Esben Analysis

 

If we want to understand how these artists create such hyper dynamic illustrations we will have to learn how to improve our compositional understanding. The first thing we will notice is that if we draw a grid over this image the main focal point will tend to fall towards the bottom right side of the quadrant and everything follows a twisting turning composition to get us to that focal point.

Lets take a look at the converging lines being used in this image

When we look at all of the elements in this piece we can see there ias a clockwork like turning of converging lines that are in mass on the top portion of the image specifically the top right and bottom part and then we see we are given some breathing room on the top and bottom of the left side of the image but even here we have one big element that is pulling us into the image from the left and couple of smaller elements scattered in the top left that add to the visual interest and pull our eye that way. 

The weapon he is holding acts as a framing device that's converging lines keep us focused on the body and the fact that the weapon itself is slightly out of focus helps with this feeling of it being close to us. In the backdrop even though these things are left out of focus the general shapes help frame and point us back to the main part of the image. The clearest example of this converging line is the leg kicked out which has a great silhouette against its backdrop and leads us right to the face through the gesture.

Now lets look  at it in terms of value. When we look at this image in terms of value we can notice a few different things. For one the background in the distance has many objects grouped together in values that are very close together for the most part so in other words there is not a lot of contrast in the background overall but what we can say is that the background and our main focal point are clearly in contrast with one another since the background in general sits on the lighter end of the spectrum and the figure sits on the darker end overall. Notice that we get some highlights of light hitting the surface of the body and it creates very strong edged shapes but the light hitting the fabric is very diffuse. One could say even the light shapes in the hair are also pointing us in a not so subtle way towards the face. 

Half the face the n looks like it falls into light but interestingly its not the main features instead its the back of the head and this combination of the two creates interesting contrast.