This is an image I copied from a textbook five million years ago, but it still is a good example of how you need to consider the power and the necessity of the negative spaces (background, "empty" space, "between" spaces...whatever you want to call them) for the composition of your drawings and paintings. If you draw the spaces, you end up drawing the trees, and this works for any object you are drawing. It also takes care of a lot of your composition issues.....in conjunction with your FORMAT.
Which is, in this case, from left to right, a vertical rectangle and a horizontal rectangle. THESE FORMATS CAN BE ANY SIZE. It won't change if the formats retain their ratios....ie, a rectangle of 8 by 10 inches can be scaled down to 2 by 4 inches and still have the same FORMAT.
Here's a variety of formats taken from page 120 of your book....you can make them any size.....the size will be different, but the shape (the format) remains the same.
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#5 Drawing on the Right side of the Brain
2. Review....EDGES, contour (a construct), SPACES (negative) RELATIONSHIPS (proportion and perspective), LIGHTS AND SHADOW (shading), the GESTALT (the thingness of the thing)
1. Refer to chapter 7 in book....Chair and view finder....Negative/positive. show “Ricky and Lucy” on black construction paper.
Move viewfinder around until you reach a good composition....look at spaces in chair.....make chair “poof” disappear. Format....and negative spaces....solves many composition issues. Look at pg. 120...variety of formats. Attention to format and negative spaces ...Format controls composition. SHARED EDGES Show on chair drawing.paper.
2. Basic Unit......Look at pg. 124....length of sail. In figure, length of head.(artists often use thumb) Da Vinci...length of arms. Ghost drawing....checking out relationships...automatic and discrete. Pg. 126...how many units on a pencil TTHE SIZE OF THE FIRST SHAPE YOU DRAW CONTROLS THE SUSUBSEQUENT SIZE OF EVERYTHING IN THE DRAWING. (story about the Peace Corps drawing) What is “scaling up” (pg. 130) Look on page 133. to see the struggle with positive/negative...what something is supposed to look like.
5. Tape off your format to be the same as your viewfinder. Tone your paper. Draw a light horizontal and vertical line on your paper.
6. Hold up your viewfinder and “fill the space” with your stool. Stare at it and choose a BASIC UNIT shape...stare with one eye closed until it pops into focus as a shape...it takes a moment! Draw your basic unit on your viewfinder, check against viewfinder cross hairs....Angles, lengths...how far from the edge of the format, from the cross hairs. Relative to the cross hairs, what angle is the edges, say, on the line of this negative shape. (show my protractor) Make sure your basic unit is correct. Draw Basic Unit on toned paper, using the cross hairs and the edges of the format as reference.
7. “Pulverize” chair, close one eye, and draw what you see of the negative spaces....don’t try to “figure it out”...check out any problem with your view finder. Angle....relative to the horizontal and vertical crosshairs OR the sides of your format. How many “basic units” are the edges of each shape. USE PENCIL to MEASURE.
8. At end, remove negative space toning with your eraser........
9 Draw the Giacometti figure...only the negative space. Draw negative space of the bluebells....prop up on black paper.
10. Be sure to read ahead..find time to carefully read chapter 8.....last minute ain’t going to cut it! Draw ballerina using negative spaces. Jewel and Jerry, I think you have the images.
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