Playing with composition.

I want these pieces to look dramatic, so to get that effect I want to play around with how the characters are posed in the frame. I've never really done anything like this because I normally just go by what my eye finds attractive but I thought I'd make the effort to plan this a bit more seeing as it's the most important piece of work I will do. I felt the best guides to use where the rule of thirds and the golden ratio grids.

First of all starting with the Iron Maiden, I think the key part here will be the face, because that is where you see the eyes behind the mask and the emotion that I will work into them, the feeling of claustrophobia has to come out here but I want the viewer to follow up to the face. Here is the iteration and the feedback with it

For me I think that 1 and 3 work best, with 1 being my favourite, people who replied to my feedback request also said 1 the most. I think 1 works best because it looks like the character is fighting within the image with the sides of the page, it really plays off the claustrophobic feeling of the character nicely.

Next is the Pear of Anguish composition and feedback.

3 cropped up the most, again this is mostly about the face, where the torture happens, emphasis will be on the ripped mouth and the look of pain on the face. The bent over position might make the anorexic physique of the character more prominent with the proper lighting. I might try extending the arms outward a little bit so the face isn't too blocked off. ((EDIT)) I ended up going with 4 instead, I tried very hard to make 3 work but I was getting too frustrated with the way it was ending up so 4 as the next mentioned one was the one I chose.

And lastly Rat Torture composition and feedback

This one was pretty unanimous, 4 was the most selected, I really like all of the poses but the most powerful one is 4, I'm thinking lighting coming from the top opposite side will really work best with this. The focus of this character will be the head and stomach, I'll need to alter it in the final piece so the stomach hole its the centre of the page.

Last stage will be playing around with lighting and then onto the final work!