Tips With Negative Space

Drawing with negative space can really help you improve your drawings. Most people only focus on the objects in the scene. If you focus on both the objects and the space around them, you have more ways of ensuring accuracy.

I use negative space all the time to aid in the accuracy of my drawings. It is a very useful tool. It can be used in skies, faces, trees, or any objects in the scene. The trick is knowing how to use it. I’ll show you some ways you can utilize it effectively.

First off, remember that space does not have to literally be negative. For example, look at a nose. The nose could be considered the object, and the face around it could be the negative space. Also, a cloud could be the object, and the sky around it could be the space. I define negative space as anything that surrounds an object.

What you want to look for in the negative space are the shapes. Look at the angles the shapes form as well. Try drawing just the space by itself while ignoring the object. If you get in the habit of this, you will find yourself drawing the negative space as much as you draw the objects.

The reason for drawing the area around an object as if it were an actual object is that it gives us a way to check our accuracy. You can check the shapes and angles of the actual object, or you can check the angles and shapes of the space. It gives us the ability to double check our work. It gives us one more thing that we can look at to check our accuracy.

So start looking at the negative space more closely. It will make drawing accurately a little easier. It doesn’t take very much extra work, and in time you will notice that you look for it out of habit.