negative spaces are the bits between
and around the actual objects in the
composition. The objects themselves
are the positive spaces. You don’t
even need to involve your pencil for
this one, if you can see a recognizable
negative space in the composition,
feel free to directly compare it to your
drawing. Looking at negative spaces
are a great way to spot errors on
your layout, they are just as important
as the positive spaces as if they are
wrong the objects (positive spaces)
in the composition MUST be the
wrong shape/proportion or be in the
wrong position. Using your pencil to
break them up into smaller bits (either
vertically or horizontally) is a great
magic pencil trick to let you see things
in a different way. You can also create
positive space shapes the same way.
Extrapolating Lines.
Hold your pencil up against any
recognizable line on the photo no
matter what angle or length and
without moving the pencil let your eye
travel along its (the pencils) length
and see what other parts of the
composition intersect, meet or come
close to an imaginary continuation
of this line. Also a very good way
of finding out if the shorter lines in
your drawing are on the right angle
which is every bit as important
as the longer lines being right.
Comparing Two Features.
Pick out any two bits of your
composition and hold your pencil
up so it passes through the middle
or along the edge of both. Check
what other parts of the composition
are on this line or near it. Also check
that the angle of the imaginary
line is correct. You drawing must
be the same and if not is wrong
and needs altering to suit.
Judging Sizes
(maybe the most useful trick of all)
Hold your thumbnail against your
pencil to mark one side of an object
or feature in the composition and
the end of the pencil to mark the
other and while being careful to
keep your pencil both parallel and
the same distance from the photo/
scene (your knuckles are against an
imaginary sheet of glass) step out
with the section of pencil between
your thumbnail and the end, how
many widths of that particular object
or feature fit across the whole
composition (or from top to bottom).
This is just one example of this
incredibly useful trick which has many
applications and subtleties once you
master the basic premise (fig 4).
All these methods have got certain
things in common. The photo or real life
scene is always right, you can’t change
it. You are looking for inconsistencies
in your drawing. It’s not at all a bad
thing when you find them but a very
good thing as it gives you information
which can be positively used to refine
and develop your line drawing (the
whole idea). There are always at least
two things you could change when
you find an inconsistency and one will
always be a lot more helpful as far as
developing your drawing than the other
so study each problem in that light.
Unless you have to ghost a line on
a very fine adjustment you should
always lay down your new adjustment
lines before you erase the old
ones. Always take the time to judge
whether the new line/s are actually an
improvement or not before removing
the old one/s. This has two benefits;
firstly it allows you the freedom to lay
down speculative lines without having
to commit to them. You can always
rub it/them out if you don’t like the
result, as they say there’s no such
thing as a failed experiment. Secondly
it lets you use the old line/s as
evidence of where and by how much
the adjustment should be made. If
you rub out first there’s a more than
even chance you’ll put the new line
back in the same place anyway. The
more you use these methods the
more variations and subtleties will
occur to you. Personally, without these
techniques there’s no way I would
be able to draw anything freehand
except badly proportioned garbage.“There are
lots of ways to
“find out stuff”
(proportional
and positional
facts) about your
composition
whether it’s a
reference photo
you’re working
from or an “en
plein air” (real
life) situation
without resorting
to cheating
(gridding,
measuring,
tracing)”