The Black and White Problem
Medium: Black India Ink, Black Acrylics, Black Paper, Black Pitt Pens
Course: DSGN 105 Visual Design Systems | Spring 2024
Negative Space:
The space between objects or the “empty” space. The arrangement and organization of negative shapes is as important—if not more so—than the arrangement and organization of positive shapes in any successful composition.
The Zen concept that a bowl’s essence is the part that is “missing” corresponds to the graphic concept of negative space.
Students applied this idea by using only negative shapes to visually interpret three of the following subjects: clouds, jaws, sugar, ghost, salt, polar bear, flour, smoke, vanilla ice cream cone, and steam. The subjects themselves were not drawn; instead, students depicted only the surrounding negative space and, where appropriate, areas in shadow—using only black. As a design consideration, compositions could be cropped to show just a portion of the subject. Smaller areas were used for preliminary sketches, while larger areas were reserved for final executions.
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Students applied this idea by using only negative shapes to visually interpret three of the following subjects: clouds, jaws, sugar, ghost, salt, polar bear, flour, smoke, vanilla ice cream cone, and steam. The subjects themselves were not drawn; instead, students depicted only the surrounding negative space and, where appropriate, areas in shadow—using only black. As a design consideration, compositions could be cropped to show just a portion of the subject. Smaller areas were used for preliminary sketches, while larger areas were reserved for final executions.
