getting an appealing painting or picture. Whether it’s digital painting, matte painting, visual design, photography or films, getting this aspect correct can make or break it. That’s why it’s so important to understand what makes up a good composition, and what techniques one should implement in order to achieve that.

In last week’s tutorial, we looked at creating environment art thumbnails. So for this week’s article, I want to shine light on a highly important subject that goes together with that: creating good compositions.

This won’t be another one of those “rule of thirds” articles, because composition encompasses not only that, but a myriad of principles. I will be going through some of the most fundamental techniques and mindsets, and direct it primarily at digital painting. It’s however equally as applicable on any other visual media; logos, videos, photos, banners, and anything that is presented visually.