Instead of drawing an object and leaving the background undrawn, try doing it the other way around. In negative space drawing, the artist focuses on drawing the space around or between objects, leaving the foreground objects, or "positive space", undrawn. By drawing the shapes or patterns around the object, you'll eventually end up with a silhouette of the object. Try not to start by drawing an outline of the object; let the shape emerge as you fill in the space around it.
In the drawing below, the artist used both positive space and negative space drawing techniques.
img: austincc.edu
Negative space drawing is a fun exercise that can help improve your drawing skills. By learning to see the shapes around an object you can practice relying less on outlines and more on shading and value.
Allison Recht
OMG, I have actually done this before. However, what I did was this; the actual image was left blank (the white background) and the surroundings where all colored in black.
In this image, I see the artist played around with shapes in the background. Really looks good.
Posted by: Voyage Montreal | Tuesday, December 07, 2010 at 11:14 PM