Drawing Positive/Negative space and Zentangles

Sara Francis

My drawing classes are off and running with the completion of our first in class project and our first creative sketchbook assignment of the marking period. We have spent the first couple of weeks in class talking about positive and negative space. Positive space by definition is the areas containing the SUBJECT matter in a work of art; the objects depicted, as opposed to the background or space around those objects. Negative space is then naturally, the areas in an artwork NOT occupied by the subject matter, but which contribute to the composition. Negative space can also be background space or empty space but not exclusively. 

We drew simple outline sketches of chairs, focusing on shape and space. The key here: getting to draw the chairs big enough that there would be more positive space than negative space. After completing about 4 sketches, students chose one for a POSITIVE space drawing and one for a NEGATIVE space drawing. In the positive space drawings students were to fill in the space with Zentangle designs. In the negative space drawings, the negative space is filled in with Zentangles. All though simple, the outcome is complicated and beautiful as you can see in the examples above.

Our first sketchbook assignment was to take the zentangles and create a figure using zentangles to create hair! What are zentangles you ask? A Zentangle is an easy, fun way to create beautiful, decorative images using structured patterns. There are some great sources to learn more about zentangles, but the best place is the official web site that you can find here: www.zentangle.com 

Here are some of the assignments:

Erin Jermyn

Meryl Glaser

Michaela Kotob

Veronica Gibbs

Everest Crawford

Jordan Pallazola

Gloria Kabulo