Negative Space Drawing

For this drawing I collected leaves of different shapes and sizes. After creating a border on my paper, I dropped the leaves on the paper so that they would land in a random place and order. I then traced the leaves, being careful not to shift their positions in the process. Using the colors of the leaves- red, orange, yellow, brown, and green, I colored in the negative space around the traced leaves. The setting of this piece is outside, and the subject is the leaves and the fall colors. I used graphite to trace the leaves, making sure to not cross any lines, so that all the leaves are connected rather than separated. Colored pencils were used for coloring in the negative space. Then, I used sharpie to outline the traced leaves, to make them stand out from the background. I used color to make the negative space of the drawing stand out from the traced leaves. The color represents the autumn leaves. During the process of creating this project, I added brighter colors to make it more interesting and bright. Also, after coloring in the negative space, I noticed that the leaves were hard to make out against the intense background. Because of this, I decided to outline the leaves with a sharpie, making them stand out. This project is inspired by the fact that it is autumn. The leaves are changing into shades of red, yellow, and orange. I am happy with the way the leaves are spread out across the paper, and the way they overlap. During the creation of this drawing, I struggled to created and even balance of the different colors I used for the negative space. I did my best to overcome this by trying to blend the different colors together. If I were to change something, I would use different shapes and patterns to make the colors flow together better and create and good rhythm for the negative space.

I drew a stack of stools positioned at eye-level by only looking at the negative space in and around the stools, being careful not to draw the actual objects. After I drew in the negative space, I went over the lines with a sharpie. Then, to fill in the negative space and make the shape of the stools stand out, I used color pencils to create different designs in each section. I used the element of space to draw shapes that makes up the negative space of something I was looking at. I chose to do different patterns and designs in the open space to put a more creative spin on the project, rather than doing a solid color or single pattern. I'm most proud of my ability to draw the negative space and have the result look like what it's supposed to— a stack of stools! Something I would've done differently is what I did to fill the negative space. I liked the different designs in each section, but I would rather have done patterns that relate/flow together in some way.