Exercise 9:
PLAYING WITH NEGATIVE SPACE
IN THIS EXERCISE, YOU WILL PLAY WITH LINE WORK AND NEGATIVE SPACE. JOINING NEGATIVE SPACES WITH MARKS CREATES INTERESTING PATTERNS. THE EXAMPLE SHOWN USES DIRECTIONAL LINES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT AND PARALLEL TO ONE ANOTHER. AS YOU FILL THE SPACES, YOUR DESIGN COMES TO LIFE ORGANICALLY.
MATERIALS
Gray or tan lightweight or heavy cardstock
White gel pen
1. Set up your drawing materials.
2. In column formation, draw a vertical series of organic circles. Draw one touching the next, going from top to bottom. Draw quickly and without hesitation for better results. Vary the sizes for visual interest.
3. Make another column of organic circles, top to bottom again, until you have filled the page from left to right. Each circle should touch the one you just drew and the one in the adjacent column. These two touch points create negative space. (See A.)
4. With your gel pen, make directional lines to fill the negative spaces between the circles. This makes for a meditative exercise with beautiful results. (See B.)
5. As you fill the page with white lines, you create a web-like pattern with movement and form.
The image above is another example of playing with line work and negative space. Here, most of the circles are filled with directional lines and the negative spaces between the circles are left blank.