Silverpoint

Negative shapes

Negative shapes: the sky gaps between branches are drawn as shapes, which places the branches more accurately than drawing the branches themselvesTHE BRANCHES (POSITIVE)THE SKY BETWEEN (NEGATIVE)Your brain has a symbol for "branch" and it will draw the symbol. It has no symbolfor the gap. So it looks.Prout and Cotman placed every pinnacle by the shape of sky beside it. Draw the holes.
FigureNegative shapes
FoundationLine + Mass

Negative shapes

A chair by its gaps, a winter tree by its sky

Place complex forms accurately by drawing the spaces between and around them.

Difficulty
Time
about 0.5 h
You draw with
HB and 2B
Negative shapesSky holes

Why this one

  • Unit 2 of the program: Seeing.
  • A chair and a tree that are both more accurate than you expected, made entirely of shaded gaps.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Grafwood HB, 2B HB for layout and line; 2B for the darks. Long points from the Blackwing on everything up to B.
  2. 2Kneaded eraser and the Mono Zero press-and-lift corrections only; the Mono Zero for a single sharp light.
  3. 3Alpha sketchbook 9 x 6 draw at the book's size and keep the proportions; date the page.
In general, this study asks for
  • Drawing pad
  • HB and 2B
  • A chair
  • A photo of a bare winter tree

Watch first

All videos →

The negative-shape habit, which places Prout's pinnacles and Corot's branches.

YouTube
How to draw landscapes, trees, foliage: graphite pencil drawing tipsSmoothie77 · Clump construction and sky holes.The ultimate negative space drawing tutorialThe Portrait Guru · A longer drill on drawing the gaps.

The plan

4 stages · ~44 min
  1. 1

    The chair by its gaps

    13 min

    Look at the chair from a few feet away. Do not draw the chair. Draw the shapes of wall and floor you can see between its legs, under its seat, through its back. Shade each shape lightly as you draw it. When the gaps are done, the chair is there, and it is more accurate than if you had drawn it.

    Negative shapes: the sky gaps between branches are drawn as shapes, which places the branches more accurately than drawing the branches themselvesTHE BRANCHES (POSITIVE)THE SKY BETWEEN (NEGATIVE)Your brain has a symbol for "branch" and it will draw the symbol. It has no symbolfor the gap. So it looks.Prout and Cotman placed every pinnacle by the shape of sky beside it. Draw the holes.
    FigureDraw the gaps. The object appears.
    Checklist0 / 1
  2. 2

    The winter tree

    13 min

    From the photo, draw a bare tree by shading only the sky shapes between its branches, starting from the largest shapes near the trunk and working out. Never once draw a branch. The tree appears, and its branches will be in the right places.

    Checklist0 / 1
  3. 3

    Prout's skyline

    13 min

    Look at the gables and turrets of the Ulm town hall and notice the shapes of sky between them. Prout drew those shapes as carefully as the stone. Trace three of them with your finger on the screen.

    Rath Haus, Ulm, from Facsimiles of Sketches made in Flanders and Germany, Prout, 1833
    Art Institute of Chicago

    Prout, Rath Haus, Ulm, from Facsimiles of Sketches made in Flanders and Germany, 1833. Lithograph in black on grayish-ivory chine, laid down on ivory wove paper.

    Prout, Rath Haus, Ulm. The sky between the roofs is drawn, not left.

    The Art Institute of Chicago · The Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection

    Checklist0 / 1
  4. 4

    Self-check

    5 min

    Tick each item honestly. If one is a no, the session is not finished; go back to that step.

    Checklist0 / 3

What it should look like

  • A chair and a tree that are both more accurate than you expected, made entirely of shaded gaps.

Where it goes wrong

  • Drawing the branch first and then shading around it. The symbol got drawn; the gap became filler. Gap first, always. The branch is what is left over.

Log this session

Start the clock when you pick up the pencil. Stop it when you put it down. Log it. Every session counts toward the box.

00:00of ~30 min

Status

How did it go?

Up nextEnvelope, masses, detail