Frame and Arrangement ... Final

I made some small rough sketches to experiment with frame and arrangement.

I like these roughs as experiments with shape and form. I enjoyed simplifying the elephant into almost geometric shapes and think the eyes add character to it. these designs would work well with vectors or collage but I have been working with these a lot recently and would like to try something else.

I used loose lines to show the wrinkles of the elephant and wanted to create depth to the piece so decided to have my character reflected in the elephants eye. It is a strange composition as it is suggesting a character that exists out side the image itself in a similar position to the person viewing it. I want to avoid making a symmetrical composition. If the image was framed to that the elephants face was in the centre the composition would be flat and struggle to draw the eye towards key areas. The eye with the reflection needs to me made more important in the image than the other eye. I will try and achieve this by using lines on the elephants face and the butterfly to point towards it and frame it.

This is my final piece for the frame and arrangement task. I tried to make an interesting composition that plays with the scale of the three characters and draws attention to certain parts of the image, particularly the eye of the elephant containing the reflection of me. I wanted the image of me to be subtle but still noticeable and the butterfly to be the first thing the eye is drawn to. The butterfly is in the foreground of the frame and overlaps with the elephant showing where it is and explaining the difference in scale. If I placed the butterfly at that scale behind the elephant it must either be a very big butterfly or very small elephant. the antenna of the butterfly point towards the reflection in the eye as do the some of the features of the elephants face like the left hand side of the trunk and detail on the ear. I tried to use the rule of thirds to place important parts of the composition off centre such as the butterfly and reflection. the positioning of the characters suggests a link between the elephant and butterfly that are opposed to my character although the elephant and my character are linked by eye contact suggested by the reflection. I think the composition creates a somber and moody piece that feels like there is something going on in the surroundings that are out of view.

The composition is unbalanced with the darker right had side contrasting with the area of lighter space of the elepants ear on the left that may be creating an uneasy feeling. I think this adds to the dialogue between the elephant and the character in the reflection. I think I could have added more of a feeling of movement to the butterfly with the angle of the wings that would also draw the eye more towards the reflection in the eye.