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Composition & Visual Design

S-curve

A gently reversing curve within a scene that carries the eye through the frame in a sinuous path.

In depth

The S-curve is the leading line's more elegant relative: it moves the eye more slowly, covers more of the frame, and creates depth through its own foreshortening. It appears constantly in landscape — rivers, paths, coastlines — and in the human body, which is why classical figure posing relies on it.

Examples in practice

A river winding through a valley draws the eye from the foreground to the distant hills in two unhurried sweeps.