Beloit College, August 25-December 8, 2015

ART 115, Introduction to Drawing and Design, Section 02

instructor: Helen Hawley

email: hawleyhh@beloit.edu
class web: art115.weebly.com

3 VOLUME AND VOID

DUE 09-17-15

Consider that the space around objects is not truly empty,

but this space where an object is not, is often called *negative
space. This assignment asks you to visualize alternately one
hand as a solid, volumetric shape, and the other hand as an
empty, flattened shape.

!!
ASSIGNMENT
!!

On one sheet of paper make a drawing of both hands: Regard one

hand as a void or hole in space. Then carefully observe and draw
the shape that surrounds the hand. Regard the other hand in all
its fleshiness. Include details like tendons, wrinkles around the
knuckles and the moons on your fingernails.

!MATERIALS
!Strathmore Drawing Paper 18 x 24

Charcoal pencils and graphite pencils or powder

Magic Rub Eraser

!!
INSTRUCTIONS
!!

Look at one of your bare hands. Look at the palm side then the
backside. Make a fist. Flex your fingers. Move your fingers.
Can each finger move independently or do some fingers move
together? Look at your skin, knuckles and nails. Are there any
scars or distinctive markings? Now look at your other hand.
Squint your eyes and see if the shape of your hand appears to
flatten in space. Observe the negative space around the hand.

!*negative space is a term in art that refers to the space around

objects in a composition. You can think of this space as both

defining the outer edges of objects and as the breathing room in
a drawing or design.

Images top to bottom: Hendrik Goltzius, Goltzius's Right Hand, 1588; Rodin, Study of a Hand, c. 1900