Exercise: Negative space

I am really pleased with this drawing. I also found it a really good exercise to study negative space, helping to see the edges and shapes rather than draw what I think is there. 

I like the composition I have chosen as it's dynamic with a wild, fountain look of explosion and growth, which adds movement to the drawing rather than looking stiff and structured. I made the vase slightly off centre on the stool so as to be a little asymmetrical. 

I think the flowers are recognisable with the attached stems and shapes of the petals, especially as some are positioned so that they are isolated and not overlapping. 

The straight lines of the vase and stems contrast well with the interesting curves of the flowers and leaves. As do the directional lines contrast with the vase pointing inwards to the surface it's resting on and the flowers exploding everywhere! 

The only thing was that it became quite time consuming once I had drawn the outer black lines and was left with the job of colouring the rest of the negative space black using a felt-tip! But overall, black felt-tip was a good choice for accuracy and consistency, though some of the pencil markings have shown through! This was because some of the inside shapes of negative space were quite hard to make as they needed to be connected to a stem and to a flower, so I used a pencil for this. 

Flowers in a vase using black felt-tip and brush pens