A few initial doodles.

It's been a while since I've posted. Things are starting to get a little hectic, though I have finished up and completed my dissertation, which is a massive chunk off my mind. Now the writing is out of the way I feel I can fully concentrate on my artwork, I still feel in a bit of an art block but slowly doing little sketches is helping immensely

Also this marks the first project where I done my essay ahead of time and didn't leave it till last minute, but also where I felt more confident in my writing ability than my drawing ... weird! Anyway, here are a few drawings I done following the silhouettes, I feel I jumped the gun with a few of them as some of the silhouettes I found very inspiring!

Pear of Anguish is my favourite of the three and I find her so inspiring, so accidentally I let my feelings get in the way and drew her the most, I need to get her more pointy I think, I was sent this image of a teapot from Alice Madness and it really looks how I want the Pear to look, quick metal and sharp! wouldn't want tea from that! Given that the idea behind her is a French prostitute I want her to look sultry but that she could beat you up as well. Also I need her to have an expression of pain, shes been tortured with the Pear in the mouth and genitals so this would come across with the way she walked and held her face.

Next is the rat torture, I really went a bit Silent Hill with this one and I think it works really well, using the rat bucket in the costume is so creepy! I still need to work out how she will look and stand with a hollowed out stomach, maybe she'd need some metal supports to hold herself up? I want her to look plague ridden and gross so using the tryphophobia has work nicely here, just need to work out how the small bites and pock marks will look in a larger image, will they get hidden in the detail?

and last, the iron maiden, only one image here, I just can't get connected to the character, maybe its the fact I won't see much of her ...that would just be ironic. This is the character I need to work on the most.

100 Silhouettes

Now I have my phobias and my devices settled I can begin my creative process after like a month of
not being able to do the simplest thing art wise.

I normally don't keep things in mind when doing my silhouettes but this time I kept the devices in mind to help me visualise the characters outfits. I aimed for 60, but I ended up with 100. Out of these I will get choose my favourites that I feel represent the characters the best.

Whilst doing these I found a really interesting brush and I ended up using that the most. Now comes the hard part .... Choosing a favourite! We all know how good I am with choices!

Humanised phobias.

I started looking to artists who had used phobias in their work to understand how I can add them to my humanised versions of the torture devices, I came across these pieces by artist John Plato Vassocopoulo

1931’s Phobia was created with the assistance of noted psychoanalyst Henry Stack Sullivan, after a friend of the illustrator had a nervous breakdown. The first lines of the book began with “I must began by apologizing. I am not a psychiatrist”. Yet, despite the unconventional depictions of man’s fear, the limited edition publication became a turning point in John Vassos career. He never published another book of illustrations, but his further years, spent doing works of graphic, industrial design and occasional artpieces, had a conceptual basis on that series of 24 plates. 

The author of  Codex 99, the blog that originally published the following images, describe Vassos’s depiction of Mechanophobia (fear of machinery) in this way: “The illustration – part art nouveau, part art deco and part German expressionism – shows not only a terror of machines but captures more generally the growing unease with the urbanism and industrialization of the early 20th century (a recurrent theme in much of Vassos’ work)".

The illustrations were printed using the Knudson lithographic process, patented in 1915 by the Danish Hugo Knudson and a direct fore- runner of the modern halftone.

Mechanophobia (fear of machinery)

 

Acrophobia – fear of high places

Claustrophobia – fear of enclosed spaces

Astrophobia – fear of storms

Zoophobia – fear of animals

Potamophobia – fear of running water

Climacophobia – fear of falling down stairs

Batophobia – fear of falling objects

Dromophobia – fear of crossing the street

Monophobia – fear of being alone

Phagophobia – fear of swallowing

Syphilophobia – fear of syphilis

Pantophobia – fear of everything

Aichmophobia - fear of Sharp and Pointed Objects

I found these rather chilling, the greyscale adds to the mood and each piece depicts each phobia really well. In particular the claustrophobia image, the feeling of tightness is obvious. Aichmophobia is also really well done. The bodies being pierced with the scissors and the fencing combined with the lack of facial expression is really creepy.

Understanding my Boss Characters.

• Look into similar game bosses
• Look into what history they belong to
• Create a backstory for them
• Why do they look the way they look?
• What type of game would they belong to?

I feel the idea needs a name, I came up with 'Mind Games' because the idea behind the story is that the main character would feel he is being affected mentally by these monsters using his phobias against him, hence Mind Games, here is a definition below.

mind games a course of psychologically manipulative behaviour intended to discomfit another person or gain an advantage over them.'

Game Type. 

Game type will be survival horror genre, in a similar vein to Silent Hill, Dead Space and Bioshock.

Story of why the objects became human.

Guy has several phobias/fears

Stuck in a building surrounded by torture devices

Something goes wrong …

Devices come to life as half devices/ half monsters that match his phobias between them

Must escape the devices and their minions whilst trying to regain composure.

Is what is happening real or is it all mind games?

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Devices

The Pear of Anguish: Rips orifices and dislocates jaw bones. 

The Pear will be inspired by 1700’s French fashion, the actual pear itself goes back to the 1600’s so it would have been around at that time period. She will feature the traditional fashion of panniers and stays, powderpuff wig, heavily made up face with beauty spots and corseted waist.

To work with the metallic image of the pear of anguish I will be using a steampunk style, and using metallic colours, her mouth will have been repaired with metal pieces/cogs to help stop it flopping around. The already thin waist will be accentuated with the French corset to highlight how thin the character is. Visually the character will have a hanging jaw and her mouth will be ripped to the cheeks. The character has lost the ability to use her jaw due to it being broken, therefore she has lost the ability to eat and cannot drink well. She will have the symptoms and appearance of someone suffering with Anorexia, symptoms of which are …

• Losing a lot of weight
• Feeling weak and have less muscle
• Finding it hard to concentrate, being in a bad mood
• Growing soft, fine hair on the body and face
• Having poor circulation, feeling cold
• Having dry, rough or discoloured skin, hair falling out
• Sleeping problems
• Being dehydrated

Creating some background for this character, based on what the pear was used for, I want this character to be some kind of prostitute or a harlot, who was tortured after having been caught having an affair with a married rich man who died after being tortured by the pear of anguish

In monster form her name would be “Anjou” which is a European pear.

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Iron Maiden: It's an upright sarcophagus with spikes on the inner surfaces. Double doors open on the front, allowing entrance for the victim. Once inside, the doors were closed, the strategically placed short spikes would pierce vital organs. The victim would linger and bleed to death over several hours.

The Iron Maiden (taking artistic license with it as supposedly it wasn’t actually used) will be inspired by Medieval times, she is going to feature a predominant headpiece, body covering robes in dark shades and will be locked up to play off of cleithrophobia.

To work with the enclosing iron maiden I will be looking to make the clothing overshadow the frame of the body, lots of structured clothing that hides the body. With the metal nature of the iron maiden the colours will be silvers and greys with splashes of red for blood. I want to show that under the metal is a human inside, I want to do this either by having sections of the body on show, and the bits that are covered with holes in them, the head area I want to be very extravagant. As the spikes may not be showing I want to use these as weapons of some sort.

Creating some background for this character, based on what the Iron maiden would have been used for, I want this character to have been put inside the maiden because she was harbouring a criminal who was trying to perpetrate treason, instead of giving her torturers the relevant information she died inside the iron maiden due to blood loss and was forgotten about.

In monster form her name would be “Claustrum”. This is from the name for Claustrophobia, Claustrum is Latin for ‘lock, bolt’ plus phobia 

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Rat Torture: Rats may be used to torture a victim by encouraging them to attack and eat them alive. The "Rats Dungeon" or "Dungeon of the Rats" was a feature of the Tower of London "A cell below high-water mark and totally dark" would draw in rats from the River Thames as the tide flowed in. Prisoners would have their "alarm excited" and in some instances have "flesh ... torn from the arms and legs".

Rat torture will be inspired by the Elizabethan era. The character is based on ladies-in-waiting, so will feature clothing that is of good quality and features aspects of royal court life.

To work with this very device-less torture I will be emphasising on the rats and the buckets that were used to hold the rats in place. I want to combine the Elizabethan ruffs with this to create elaborate sculptures on the body. The body will be more revealed with this character, to replicate the eating of the stomach I will have a hole through the body, where rats live instead of having organs and gore showing. The body will be covered in rope and strappings where the bucket once was playing on the merinthophobia. At least one limb will still be bound and useless. The body will be covered in clusters of rat bite, buboes and sores to replicate trypophobia

Creating some background for this character, based on the time period and the method of torture, the character would have been a lady-in-waiting for a high up Elizabethan Lady. Much like the iron maiden character torture was used to extract information. Implicated in an assassination attempt on the Queen, the character was placed by the River Thames and tortured to death via rat bucket, whilst in the company of the rats she acquired the plague.

In monster form her name would be “Bubónica”. This is taken from the Spanish for Bubonic Plague, linking in with the disease that came from the fleas that rat carried with them.

The grand reveal of phobias!

I feel like this is a massive reveal because I've spent so long trying to decide what to go for and it feels like I've wittered on about it for ages. This post will be the choices I have settled on, general information about those phobias and how I can try to present them in visual form! It feels really good to get this part of the research out of the way because it means I can move on now!

These are the phobias I have selected after looking through the feedback I got, I also had a think about it to decide whether or not these phobias would work artistically.

Iron Maiden:

• Claustrophobia - Fear of confined spaces.
• Haemophobia - Fear of blood.
• Cleithrophobia - Fear of being locked in an enclosed place.

Pear of Anguish:

• Aichmophobia - Fear of needles or pointed objects.
• Mechanophobia - Fear of machines.
• Agliophobia - Fear of pain (something painful about to happen).

Rat Torture:

• Merinthophobia- Fear of being bound or tied up.
• Musophobia - Fear of mice and rats.
• Trypophobia - Fear of holes.

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Here is the definition of each phobia listed in device order.

Iron Maiden –

Claustrophobia is a type of situational phobia (fear of certain situations) where an individual experiences great fear of small or enclosed spaces. A person suffering from Claustrophobia might be afraid of going in elevators. Many claustrophobic individuals are also known to fear being inside tunnels, caves, mines, or air planes. They typically report seeing images of being trapped or unable to escape from such places and are known to go to great lengths to avoid them.

Causes of fear of small and enclosed spaces

Claustrophobia is a common social phobia affecting nearly 4% people worldwide. Scientists believe that the following reasons may lead to this phobia:

• People with spatial distortion are more likely to fear enclosed and small spaces. They tend to have an exaggerated sense of their personal space.
• Generally, people with higher tendency towards anxiety disorders are also likelier to be claustrophobic.
• Those with a history of panic disorder or prone to panic attacks are likelier to have the fear of small and confined spaces.
• Traumatic past experiences are also known to play a role in the development of the fear of small spaces. For example, children that have been accidently trapped in closets or punished are at higher risks for developing Claustrophobia.
• Some theories also suggest that it could be an evolutionary phobia, which means that the fear of small spaces could have some evolutionary benefit.

Thus, the development of this social phobia is complex but the treatment for it almost always focuses on reducing the sufferer’s anxiety.

Symptoms of Claustrophobia

The essence of this phobia is the fear of being trapped or unable to escape or that of “being buried alive”. Thus, a sufferer might experience both physical and psychological symptoms:

• Thoughts or images of being buried alive or trapped
• Thoughts of death
• Feeling like running away
• Inability to distinguish between what is real and unreal

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Hemophobia or the extreme fear of blood, elicits a phobic reaction from the suffering individual at the sight of blood, which may or may not be his own. Often, there is confusion between Hemophobia and the fear of needles. A person may be afraid of having his blood drawn which can be mistaken for Trypanophobia (or the extreme fear of needles). In fact; this common specific phobia is actually categorized broadly as blood-injection-injury phobia.

Causes of fear of blood phobia.

• In general, the fear of blood phobia is triggered by a fear of the field of medicine as it is often related to blood, injections, injury, pain and death.
• TV and movie images can also contribute to this fear. Halloween culture, gory bloody movies, serial killer murder stories etc have also been known to cause this phobia.
• Bleeding is often a sign or indication that there is something wrong with the body. Hence, hypochondriasis or nosophobias are also linked to Hemophobia. Hypochondriasis and Nosophobia are both characterized by a fear of falling sick or developing specific diseases like cancer, diabetes etc.
• The fear of germs or Mysophobia can also trigger Hemophobia since the individual is afraid of ‘catching germs’ from someone else’s blood.
• Fear of blood is also linked to the fear of death or Thanatophobia.
• The sight of blood often causes the individual to faint; s/he may fear embarrassing oneself by fainting, which is actually the body’s defense response to protect itself from further stress.
• As with other extreme phobias, the fear of blood can be brought on by a prior negative or traumatic childhood experience with blood.

Symptoms of Hemophobia

The similarities with other phobia symptoms are:  anxiety, nausea, increased heart rate, sweating, trembling or shaking at the sight of blood. This is followed by a sudden drop in blood pressure and heart rate that leads the individual to faint, become pale or weak, which are not seen in other phobia reactions.

Fainting occurs because the brain does not receive adequate blood supply. Fainting or having a panic attack can be an ‘embarrassment’ to the individual who then tries to avoid seeing blood at all costs.

Hemophobics not only fear seeing their own blood or that of others, in some cases, they may even have an anxiety attack upon seeing blood of animals.

The phobia can sometimes consume one to the degree that it interferes with his/her daily life. The sufferer might refuse to visit a doctor or dentist or even see printed pictures of movies involving blood. S/he may lead a sedentary lifestyle in order to avoid sports related injuries.

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Cleithrophobia is the fear of being locked up in an enclosed space. Those who have this fear the loss of freedom and movement that they need in order to feel healthy. This fear has a close association with Claustrophobia. The idea of being confined in an enclosed space that offers no way out can be upsetting in both Claustrophobic and Cleithrophobic.

Symptoms of Cleithrophobia include

• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Syncope
• Increased heart rate.
• Panic attack

People who have been kidnapped or held prisoner will be highly susceptible to this phobia. They will feel severe terror when faced with the idea of going through a similar experience at other times in their lives. Imagining that you are locked up in an enclosed space will make you upset and anxious. And, if his reaction continues at an extreme level one maybe suffering from Cleithrophobia.


Pear Of Anguish - 

Agliophobia is the persistent, unwarranted and often irrational fear of pain. It is derived from the Greek word algo which means pain and phobos which means fear or dread. The dictionary defines pain as a “highly unpleasant sensation following an illness or injury or mental suffering or distress”. Thus, pain is subjective and what is extremely painful to one might trigger little or no response in another. Therefore, pain is treated as a complicated subject by psychologists and experts in the field of medicine. Pain indicates that something is wrong in the body. But in case of Agliophobia, there is an intense and constant anxiety in the sufferer’s mind about experiencing pain. This tends to aggravate his/her physical/emotional distress and can be highly disruptive in everyday as well as medical settings.

What causes Agliophobia?

Like in all other specific phobias, Agliophobia also originates from an intense traumatic experience in the past as well as intrinsic factors.  For example, highly sensitive people could be more prone to the fear of pain phobia. Even seeing their loved ones suffer can lead to a lifetime of fear of pain. Children who have experienced pain at the dentist’s or doctor’s office will be fearful of experiencing that pain all the time.

Symptoms of fear of pain phobia

• The fear of pain phobia is often mistaken for depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD, sleeping disorder, schizophrenia and so on. Depending on the extent to which one suffers, the disruptive phobia can lead to many physical symptoms including:
• Shaking, trembling, sweating
• Crying, screaming
• Experiencing a full blown panic attack
• Rapid and shallow breathing, having an increased heart rate
• Experiencing dizziness, nausea and other gastrointestinal distress
• Inability to express self accurately

Often, medical and dental pain agliophobics end up aggravating their medical/dental condition as they refrain from seeking help for it. Their fear and paranoia about pain might also make them turn to excessive use of pain relievers which could cause an overdose.

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Aichmophobia is a specific phobia which is defined as an abnormal and morbid fear of sharp objects such as knives, needles, and pencils.  This type of phobia is often mistaken for Trypanophobia which is an irrational and extreme fear of medical procedures which involve injections and/or hypodermic needles.

Symptoms of Aichmophobia

• Pounding heart, palpitations or accelerated heartbeat
• Chest pain and/or discomfort
• Shortness of breath
• Shaking or trembling and excessive sweating
• Stomach distress and nausea
• Feeling of being detached from reality
• Fear of dying, losing control, going crazy or fainting

Aichmophobia may cause intense and disabling anxiety, panic and fear. Patients may recognize that their fear is unreasonable and excessive, but they will try as much as possible to avoid places or situations which are related to their fear. This avoidance may start to interfere in their normal routine and may cause significant distress.embarrassing themselves by fainting and hence they tend to avoid needles completely.

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Mechanophobia is the fear of machines. When machines were first used, many thought that this could take away jobs from many and some even viewed them as evil.

What causes Mechanophobia?

In the olden times, many reluctant to accept machines and this reluctance lead to fear. Fear of machines can also be caused due to a previous trauma by direct contact with a machine such as those who have missing limbs, fingers or toes or even crushed some bones. We live in an industrialized world, and machines have become a part of our daily living to the point that it would be so much trouble if one of our efficient machines in the workplace did not work. People who fear machines will always avoid industrial places or machinery. Their homes may have fireplaces for heat or candles for light. Some of them may have no trouble with the benefits of machinery as long as they don’t have to have physical contact with the machine itself.

Symptoms of Mechanophobia

• Dizziness
• Elevated heart rate and temperature
• Panic attacks
• Trembling
• Urge to flee.

Rat Torture -

Musophobia is the fear of mice or rats and the word originates from Latin Mus which means mice and Greek phobos which means deep fear or dread. Other terms used for fear of rats and mice include Murophobia, which is derived from the word ‘Murine’ or the ‘Muridae’ family of mice/rats and Suriphobia which is derived from souris, which is French for mouse.

Causes of Musophobia

Musophobia is a very common phobia affecting hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. Where some people think of mice as “cute and cuddly”; phobics tend to find them “disgusting and carriers of disease”. Rats and mice are known carriers of pathogens. They are also infamous in history for spreading the Black Plague which wiped away large chunks of the human population. In general, they are known to dwell in sewers, drainages and dark, wet or dirty places. Rats are also known to carry fleas and other parasites that harm not just humans but pets as well. Wild rats and rodents are not welcome guests in human homes, so they tend to hide in cracks and crevices found around pantries, kitchens and other places having an abundant storage of food. Naturally, they might spring on unsuspecting individuals and startle them. Like most animal phobias, the fear of mice also stems, usually, from a negative or traumatic experience with rats. Incidents in childhood where a rat has bitten a child or loved ones can also trigger this phobia. Humans are conditioned from childhood to fear wild rats and rodents. An adult, might have been startled by a rat and screamed or climbed up on a chair. Children unknowingly learn to imitate this behaviour and the occasional fright triggers an anxiety response that might turn into lifelong phobia of rats and mice. Popular culture depicts these creatures in negative light: cartoons (Tom and Jerry), books (Pied Piper of Hamilton), movies, and TV shows etc show stereotypical traits about them. Typically: a rat scares the woman protagonist who jumps and climbs up screaming on a chair/table.

Symptoms of fear of mice phobia

The symptoms of Musophobia vary depending on the extent of fear the phobic experiences. Just like any other Zoophobia, the fear of mice typically triggers physical and mental symptoms which include:

• Screaming, crying, climbing on beds or tables/chairs
• Trying to flee
• Shaking, trembling, and sweating profusely.
• Having accelerated heartbeat, breathing rapidly or gasping
• Feeling nauseated, vomiting or having other signs of gastrointestinal distress
• Musophobes might experience anxiety/panic attacks at the mere mention of mice, or even from watching them feeding on trash, or in pictures, on TV etc.

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Trypophobia, is an irrational and persistent fear of holes, generally not the huge ones but the tiny holes seen within asymmetrical clusters. It is a rather unusual, albeit, a common type of phobia, wherein sufferers report having an adverse reaction to images of holes or objects with holes.

Symptoms of trypophobia

According to researchers Geoff Cole and Arnold Wilkins of the University of Essex, the brains of trypophobic individuals associate the holes with some kind of danger. The kind of danger one senses or imagines it yet to be established. The fear of holes not only covers holes in the form of images,  the individual may also fear holes in meat, clusters/pores on the skin, on vegetables or fruits or even those in sponges, wood, honeycombs etc.  For some people, even the mere verbal mention of “fear of small holes” is enough to trigger trembling and shuddering. The reaction displayed by each trypophobic individuals is different: some feel their skin ‘crawling’, others may shudder, a few report feeling itchy while still others report feeling physically sickened or disgusted. Some phobics also report thoughts of falling into the holes triggering major panic attacks.

Causes of trypophobia

A group dedicated to the fear of holes on a popular social media site has tried to establish the causes behind this as yet unexplored phobia. Often people are completely unaware that they have a latent form of trypophobia until they actually see images of holes. Individuals in the group have volunteered the following probable causes behind this unusual fear:

• Deep rooted emotional problem-Some object associated with childhood that triggers traumatic memories associated with holes. Possible bee stings in the past that led to a swelling wherein the swollen skin displayed every pore.
• Scientists have also reported that evolution may be one of the major causes behind the fear of holes. They explain this fact by giving the example of “pockmarked objects” which do not seem “quite right or completely normal”.  Some primitive portion of the brain perceives or associates these ‘pockmarks’ with something dangerous.
• Holes also tend to be associated with organic objects like rashes or skin blisters that typically follow an episode of measles or chicken pox.

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Merinthophobia is the fear of being bound. The origin of the word merintho is Greek (meaning string) and phobia is Greek (meaning fear). Merinthophobia is considered to be a specific phobia.

Causes of Merinthophobia?

Those who suffer from this phobia suffer also fears loss of control. They may experience feeling of passing out, difficulty of breathing or feeling of defencelessness. This fear may stem from a regrettable incident in which he/she was bound either as a joke or intentionally. The trauma of such occurrence often stays with an individual for the duration of their lives. Observing someone who is bound and engaged in a panic attack can also leave a lasting impression, even if the individual is someone you do not know and more so if the individual you observed was someone close to you. An individual with Merinthophobia will be very uncomfortable watching an illusionist escape from being bound. They may feel sick to their stomach and leave quickly. They may feel as if they can’t catch their breath. It is generally accepted that phobias arise from a combination of external events (i.e. traumatic events) and internal predispositions (i.e. heredity or genetics). Many specific phobias can be traced back to a specific triggering event, usually a traumatic experience at an early age. Social phobias and agoraphobia have more complex causes that are not entirely known at this time. It is believed that heredity, genetics, and brain chemistry combine with life-experiences to play a major role in the development of phobias.

Symptoms of Merinthophobia?

As with any phobia, the symptoms vary by person depending on their level of fear. The symptoms typically include:

• Extreme anxiety
• Dread
• Shortness of breath
• Rapid breathing
• Irregular heartbeat
• Sweating
• Nausea
• Shaking

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And the final part of this post as I feel it's going to be a long one, I'd rather all the information was in here rather than in individual posts. How I will try and visualise each phobia.

Iron Maiden:

• Claustrophobia - 
• Haemophobia - 
• Cleithrophobia - 

Pear of Anguish:

• Aichmophobia - 
• Mechanophobia - 
• Agliophobia - .

Rat Torture:

• Merinthophobia - There will be a lot of binding with this image to attempt to play off this phobia, I imagine a lot of binding around vital places on the body could would such as wrists, arms and legs, I want the character to look like they have ripped the device off them and damaged themselves in the process. I want to work with the loss of control which is a feeling that sufferers of this phobia can have, this is also the essence of torture, where the person being tortured loses all control.
• Musophobia - Obviously with a piece devoted to the rat torture there will be rats in the image, I am going to hyper-extend these rats and make them a bit more horror genre, I really hate to make rats the bad guys because I really love rat, but I am going to go all out with the demonised view of rats, being vermin and diseased. I feel like I could do something plague wise with this angel and make the character a bit black death style.
• Trypophobia - To get this I will have several boils and buboes that will be clumped together, also bite marks playing with the rats biting the character will be in several places together, this should get people with the phobias skin tingling for sure (even typing it down is making my skin crawl, how am I going to paint this!)

Learning a little about composition.

Yes. I know ... this is very basic stuff, but as someone who normally just 'wings it' as far as how I lay out my pieces this is still an area I need to learn to explore. Doing a bit of random googling I came across this webpage. I think this page mainly had photography in mind, but the same principles apply to all aspects of art and design.

https://fstoppers.com/architecture/ultimate-guide-composition-part-one-just-say-nokeh-31359

(huge copy/paste from the website)

Center Composition

Let’s begin with the most obvious type of composition – center composition. If one were to hand a camera to an aunt, and ask her to take a picture, she would most likely photograph the subject in the center of the frame. Center composition places the important thing in the middle. When it’s done well, it excels in the use of symmetry. Center composition is like roasting a chicken. It’s easy to do, but it’s hard to do really well.

Center compositions can be broken down even farther than the overall objects and can use the position of things like facial features to actually indicate the next rule…

Rule of Thirds

Once we learn a thing or two about composition, we start to use this. This is the first of the photographer’s “Golden Rules.” The Rule of Thirds says that an image should be divided into nine equal parts by two evenly spaced vertical and two evenly spaced horizontal lines. Important compositional elements should be along these lines or at intersections. These intersections are called “eyes.” A person’s closest eye to the camera should be placed at one of these intersections.

Using an off-center composition creates more tension and visual interest than a typical center composition would. These compositions can be basic with only one subject….

…or they can be much more complex, using multiple intersections and lines to draw the viewers eyes around the image.

Golden Triangles

This rule works by having strong diagonal lines pass through the image, dividing it into three (or four) triangles. The strongest line (called a major line) divides and dominates the image diagonally. Then, from one corner, an intersecting line connects to the diagonal line perpendicularly (this is called a reciprocal line).

In some cases, a third line extends from the opposite corner creating another reciprocal line.

The resulting triangles all have the same ratios – also know as golden (explained much more in depth below). This works really well on images with perspective or strong architectural elements, but it also works well when wanting the subject to fill the entire frame. Putting elements of composition on a diagonal plane gives them a more dynamic presence.

The Diagonals (Baroque and Sinister Diagonals)

One of the best things a photographer can do is study paintings and art history. Beyond the study of light, color palettes, color theory and the fact that it was the dominant visual medium for tens of thousands of years, studying great painters is the key to expert composition. When everything in a scene must be methodically arranged and obsessed over and placed just so in the frame, we are able to begin to understand why things are placed how they are. One of the more common compositions in art (do in large part to the boom of this style during the Baroque period) is using diagonal lines.

There are two predominant kinds of diagonals – “Baroque” and “Sinister”. Baroque Diagonals are read from left to right and Sinister Diagonals are read from right to left. One can only assume that this is an allusion to the notion that lefties burn in hell. In an amazing read by Adam Marelli, he breaks down the work of Alfred Eisenstaedt by using this “Sinister” composition of ballerinas.

We notice the ballerina on the left (her face is at the eye and the only face visible – therefore she is the subject), looking to the right, drawing our eye in that direction across the image, creating the diagonal, and lining up with other important compositional elements (like the pointed toe). Read a much more comprehensive breakdown of Eisenstaedt’s work on Adam Marelli’s blog.

Golden Ratio / Golden Rectangles / Golden Spiral

Classic thinkers from Plato to Pythagoras to Kepler believed that geometry is a powerful underpinning of the cosmos. Plato supposedly even said, “God geometricizes continually.” Leonardo da Vinci had an obsession with proportions – creating large areas of his work around the exact proportions of the Golden Ratio. So did Salvador Dali. As this particular rule of composition is a little complex, let’s break it down.

-The Golden Ratio describes an aesthetically pleasing proportion where the largest shape is divided by a perfect square, and the resulting rectangle is in exact proportion to the original one – all the way down the drain. This, subsequently, results in a sort of spiral (more on that below).

-The Golden Ratio is best explained using the Fibonacci Sequence (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, …) where each number is the sum of the previous two. The actual formula for the ratio is:

Algebraically, this is shown as:

This results in the number 1.618 (approximately). This is like rounding Pi to 3.14, but this number is called Phi. Using this number helps to illustrate the ratio.

Imagine this rectangle has a width of 1 and length of 1.618. When we divide this up using the Golden Ratio, the result is that every square would have a 1:1 ratio and the leftover rectangle would always be 1:1.618. This method isn’t limited to rectangles and squares though. It also works on circles, triangles, pyramids and various other geometric forms. Theothiuacan (the pyramids of Mexico) as well as the Great Pyramids of Egypt both use the Golden Ratio. Stonehenge, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Temples of Baalbek, the Parthenon, the Great Mosque of Kairouan, Notre Dame and the Mona Lisa, all use the ratio. It’s found in the human body, in seashells, in hurricanes. Obviously, the Golden Ratio is pretty important. That’s because it’s EVERYWHERE.

When we draw a curve along the outer edge of the perfect square’s intersection, we are given the golden spiral. It’s simply an easier way to illustrate the Golden Ratio in a more fluid way.

To me as someone who knows NOTHING about math, I don't really understand the algebra and that, but visually I understand how the ratios work and that's important. I will have to have some arty exploration with these!