Adjusting the Focus

And then there is the focus. A feature most notable in photography and videography, but also present in illustrations, paintings, and, in one way or another, other forms of art.

Focusing is optional. You can choose to have a fully clear and crisp picture showing everything in detail. But when focus is employed, it most closely resembles how our attention and brain work, simultaneously making it more compelling and complete. Furthermore, by focusing, you are able to show which planes and elements are most or least significant or relevant to the message that you are trying to convey. If not just bring awareness to certain ones, for better or for worse, for any reason. 

Through focus, you can make emphasis, give depth, and display motion. You could ask yourself which specific artworks you would like to bring any of this to. 

• Emphasis

What is important to notice? You can focus on key elements and let what is around them pale in comparison or basically vanish.

• Depth
How close or far away things are? You can focus on where your sight rests and let the rest become indistinguishable according to how short or long the distance across them is.

• Motion
What is still and what is moving? You can focus on what is still or slow, as that is what is most easily perceived and processed, and let what is moving or fast blur according to their movements.

Switching around the focus within the same frame or piece of work also makes for interesting and exciting revelations. So that is also something to try. 

CREDIT: AI-Generated Examples done on Leonardo.AI

Damsel (2024)

At the beginning of March, right after the movie was released, I started coming across clips of it and was intrigued by what else the story would tell. I figured that, maybe, I would watch it, in celebration of spring and fairytales, but my expectations of it were low so I soon forgot about it. However, as clips kept showing up, I eventually caved in and believed I would regret NOT watching it. 'Cause what if it's great? So, I did. And it was! (At least to me.)

Damsel is a Netflix production, a fairytale movie that is not quite a fairytale (unless your concept of fairytales includes the grimmer and darker sort, what's in between, and not just the happily-ever-after kind). And if the story fails to engage you, it'll still indulge your senses with majestic imagery.

If you're into fairytales, especially dragons, and who's been wronged to have their win after all, but tired of Prince Charming and the blind adoration of royalty, this is for you. And you might enjoy it on a fine night when the mood is right.

  SPOILER ALERT!   Keep reading at your own risk. There are spoilers ahead... 

Built Up

Maybe one day, a lot of the seemingly random and out-of-place things in your life will suddenly come up as insane foreshadowing to something major. Or maybe, they'll remain a compilation of experiences that, regardless, built you up.

Taking a Perspective

What is the perspective you’re taking? From which spot are you looking at things? This is something else to consider when making your work. You may go with a default, straightforward, line of vision. Or you could switch it around a bit more to make your work more compelling. To reveal and capture different sides and views of things. And ways to look at them. Direction, angle, distance, visibility. They all come into play.

• Direction
Where are you looking at? And how much are you seeing?

• Angle
Are you looking up, down, tilting slightly? How does that change what you are seeing?

• Distance
From how far away or up close are you looking? What context around it does it give or what minute details are you seeing?

• Visibility
What comes in between what you’re looking at? Is it getting blurry and foggy or are there other matter and objects blocking what you are seeing?

Furthermore, if you are getting technical, you could notice what is called a vanishing point. That is the point to which the lines and outlines that make out the visuals seem to be pulled to as perspective “shapes” them. It is possible for there to be a single vanishing point within a picture. But there can certainly be more than one as well while being realistic (and can get crazy in surrealism). Vanishing points can be marked and evident, being clearly reached, but they often hide behind planes (surfaces, barriers, etc.) while still “magnetizing” the forms affected.

CREDIT: AI-Generated Examples done on Leonardo.AI

Consumed by a Topic or Interest?

It is tempting and probable to be consumed by a topic or interest (or discourse around it) and direct all (or too much) of one's attention and resources to it. So here is a friendly reminder to be watchful of that and take a step back or practice moderation when there is no longer an urgency or when it is becoming counterproductive to your work. Choose the particular vias and the amount of investment you will dedicate to them that allow you to still properly tend to what you must. And be clear about it if necessary!

Making a Composition

When making a composition, visual or otherwise, there are a few things that can help make it pleasing, interesting, and/or exciting to perceive. And if that’s the goal, you can keep them in mind and bring them in when working on a composition. 

• Theme

One defined theme, whether it is readily apparent or not, can tie everything else together. You may have several themes within a composition, but if they are not connected to an overarching one, it comes across as disjointed. Which isn’t necessarily going to render it worthless, but would be an aspect in which it is void.

• Palette

A select number of colors or, in the wider sense, of anything you “paint” and “fill in” with, can both facilitate and challenge you to strategize with what you’re making. And whether the number is high or low, something peculiar can come out of it.

• Framing

What are the limits surrounding what you are grasping or covering? What is the size and proportions of this frame? When you look around through a frame, what do you let inside of it? Is it in some manner noticeably outlined? This makes the infinite finite, granting a sense of completion though it may still only be one part of many in a series.

• Margin

Often, leaving some margin between the edges and significant elements within, allows to better capture what is presented. There is room and ease to direct attention toward what is mainly happening. It is important, though, to know when it is too little or too much.

• Distribution

Order and placement matter. At least for what your intention is and what kind of journey, trip, or ride you’re doing. Is it a linear or non-linear progression? Are you leaping around and then patching up? What should be noticed first and then afterward?

• Grouping

When several components make it to the composition, you may have groups and even subgroups within it. What you are grouping by is up to you if you will at all. But this is often appreciated and yet another form of engaging in how it is processed.

• Balancing

Quite optional, but yet another feature that can make it stand out. How are you counteracting excesses and extremes? Of space, of content, of form…

• Alignment

Will there be symmetry, asymmetry, or both? Parallels, perpendiculars, or both? How do points meet or stand apart? Is sacred geometry involved at all? Or is it a neat and tidy design that allows no incongruence or dissonance?

• Separation

How close together or far away is everything? And which are which? Are elements touching or superimposed or is there space between them? What would be most suitable?

• Layering

What is at the forefront, what is in the background, and what is in between? Or alternatively, how intricate and elaborate is what is contained? Will it be plain and simple or have different layers to it?

• Story

Are you telling a story through it or solely presenting something to the senses? If you intend to have it say more, you can do so as obviously or subtly as you deem. Be it long or short. Convoluted or straightforward.  

• Secrets

And as a means of communication, would you be hiding “secrets” in it? Barely perceivable details, here and there, meant for only the extremely perceptive to find? Encoded and to be deciphered?

How you make your compositions, all or any of them, is your choice (and you could sense it out until you’re satisfied instead). You may find that you naturally lean to one or more of the above when making them. This is part of what leaves your unique footprint on your artwork. But if you consider that they are lacking or have room for more, see what else you could be paying attention to - whether it falls under or outside of any of the already mentioned here.

CREDIT: AI-Generated Examples done on Leonardo.AI

Art that Makes a Difference

Had a long period of being nonchalant, indifferent even, about famous artists whose work I loved because, "Um, celebrities, yeah, whatever..." So my appreciation was more directed toward merely the fact that something happened to be made (through and by them) that turned out to be of great importance to me and could reach me while I most needed it. And even if they didn't go out of their way for me and were already getting plenty in return, I could still be immensely grateful for it, acknowledging that it could as well not exist, that they could have taken different (maybe easier) paths - but they didn't and went through what they had to for and because of it. I'm still always going to love more a person who actually knows I exist and cares for me in particular, but that doesn't negate that, at some point, all I had to get me through a dark time was, let's say, listening to a song from an artist I don't expect to ever meet or especially matter to. And I wouldn't know what was in their heart, exactly, when they made art for the public, but a genuine desire to help is not entirely impossible. So thank goodness for that!