Dear Hannah,

You asked for pointers on layout (on Jicin's newer Spirit forum). Things to take into account are: the rule of thirds; lines drawing the viewers attention to points of interest in the image; Balance, contrast and juxtaposition; heads/bodies point into the collage and not towards the outside. (Rule of Thirds -- on a sheet of paper draw two horizontal lines so that they divide the page into three perfectly. Then draw two vertical lines on the page so that they divide the page into three equal vertical sections. Where the horizontal and vertical lines meet are the best spots to place the most interesting part of an image/drawing.) Tell a story, make it look like there are several groups of horses engaged in conversation. Arrange the groups so that they are centered in the "thirds" of the image. Place similar sized groups at opposite ends of the page (for balance). As your horse heads are a series of discreet images on a blank background, you have no lines drawing a viewers eye anywhere as yet. You may want to draw a simple background. The eye automatically follows lines to whither they lead, especially converging lines. Reward the viewer by putting a point of interest (ie: group of heads) at the end of the lines. Rules can be broken: instead of horses in conversation, make them all looking away. Put contrast in your balanced group: at one end of the page a social group, and the other end an antisocial group (looking away). Place heads in a grid pattern -- on the left side horses looking right, on the right side horse looking left, and two rebel horses, one looking straight forwards and one that's opposite to all others he's with. To emphasize the pattern, group the horses not only by whether they are looking left or right, but by the angle of their head, that way the "rebels" will stand out even more. Make them all look towards the "rebel" looking straight forwards.

chris

P.S.: feel free to post this on Jicin's forum.