Week 3-Negative Space

Negative space is the area around, between, and within objects.  Positive space is typically the "subject" of an image, negative space is anything that, well, isn't the subject.  In artwork, the interplay between positive and negative space can be used to enhance the visual interest of a piece.  When well executed, negative space can draw the eye away from the subject to become the main focal point of the work.  It can also be used to create intricate designs using a simple two color scheme.

It's a relatively simple concept, but one that is probably more easily demonstrated than explained.  I'm not exactly an expert on graphic design, but I'm a fan of George Bokhua and feel like his work provides a great example of this principle in action:

I thought the book I was using, with it's many illustrations, bright colors and contrast between text and imagery would provide a lot of opportunities to play with negative space. Instead, every time I cut something out of the book it was really difficult to read the negative space due to the sheer amount of visual clutter on each page. Oh well, I gave it a couple of different tries: