Negative Space Leaf Drawing

In class, I was assigned to do a negative space leaf drawing. First, I went outside to grab some real life leaves that had fallen to the ground. Next, I drew a one inch border and arranged my leaves on the paper. Then, I began to trace and sketch them, leaving detail of the perimeter without making them look like leaves. After drawing the leaves, I had to brainstorm on what my background was going to be. My goal was to focus on fall colors, or colors that i consider fall colors. So, I went to an art store and bought some fine point color markers. I pulled aside some colors that I thought represented fall and tested them on a seperate sheet of paper to ensure that the marker container on the outside was the same as the actual ink. After I checked that, I took a ruler and did straight lines across the paper, without marking inside the leaves. That's when I started to add color and keep a repeating pattern. Finally I took a black sharpie and outlined the border and the negative space.

Throughout the entire process of this art piece I used various elements of the arts and principle of design techniques. My art piece included line, shape, color, texture, space balance, pattern and unity. The lines are seen with the first process of drawing the actual leaves, and when creating the stripes for the background. The background creates a pattern with not only the stripes but the repeating use of the colors. I have organic shapes and geometrical shapes, the organic being the leaves in the foreground and the geometric shapes are the stripes. There is a variety of warm colors all the way from bright yellow, to burnt orange, to fire red. As for the spacing, I tried to keep the movement of the leaves balanced so the paper didn't feel/look heavier on one side than another.

Overall, I am very happy with this artwork. In the past I've struggled with ideas or use of materials. But, this time I feel confident in what I gave to the teacher. I did struggle, but it wasn't as bad as usual. I think my only struggle was how to add the fall colors I had in mind. Luckily I just did what first came to mind, rather than overthinking it. Although there is no story behind the drawing, I'm very proud of it.