John Kricfalusi on Composition in Cartoons

Following his lessons on cartoon colour theory John has started a series on composition. I’ll readily admit that I don’t always agree with every word the guy says on his blog but, once again, these lessons are a treat. Again, many of these lessons can easily be applied to other mediums, such as film, television and illustration.

1. Composition for layout and background artists
2. Intersection
3. Clear staging
4. Staging groups of characters
5. Negative vs positive space
6. Avoid The Middle, Asymmetry is more natural and interesting
7. Compose your poses together
8. For Layout and BG artists – Form over detail, lettering, study other artists

Steve Worth is also adding some more valuable stuff on compostion at the Hollywood Animation Archive blog; including the 1960’s Famous Artists lesson: 3. Composition – How to make pictures.

They also have a couple of other Famous Artists lessons on their site, including: 24. Television Art and 16. Animals

Enjoy!