[Phire2]

I've been reading "Drawing on the Right side of the Brain" and there seems to be one key part of the book which is called "Pereception of Negative Spaces". I understand the basic concept of this perception method, it sorta feels like inverting your vision.. But the thing is, I cant seem to "see" any negative spaces in objects that arent closed spaces. Such as a human face. The only part I can percieve there is the Eye as a negative space. Anyone have any tips?

[Rinaldo]

I am not so sure that you understand the concept.
think of a white box on a black page. you can draw the black or you can draw the white. take a face for example, you can draw the outline of the face or you can draw the outline of the space that is around the face. looking at the negative shapes makes it easier to stop thinking about it to much. the abstract nature of negative spaces makes it easier to engage the right side of the brain. your head doesn't pipe up start telling you what you think you see becuase what you are drawing is not a face. but the shapes around the face. and it doesn't have any reference for that.

bah. that made no sense.

stop seeing eyes and noses. start seeing abstract shapes. you still have to understand the underlying form, but it is hard to figure it out unless you can actuialy see what is there instead of seeing what you think is there. by seeing negative spaces you can quickly make things abstract and thus see them without inteferance.

anyone else? am I right or wrong?

[ July 17, 2001: Message edited by: Rinaldo ]

[Etict]

Yeah. Right on.
I'm reading DOTRSOTB right now too, negative spaces are interesting. Helps. A bit like drawing upside down. When your brain doesn't figure out what you're doing, you get what you see instead what you think you see, I think.

[pasakievich]

Negative space is simply the area around the subject, when you hold up your hand it is the space between your fingers (not your fingers). This creates a situation where you don't draw the fingers, but you draw the space around it and by so doing you actually draw the fingers. Try drawing a still life(like an apple or some other fruit or any object), but do NOT draw the actual object just draw everything around it. You will find that your understanding of shape, space, and design will increase. On the head it is same, everything around the head is the negative space. Its fun to see what you can see when you are not seeing what you are seeing.
figure that one out! [url=http://pasakievich.epilogue.net " TARGET=_blank>http://pasakievich.epilogue.netnull

[gekitsu]

umm... as far as i understand what you posted, the most simple ting to say would be:

take a flesh colored pen and draw the face on a green paper for a flesh colored face on a green bg...
when trying negative spaces, you use flesh colord paper and paint everything green that isn't face.
something like drawing things by drawing only shadows or only lights...

[JiMSouL]

Its more like...rather than say concentrating on the space that a tree takes up...concentrate on the space that the tree doesnt take up..its like interpreting things entirely by their silouettes (not entirely true) as a starting point

Its just basically to stop you from getting obsessed with the actual details of the object (which invokes responses from the wrong side of the brain and bam...there goes the image most times).

[JiMSouL]

ps...(should have just edited but anywho)

does anyone else think using a frame of reference...(hands in a box shape, frame, whatever u want to use lol) would help with this (i havent read the book so it might make reference to it..) eg, if you frame your object you can pretty much say "anything around the object is the space that defines that objects shape", eg, quickly see what is the "negative" around the shape

[Quinnbeast]

OK, a simple example of negative space… sorry if this has already been said

Imagine drawing someone that is standing upright, facing directly towards you with one hand on their hip. You could simply just draw the arm, but you can also look at the triangular space that the arm creates. It's that simple. In order to draw an object or person accurately, you need to give yourself as many points of reference as possible - forget that you are drawing a person, and think of it initially as a shape that interacts with it's surroundings. Looking at negative space gives you extra things to measure, or to make comparisons with.

A small frame does actually help, as it makes a scene look flatter, and helps with transferring it onto paper. It can help you mess about with the composition, sorting out how to place the figure or object on the page. It's not just about accurately drawing an object/person, it's how you perceive the space around it as well. Everything you draw exists in the real world, and how that thing interacts with the environment is far more important than any details will ever be.

[kewl]

Since i am also reading the same book i can maybe give my point of view......usually i get stuck in all the detail that is inside an object so by concentrating on the space around it and how it lies against the backgrnd i can get a good outline...without getting confused by the impossible detail inside and then i tackle the inside bit.....hmmm but since i am new to this i am not sure if this is absolutely correct but it works for me

[gekitsu]

its the principle of yin and yang.
the "normal" way of drawing is yin, the "negative space" way ios yang. the dualism of all things =) (amen)