Drawing with Confidence, Part 4: Negative Space Drawing Techniques

Use negative space to improve accuracy and composition

Image by Blake Harbison

Drawing with Confidence is a free online art course. Develop your drawing skills through playful exercises and thoughtful experimentation. Overcome barriers to self-expression and embrace the joy of mark making.

Part 4 — Key concepts we’ll explore:

• Definition of negative space vs. positive space

• How negative space helps with accurate proportion and placement

• Using negative space to bypass symbolic thinking

Negative Space Drawing Techniques

Negative space—the areas around and between objects—provides some of the most useful information for accurate drawing. Learning to see and draw these spaces is a powerful way to improve your observational skills.

Understanding Negative Space

• Positive space: The object or subject itself

• Negative space: The areas around, between, or within the subject

When we focus only on the positive space (the object), our preconceptions often interfere. By drawing the negative spaces instead, we can circumvent these mental shortcuts and see more accurately.

Applications of Negative Space

This technique is particularly helpful for drawing complex subjects like foliage, architectural details, or intricate still lifes. Professional artists regularly use negative space to check the accuracy of their positive forms.

Reflection Question

How did focusing on negative space change your perception of the subject? Did you notice details you might have otherwise missed?

Confidence Boost

The greatest obstacle to making art isn’t lack of talent, but the voice of self-doubt. Every artist you admire has faced that same voice and chosen to create anyway. Your confidence won’t come from banishing doubt, but from creating alongside it. The question isn’t whether you’re good enough to draw. (Spoiler: You are, because we all are.) It’s whether drawing brings you enough joy to continue. So, when you feel that spark of joy, trust it. It’s shining a light in the direction of your authentic expression.

Image by Ronnarit Jirathanyakorn

Exercise: Chair Negative Space

Discover a new way of seeing your world by drawing what isn’t there. This exercise will transform how you perceive objects by focusing on the spaces between rather than the object itself. By training your eye to recognise negative space, you’ll develop stronger observational skills, improve your drawing accuracy, and break free from preconceived notions about how objects ‘should’ look.

Materials

• Paper (A5, 11 x 14 in)

• Pencil (HB or softer)

• Chair placed against a plain background

Instructions

1. Position yourself so you can see the entire chair

2. Instead of drawing the chair, focus ONLY on drawing the shapes of the spaces between the legs, back slats, etc.

3. Treat these negative spaces as positive shapes that need to be accurately rendered

4. Work your way around the entire chair, drawing only spaces, not chair parts

5. Once complete, the chair will emerge from the negative spaces you’ve drawn

Process

• Squint your eyes to simplify what you see

• Look for the largest negative shapes first, then add smaller ones

• Mentally ‘flatten’ the scene to see shapes more clearly

• Check angles and proportions of negative spaces just as you would positive ones

Reflection

• What surprised you most about the shapes you discovered?

• Which negative spaces were most challenging to perceive and draw?

• How did this exercise change your perception of the chair?

• If you were to repeat this exercise with another object, what would you choose and why?

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Art in Focus

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986)

Georgia O’Keeffe, Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico – Out Back of Mary’s II, 1930. Source

Georgia O’Keeffe is celebrated for her masterful use of negative space, particularly in her iconic flower paintings and southwestern landscapes. In works like her Black Mesa Landscape and her close-up flower compositions, she skillfully manipulates the space around subjects to create depth and dynamic tension. O’Keeffe’s ability to use empty space as an active compositional element demonstrates how negative space can be just as powerful as the subjects themselves, creating a sense of vastness and contemplation in her work.

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)

Katsushika Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), also known as The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei), ca. 1830–32. Source

The Japanese master Katsushika Hokusai’s, woodblock prints, particularly his famous The Great Wave off Kanagawa, show extraordinary command of negative space. In many of his landscapes, the empty areas around mountains, trees, or buildings are carefully composed to create balance and draw the viewer’s eye. Hokusai’s work demonstrates how leaving certain areas untouched can create powerful atmospheric effects and emphasize the main subject.

Connection to Your Practice

Georgia O’Keeffe and Katsushika Hokusai reveal how negative space isn’t merely background but a vital compositional tool. Their work demonstrates that what isn’t drawn can be just as important as what is, creating balance, emphasis, and emotional resonance in your artwork.

Exploration Activity

After completing your chair negative space drawing, select the one section you find most interesting. Create a new composition that expands just this fragment into a full abstract piece inspired by O’Keeffe’s approach to magnification and simplification. Focus on the quality of edges where positive and negative spaces meet.

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Drawing with Confidence

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References

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum (2015). About Georgia O’Keeffe. [online] Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Available at: https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/about-georgia-okeeffe/.

The British Museum (n.d.). A Timeline of Japanese Artist Katsushika Hokusai. [online] The British Museum. Available at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/hokusai-great-picture-book-everything/timeline-japanese-artist-katsushika-hokusai.