~Negative Positive Art~

 Hello everyone!

Yes I am still here. I have been doing art non-stop but none of the pieces are complete. There is a long line but I promise I will post them in the next blog. For now I am writing this blog on a concept called 'Negative Positive Space'. I recently drew something based off of this concept (yes I completed it). Let us start with basics on this idea;

• What is 'Negative Positive Space'?

- Positive space is the object or subject that your drawing focuses on. The negative space will be the mass of space around your main object. For example, imagine that you are drawing a tree. The tree is the main image you are trying to show in your drawing so, this will be your positive space. The background surrounding this tree will be your negative space as it is unrelated to your object.

• How do we apply this concept?

- Artists and designers use contrasting colors to make the subject pop out. Mostly a lot of artists use the standard black and white to portray this effect. This technique is not limited to the normal still life objects, it can also be used to draw faces. Designers use this idea in their poster designs to make it look attractive. 

Now, I will share my drawing with you. Yes, I used a reference picture. No, it is not an exact copy. 

Basic Sketch

This was an easier face shape than normal which is why I didn't have to spend hours on it. Usually I keep tweaking the face shape while drawing other things but this time I just went ahead with things. The image right here looks pretty good and I was so happy with it but unfortunately I had to draw eyes. 

Addition of eyes

It was a bit difficult to draw the eyes in the picture so I improvised a little, maybe a lot. They came out smaller than they were supposed to be but I was already on my fifth attempt and erasing it again might have torn the paper which is why I let them be. Next was simply painting the black parts.

The Painting

Yes, the end result was disappointing. I spent a good hour or so on the painting alone. Kinda silly but I didn't want the paint getting anywhere it wasn't supposed to. For the face outlining I did a mixture of white pencil and white gel pen. For some reason my pencil kept leaving powdery dust which is why there is a light dusting of white on the left side of the painting. 

Lesson learned from this is finish the big white parts with the pencil first then use black paint. I definitely still have a long way to go with faces.