Positive and Negative space PART 1- 6TH grade

Using pencil and markers students complete the following projects

Pencil: trace the outer edge of their favorite "Action pose" most choose a sport or a professional athlete, but some choose reading or sitting - its interesting to me to see the choices some students make when discussing what an action is to them

1- Trace outer edge so only the silhouette of the figure is showing.

2- using a ruler make 5 lines going vertically and 5 lines going horizontally

this is the first result of steps 1 & 2

My students are working on LINE and Positive and Negative space-

Step 3 is to define the negative space using a primary color scheme. the rules are that colors may NOT share sides only colors. NEATNESS is a must so we "inline" every shape we are going to apply color to. We have a discussion on the difference between "coloring" and the application of color. Coloring is nondescript and usually reserved as a leisure activity. The application of color has a purpose and leads to and overall neater project. We talk about how being proactive in the classroom can be grade saving, when you choose a safe place to work free from distractions and a stable surface where people cant shake the table when you are trying to  be "neat" about your project with a permanent medium such as marker can really help your grade.

result of STEP 3

To help show the separation between POSITIVE and NEGATIVE space we used a small line of stippling to talk about value and light to dark.

STEP 4

The positive space is to be filled using secondary colors- same rules apply to these shapes as they do above. the only difference is that a color an only be used if the primary color it is connected to would correspond with it on the color wheel.

Here is the final result of PART 1