STRUZAN REBALANCING PART 6

The Struzan Studies continue! For this study, I wanted to take. a closer look at how Struzan rebalances contrast for the composition as a whole.

CONTRASTED FOCAL POINT

This first concept I recognized was what I’m calling Contrasted Focal Point: keeping strong contrast in the main element and decontrasting the non-pro elements of the visual hierarchy.

Contrast Waterfall

The next concept is what I’m calling Contrasted Waterfall: Having the strong contrasted elements at the top of the composition and successively fading down to less contested valued elements at the bottom.

DECONTRASTED FOCAL POINT

The last concept of the study that I found the most interesting is Decontrasted Focal Point. This is when the priority element is decontrasted over a contrasted element or background. Like in this Leopoldo Metlicovitz 1898 poster:

Struzan uses this concept in the Revenge of the Sith poster. Anakin is devoid of black values and over a contrasted Darth Vader peaking through behind.

In Struzan’s early comps for the poster, we can see he originally had Anakin as contrasted over a decontrasted Vader. The effect of Struzan’s final colored poster is making Vader a negative space element better helping the flow of the poster