All drawing is hard, subjects just seem to become easier when you are more familiar with them. However, there are a number of ways you can make life easier for yourself and one is to consider negative space.
Negative space is the area that surrounds the subject you are drawing, it describes the subject as equally as if you were looking at the subject itself. For example, if a person is stood with one hand on their hip a triangle will form between the bent arm and the line of the body, the shape of that triangle will determine the angles of the bent arm.
The drawing of dancers below show on the left the finished work and on the right the principle areas of negative shapes.
A good way to practice looking for shape is to set up a simple still life and describe the objects purely by drawing the space around them as in the example below.
Negative shapes can be found in all sorts of areas including the white surrounding an eye iris and areas of shadow in an uneven surface. Training your eye to spot them very quickly becomes part of your drawing process.
This was my first time at an exhibition screening and I had expected a walk through of the show. This didn’t happen although most of the works were shown at some point, what did happen was the screening of larger than life close ups of his portraits, showing every brush mark, colour and detail – fabulous – I was on the edge of my seat examining them.
Freud’s reputation towards social behaviour and women in particular was probably not to be commended. Did this idiosyncratic personality make him a great painter? I don’t think so, he was a person totally and utterly dedicated to his craft and he let nobody and no thing distract him from his quest. He choose his subjects and sitters – some people he just couldn’t paint as they offered nothing of interest to him. He had the fortune to apply himself to it for a long life time (he was still painting at his death at 89). Personally, I think he had a way of seeing that was unique – others may disagree.
