A curator told me my composition was too centered and it bugged me for weeks

I entered a local online art show back in March and the feedback basically said all my pieces had the subject dead center. At first I was annoyed because I thought that was the safe way to frame things. But I spent a weekend trying the rule of thirds on 5 old drawings and the difference was pretty clear. One piece in particular had a character I placed on the left third and suddenly the whole scene felt more open. I still catch myself centering things out of habit but now I always rotate the canvas after I finish to double check. Has anyone else had to force themselves to unlearn a basic habit like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

simoncarr4d ago

Went through this exact thing with landscapes last year. Drove me nuts breaking the habit.

blaked794d ago

Dude same here. It took me forever to stop auto-cropping everything to a square format.

wendyw714d ago

Square format is for INSTAGRAM not real photography.