The scale of gradations between light and dark. Values are used to help identify volumes in space. The disposition of volumes embodies both the gestural characteristics derived from the object and the objects basic geometric form.
In this article, we will go ahead with the third major contour type “Cross Contour”.
Cross Contour is similar to the tactile blind contour. But in cross contour, you feel the whole space of the composition with your eyes and translate it a sheet of paper.
Cross contour is a linear problem and the translation should make only limited use of value by defining it simply in the pressure of the stroke.
Cross Contour | Types of Contours
Squinting helps identify lights and darks
Vary pressure according to the volume established.
Less pressure for light and more pressure for shades and shadows – The topographical definition.
Occasionally the highest lights will not require a line at all but will break the line and pick it up again when the value becomes dark enough.
In this article, we will discuss in detail the method of drawing a “Negative/Positive Contour” and its relevance to Architectural Drawing.
A negative shape is defined as the shape of space that surrounds the object or that permeates it.
Negative shapes drawn from any subject matter WILL, WHEN COMPLETED, SUGGEST the positive shape of that which you are drawing.
The purpose of this exercise is to turn your thinking and seeing from the object itself, to that of seeing shapes of space which surround or permeate things.
Negative/Positive Contour - To draw the space around it
The process requires that you see space in a new way. Conventional spatial expectations are reoriented.
Draw the negative shapes seen from your point of view, regardless of the separateness and overlapping of the objects.