Positive and Negative Shapes
A Simple Lesson on Shape -One Of The Seven Elements of Design
Sep 14, 2007
Teachers of design use stencils to illustrate shape as having an inside and an outside. Experiment with media while demonstrating positive and negative qualities.
Shape is one of the Seven Elements of Design.
A shape will be either
- positive: we call the figure or foreground shape positive and the focus of the picture, it is often called the subject matter (usually)
- negative:this is usually an empty shape or space and is the background or surround of the subject matter
- it is possible to reverse this maxim to create an abstract effect ...do this to a subject in Photoshop Elements by choosing:
- Select
- Then Image
- Then Adjustment
- Finally the Inverse Tool
Stenciling is a handy way to teach about positive and negative shape because if you hold up both sections of the stencil (the shape and the cut away pieces) you will be able to show the students that there is
- an inside and an outside of a stencil
- one is filled in and the other is not
If you don't have any stencils you can make your own.
- Print off colouring pages
- cut around the shapes
- trace this on to cardboard
- cut out the centre of the page
- this will become a flimsy stencil.
- This is a picture of a plastic stencil. It is a simple Platypus.
- Here is both the positive and negative aspects of the stencil.
- If your students are young have fun with them. Ask them "What part of the Platypus is missing?" Ask them "Why they think it might be gone?"
- sponging around the outside of a centre stencil
- sponging through an outer stencil
- use a roller,
- daub with paint,
- or simply paint through the spaces in the stencil with a brush
- take the positive core of the stencil and have the the students traces around it - leaving an inside and an outside blank so that you only have line to work with - this can be the basis of a drawing
This is the platypus painted in MSPaint and enhanced in Photoshop Elements 4. It is an example of a stencil that has been scanned and transported into MSPaint. Painting from the shape of a stencil is a great way to teach the students about
- how to work with backgrounds - it helps them isolate the two areas of the artwork so that they can focus on one at a time
- outlines - this is a very clear and easy way to talk to the students about quality of linework because the simple outline is so clear they can focus on issues such as the sensitivity of line, different kinds of lines, their thickness and when they are used
- texture by using different ways of filling either the outside or inside of the shape they can experience different kinds of textures through mediums such as sponging
- techniques - different ways to create a stencil (and about when and why we would use a stencil)
- tracing and its purposes
- outlines and the need for them - now is a good time to talk about the crucial need for clear closed outlines in MSPaint - talk to the students about why they need to be closed over
- if you have older more advanced classes you can show them about layers in Photoshop Elements and how to blend them
If you are also availing your self of ideas about Literacy Boosters and Critical Literacy presented through out this topic - you might talk to students about how
- we as artists build up layers of meaning
- if you look at the way this drawing developed you will see how to reverse story writing so that the students start from the pictures and move towards a story line
- allow the students to develop the context for story telling through their pictures
The copyright of the article Positive and Negative Shapes in Visual Arts Education is owned by Jo Murphy. Permission to republish Positive and Negative Shapes in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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