![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNwWPd0niZmCp_9V6FEeUjVClZ2M6tYHn-iteE_VfpaQiIvwoYjgXwd2UAAnvuHyaemRqj_SeO30yEfe6gY50PHVxbk4XSLhLR5Y2-LlctNjSWaCShvoCsXBBhWyG_6li-8VDglKgUU6ks/s640/hawkgirl_sketch.gif)
My dad taught me the usefulness of tracing paper in composition at an early age. Draw each of your elements on a pieces of paper and move them around until a pleasing composition happens. Painter X can do this stage perfectly and with greater freedom. The above image has the girl on one layer, the hawk on another, and the rough sketch of a castle on the bottom layer. I could have left them all as rough sketches but I was tempted to render them and combine the layout stage and the charcoal value stage. I think it works well. All I have to do now is print it out and pin it beside my easel. I can even print multiples of this so I can work up a few color studies by painting right on top of it (mount the paper to foam-core and hit it with a layer of workable fixatif first, tho). If you look at the hawks legs, you can see they are all wrong. Changing those would be frustrating with tissue paper but I can now select the legs and rotate/distort them into a correct position... something tracing paper just can't do!
Another benefit of using Painter X at the layout stage is the Divine Proportion and Layout Grid tools. (menu: Window>Show Divine Proportion and Show Layout Grid.)
I situate the
divine proportion on my canvas and it helps me imagine a layout (click to enlarge image below):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfb1NP4-KEEfG2hPu2kvdNDxaLOLcEk44UG2SwIA-5PBQabVzqOIZ9Xne6DLgqzLZTNKxJJVVTN_EK0lcIck2f2kewBTwibhyphenhyphencGngz-80ToUnuvHyUoUC2IqhJ7D4wjWTQqb_aeo50kGW9/s400/Hawk_divineproportion.jpg) |
Sketch using the Divine Proportion overlay tool in Painter X |
I also use the Layout Grid to help divide my canvas into thirds (
rule of thirds):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs6Jr53csulg6dE1ssZ7_0ROuEmo5kw1qFy4rJy3FtunKuWBfhC3YV3JEr10HwUI55SlNOxgNG7aZ5WGmaTD1API9-w1HHpsus37B3eQRZIiSvKOLL2gElW02gSTrnqnqG1IyeQofqcx3O/s400/hawk_rulethirds.jpg) |
Sketch divided into thirds. |
All of this is incredibly freeing. I hope everyone who can will try this out. (Note that the divine proportion grid and the rule of thirds grid can be done without the computer's help)