When I draw, I look at the space around the object or person, then I put them into a frame as you can see from the pictures above. Then I slowly move my pen along the shape between the positive object and the edge of the frame. And it feels odd at first, but then I start to see the positive object/person start to appear on the page. 

I decided to play with my visual diary and add writing and eyes to the page as well as watercolour paint to make the negative spaces more visible. This was such a fun way to draw and although not everything was in perfect proportion I still captured the essence of what I was seeing.

19th May 2020

 

The is a line drawing of two people sitting on the train. I used a continuous line and looked at negative space to get the overall shape of each part I saw. I started by drawing the man facing me. I looked at the negative space around the top of his head and followed the lines, moving from his body to his clothing, then the train seat and beyond.

I had to take the pen off the page from time to time so I could look at more negative space and keep drawing the other train seat and the guy sitting sideways watching something on his mobile phone.

As you can see I did not zone in on facial features or make anything too detailed. This kind of negative space drawing is a lot of fun as it slows the mind down and I had to stop and consider the spaces I was seeing around each 'object'.