Good paintings and drawings are simple in nature. The artist should try to make a maximum impact with a minimum amount of effort. I remember in my younger days being told the "golden rectangle" was the basis of all great compositions. To draw the "golden rectangle" one drew a square then extended two opposing sides then found the mid-point of one side of the square then using a compass draw an arc from point b to point c and on and on and on. From there, you could draw lines from here to there and back again to find the ideal place for a center of interest. That always seemed to me to be like running a high hurdle race. Miss one hurdle and you've lost. I think too many "artists becoming" look for formulas that they can follow and certainly there are no end to authors who will try to provide them. However, somewhere along the evolution of artistic growth, the artist skirts those kinds of roadblocks and becomes more responsive in his or her approach. Simplification and interesting arrangements of positive and negative shapes within the rectangle become almost second nature. A few minutes scribbling on a small sketchpad with the stump of a pencil and , bam, a composition is developed! The artist at that moment can see in his minds eye what the final painting will look like. From that point, the job becomes one of developing the shapes and poses and the real work begins.