March 16, 2001, Newsletter Issue #17: Positive and negative Space

Tip of the Week

Understand Positive and negative space

“Positive shape refers to the shape of the object draw. Negative space describes the area surrounding the positive shapes… Our eyes are trained to seek out positive shapes - recognizing a chair or coffee cup. In order to successfully master the skill of drawing, an artist has to rid of this habit, and look not only at positive shapes, but at the negative space that surrounds them. All shapes, both positive and negative, are equally important.”
(from http://drawsketch.about.com/hobbies/drawsketch/library/weekly/aa091597.htm )


Seeing positive and negative space is as easy as viewing a silhouette. Take an apple an orange or tennis ball as an example. The silhouette of these is a round circle all filled in. In drawing terms, a large dot. Now take an apple. This in silhouette form will have several curved lines. Consider a coffee cup or mug. This will have straight and curved lines…But wait a minute…we are only looking at the contours of the object. The object is our positive space. We also need to observe the negative or empty space. Draw a square about 5 inches in diameter. Draw inside this a circle, a square and triangle that overlap each other. Now colour in the pace between your circle/square/triangle form and the outer edge of your original square. Now look at the shape of this coloured area. This is your negative space. You need to practice seeing this.

Do a carbon copy of the shape. First, draw a grid over the top of the drawing you have just done. Divide your original square into four. Draw another 5-inch square and divide it with a grid into four. Look at the top left hand comer of your original and copy the shape in the new square. Look for the basic five contour lines of your original drawing. Repeat for each of the squares. You should have the same basic shape, but this time you used the negative space shapes rather than the positive space shapes as your guide for drawing.

Practice this with more shapes. Remember this: “Don`t view the handle as an extension of the cup. Instead, try drawing the oval shape of the space between the handle and the cup. This is the difference.” For a full lesson on this go to
http://drawsketch.about.com/hobbies/drawsketch/library/weekly/bltutorials3.htm

When you feel game, gather a group of fruit, put them on a plate or bowl. Try drawing these into a square, focussing on the shape of the negative space rather than the objects themselves.

Ok..You can of course apply this to your painting. These new found skills of observation and confidence with a pencil in your hand will allow you to design your own drawings to paint: Try drawing a selection of flowers from real life samples, a bowl of fruit. Get your kids favourite teddy bear and draw it. We haven’t come to elements of design yet. All we need to do to get started is to draw!

About LifeTips

Now one of the top on-line publishers in the world, LifeTips offers tips to millions of monthly visitors. Our mission mission is to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Expert writers earn dough for what they know. And exclusive sponsors in each niche topic help us make-it-all happen.