Week One: Positive & Negative Shapes Materials sketchbook, graphite, vine charcoal, compressed charcoal, 18"x24" newsprint, and 18"x24" drawing paper Project Draw a still life composition of boxes, focusing on accurately portraying the positive and negative shapes Guidelines Select several boxes of varying size to work with. Use what you have. For example, a shoe box, a tissue box, and a cereal box would give a variety of widths and heights and help establish an interesting composition (as opposed to three boxes of similar size and shape). In order to focus solely on the shapes of the boxes (positive shapes) and the shapes created by the spaces in between the boxes (negative shapes), it's important to get rid of visual distractions! The colors and the lettering on the boxes can make drawing them accurately confusing. To avoid these distractions: Wrap the boxes in white paper or spray paint the boxes white. It's always best to stand at an easel when drawing. Use a viewfinder to frame your composition. Don't look at things, look at shapes. Use sighting to correctly establish the angles of planes. Practice first! Do a few practice drawings on 18"x24" newsprint before working on the drawing paper. Final