Learning Composition with ChatGPT-sensei

So, continuing from yesterday’s blog post about my imaginary art school’s illustration program—
In August, along with drawing, I also worked on a subject called “composition observation.” It’s basically an exercise where you study how professional illustrators, painters, and photographers use composition in their work.

I’ve always had a bit of a mental block when it comes to composition. Like, just hearing the word made my throat close up a little. So I was super grateful when ChatGPT added this as one of my classes!

Every day, I picked one piece of art, added a rule-of-thirds grid over it, and carefully observed where each element was placed in the frame—and tried to guess why. At first I had no clue what I was looking for. The only thing I could really do was draw lines and say, “Okay, the person is here.” But thanks to ChatGPT-sensei’s very detailed explanations, I kept at it every day for two weeks. And by the end, I could understand way more on my own!

I had no idea before, but composition can express so many things—like guiding the viewer’s eye, creating rhythm, loops, even the emotional “aftertaste” of an image. It’s wild!

The piece that left the biggest impression on me was a cover illustration by Yusuke Nakamura for a Japanese rock band, Asian Kung-Fu Generation. It’s an album I used to listen to all the time as a student, so it already had a special place in my heart. But when I analyzed the composition of the cover, all those feelings from back then came rushing back. It really hit me that I had actually been receiving the message he embedded in that illustration—thanks to the composition he intentionally crafted. That realization gave me chills. Of course, I don’t know if I captured his intent 100%—but I feel like I got pretty close.

It made me want to become a composition pro too. I want to grow into the kind of illustrator whose message comes through loud and clear in every image.