About Notan Drawing

Notan is a Japanese word meaning dark-light. The principle of Notan is theinteraction between positive (light) and negative (dark) shape.The idea of this interaction in Notan is embodied in the ancient Easternsymbol of the Yin and the Yang, which consists of mirror images, one white and oneblack, revolving around a point of equilibrium. Here the positive and negative areastogether make a whole created through a unity of opposites that have equal andinseparable reality. In the Yin and the Yang symbol, as in Notan, oppositescomplement, they do not conflict. Neither seeks to negate or dominate the other,only to relate in harmony. It is the interaction of the light and the dark, thereforethat is the most essential component of Notan drawing. The Notan concept is todevelop positive white designs into black shapes and then reverse the artisticprocess. Ideally, the finished artistic work should be 50% light and 50% darkcreating equilibrium and balance. The Western culture thinks in terms of opposeddualities and attaches the moral values of good to the positive of bad to the negative.Or we seize upon the positive as the only reality and dismiss the negative as invisibleand nonexistent.