Pro tip: Stop centering everything on the canvas like I did for 2 years

I was making portfolio pieces and wondering why they looked so static. Then a friend in a Discord crit group pointed out that I had every single subject dead center with equal space on all sides. It was like a lightbulb went off. Now I use the rule of thirds grid and honestly my compositions look 10x better. Has anyone else had that moment where a basic design rule suddenly clicked?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrew6938h agoMost Upvoted

Bruh I felt that passport photo comment in my soul. I was literally doing the same thing for like a year and a half, every single character looking straight ahead dead center. Then I saw a side by side comparison online and felt so dumb lmao. Moving stuff off center feels illegal at first but it fixes everything.

theathomas9h ago

Had the exact same thing happen to me about a year ago. I was doing these character illustrations and couldn't figure out why they felt so flat. Then someone pointed out I had every single head right in the middle of the frame like a passport photo. Started shifting things to the left or right, letting the character look into the empty space, and suddenly my drawings had this sense of movement and story. It's crazy how one small change like that can make everything click into place.