Painting Fine-Art Cartoons in Oils - Enchanted Images

I always used to wonder how
Barks was able to make his
original painting compositions
so perfectly balanced, yet at
the same time, so alive with
motion. How did he choose
where to place his figures,
his props? One of the more
interesting books that came out
of the Barks estate is
Michel Jacobs’s The Art
of Composition: A Simple
Application of Dynamic
Symmetry.
“Dynamic symmetry” is a
composition technique that
creates balance and “action”
by dividing a canvas into
unequal quadrants. This is
done by drawing a diagonal
line lengthwise from the
lower-left corner to the upper
right corner, then drawing a
crossing line from the lowerright
corner to the top of the
dynamic symmetry
“For an artist who wishes to express action, animation, or
movement, Dynamic Symmetry answers better for all his
requirements.”
Michel Jacobs (The Art of Composition, 13)
Diagrams from Jacobs’s book illustrate
how the diagonal lines are used to find
the focal point, create action lines and
define spaces.
canvas. The crossing line
should be angled so that it
meets the diagonal line at a
90-degree angle, creating four,
right-angle corners. The point
where the lines cross defines
the composition’s focal point.
The four quadrants are used
to proportionately distribute
the remaining elements of the
composition. The diagonal lines
also create “action” lines, which
can be used to orient forms in
motion.
We know Barks used concepts
from the book because
preliminary sketches have
survived that show his
application of Jacobs’s diagonal
and crossing lines. More
important, we can see the
principles at work in almost
all of his original, horizontal
paintings. Like everything in
Barks’s craft, his compositions
135
were meticulously planned and
designed. Dynamic symmetry
was an important tool that
Barks used to achieve some of
the magic in his paintings.
Barks’s copy of The Art of Composition:
A Simple Application of Dynamic Symmetry
by Michel Jacobs.
This diagram shows how dynamic symmetry works on a 16” x 20”
composition – Barks’s favorite size. The point where the lines cross
defines the composition’s focal point. The four quadrants are used to
distribute elements of the composition.