Composition Exercises?

[SquirrelHunter17]

I went to Ringling for a couple years, and while i learned quite a bit about color and lighting, I never managed to get any luck with good composition practice.

My best compositions aren't even very good.
http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/5430/freyafratleysmto0.jpg
http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/838/seabeastsmzd6.jpg
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/179/thinktoomuchya0.jpg

So, I'm looking for some exercises to help improve my composition.

[jason01]

take existing illustrations with compostitions you like and break them into basic shapes.

if it's film you're going for . . watch movies and pause them throughout - and do thumbnails of the scenes - this gives you a good sense of what's out there and now that it's in basic shape form - you can use it for what ever you need it for. - anyway - doing this has helped me a ton. - Hitchcock movies are great, Disney's Cinderella is amazing, Pixar and Dreamworks animated films are amazing for it, too.

I'm at the Academy of Art (working on an MFA in Illustration) and I've had some wonderful instruction and lots of practice - I've gotten tons better at composition - used to be my weakest point.