creative composition: help me with final assignment composition?

[arielg]

"" quickly the little salamander scampered down on the forest floor and hid from the squirrel""

this is the story in which you have to lay your composition.

these are my thumbnails ideas..

I've had a composition which i tried to finish and color, but i gave up on it...
trying new stuff..

which one do you like the most?
I find that very hard because these two are very tiny objects(squirrel and salamander) in a huge setting, and they need to be set apart so there would be somekind of "pursuit line", and that means the other would be very little, making it very hard to me to make a clear distinction for that other character. I hope you can give me some insight through that. even if its just saying-"keep at it, until you solve it".

[Lovsey]

Hi! @arielg Good to see you persisting with problem-solving your assignment
My top 3 picks are:
#6 (although I would loosen the crop and show more of the salamander’s face/chest)
#10 (very interesting silhouette of the squirrel and POV up in the tree)
#12 (again I would show more of the salamander’s face/chest, I really like the perspective of the tree line drawing the eye to the pursuing squirrel)

I have an obvious preference for the thumbnails where there is a scale difference between the characters as it is more interesting to look at and is more dynamic which fits the haste of this moment. The tricky part will be to effectively balance the scale of the two characters within the environment.

[arielg]

@Lovsey Thanks so much!

I think i will look up in the forums if someone posted their final assignment for this..perhaps i'll have more ideas.
i am not sure, but i might be missing a certain perspective or angle..

thank you again you've been a real help throughout this!

Edit:
yes. there are examples.

here are two really really good ones. much better than mine i think(not that its a competition), but i need to figure out how they thought of this to make it work better.

[https://forum.svslearn.com/assets/uploads/files/1537143815212-comp-resized.png](link url)
[https://forum.svslearn.com/assets/uploads/files/1556514650060-img_2026-3.jpeg](link url)

[Gary Wilkinson]

At the moment I would say that concept-wise, 7 fits the prompt the best, as it sounds more like it's about the salamander hiding rather than being chased.

However, compositionally I like the balance you have in 10. Those examples you posted of other artists have some nice variety in the shape and size balance. See if you can find some more that work and explore more options.

[Lovsey]

@arielg These 2 examples of composition you found give a completely different vibe to your interpretation of the story from the prompt. You’ve been exploring the anxiety of a pointed chase in the ‘scampering’ rather than the secretive quiet moment of stealthy ‘hiding’. Perhaps try some thumbnails with this variation in mood and see if you like them better?

[arielg]

yes, the scampered thing got me first. so we need to see she was at the end of her chased run, hiding.