03 / The Studio

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SHAPE + FORM

Seeing and changing the shapes in, around and between things.

What is it?

A shape is two dimensional: it has height and width.

When you look at an object, you can also look at the shapes that make it up: its outer edge, the shapes inside it and the spaces around it.

The spaces around and between objects create shapes too. This is called negative space.

TODAY’S FOCUS

Looking at the shapes around an object can change what you notice.

Look

WHAT SHAPES CAN YOU SEE?

Look at the painting before reading its title.

Arthur Dove, Over the Harbor, Centerport, 1942. A watercolour of interlocking green, blue and brown shapes bounded by dark lines, with the white paper showing through between them.
Arthur Dove, American, 1880–1946. Over the Harbor, Centerport, 1942. Watercolor on paper. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Bequest of Edith S. and Arthur J. Levin. CC0. Record ID: saam_2005.5.25. Museum object page →

Look first.

What shapes do you notice first?

Look at the spaces between them. Where can you see the white paper showing through?

Now read the title: Over the Harbor, Centerport. Can you find parts of the harbour in the painting?

What becomes easier to recognise once you know the title?

Try

ONE OBJECT, THREE WAYS

Use one object for three short drawings.

01 / Outer shape

Look at its outside edge. Draw only the shape made by that edge. Leave the details out.

02 / Negative space

Look at the spaces around and inside the object. Draw those shapes instead.

03 / Crop

Move closer or let part of the object move beyond the edge of the page. Look at what happens to the shapes when you only see part of the object.

Sketchbook page with three studies of the same pair of scissors: left, an outer-contour drawing; centre, a negative-space study with the background shaded; right, a cropped view of the finger holes and upper blades.
01 / ONE OBJECT, THREE WAYS
Studio exercise.

Materials

  • SurfaceSketchbook or drawing paper
  • DrawingGraphite pencil
  • Cut + moveMagazine images, scissors and paper
  • OptionalPaint or other drawing materials for the translated response
You can begin with simple materials. Cutting, moving and drawing can each change the way you notice shape and space.

Material encounter

CUT + MOVE

Cutting changes a shape immediately.

Move one piece. Turn it. Overlap another piece. Leave a gap.

Notice what happens to the shapes around it as well as the shape you moved.

Square magazine fragments moved, rotated and overlapped on a sketchbook page to test a new arrangement.
CUT + MOVE
Studio exercise.
Try one change

Move or turn one fragment. What changed around it?

Understand

POSITIVE + NEGATIVE SPACE

The object or subject creates a shape. The spaces around and between it create shapes too.

Positive space

The shape occupied by the subject or object.

Negative space

The shapes around and between subjects or objects.

WATCH

Elements of Art: Shape / KQED Art School

CHANGING ONE CHANGES THE OTHER.

Make

FOUR SQUARES

Choose the amount of support you need today.

Start with four square fragments cut from different magazine photographs. Arrange them on a page. Turn them, move them and try different combinations.

You can then cut into the squares, overlap pieces or leave spaces between them. As you work, notice which shapes, edges and spaces you want to keep.

When you have an arrangement you want to work from, make a drawing or painting from it. You do not need to copy every detail. Look at the shapes, spaces and relationships you want to carry into the new work.

  1. 01 / Select

    Choose four square fragments from different magazine images.

  2. 02 / Place

    Place them on the page and look at the shapes and spaces they create.

  3. 03 / Move

    Move, turn or overlap the fragments.

  4. 04 / Cut

    Cut into one or more fragments and try another arrangement.

  5. 05 / Choose

    Choose the arrangement you want to work from.

  6. 06 / Translate

    Make a drawing or painting from it. Keep the shapes, spaces and relationships that matter to you.

  7. 07 / Look again

    Look back at the earlier stages and notice what changed.

Four separate square magazine fragments laid out as a two by two grid on a spiral sketchbook page, with white space between them.
01 / SELECT
Studio exercise.
The same four magazine fragments moved, rotated and overlapped on the sketchbook page to test a new arrangement.
02 / REARRANGE
Studio exercise.
A sketchbook spread where the original square fragments have been cut into new shapes and recombined, with loose offcuts still visible.
03 / CUT + CHANGE
Studio exercise.
A hand made painted response in the sketchbook, worked in blues and greys, developed from the shapes, spaces, colours and relationships in the collage.
04 / TRANSLATE
Studio work.

Look again

COMPARE + CHANGE

Look back at the first arrangement and compare it with the work you made.

What did you keep? What did you change or leave out?

Which shapes or spaces became more important as you worked?

What happened to the spaces between the shapes?

If you changed one part now, what would you try?

In practice

Art Creative Practice

Shape and space can become part of your visual language. Cropping, simplifying, cutting and rearranging can change how an idea develops as you work.

Art Making + Exhibiting

Explore what happens when you change shapes, spaces and relationships through different materials and processes. Keep stages of the work so you can compare what changed and decide what to develop.

Visual Communication Design

Designers consider the relationship between a figure and the space around it. Cropping, placement and figure-ground can change what stands out and how a visual communication is read.

Creative thinking

Notice

Where does the space around something become a shape?

Compare

What changed when you moved, cropped or removed part of the image?

Document

Keep one stage that shows how the relationship between shape and space changed.

← CREATIVE THINKING TOOLKIT

Tools to help you notice, describe, question, develop and document your work.

Curriculum + reading

Bowden, M., & Tooke, A. (2022). Art making and exhibiting: VCE units 1–4. Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

Greenwood, D. (2023). Art creative practice: VCE units 1–4. Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

Guthrie, K. (2017). Nelson visual communication design: VCE units 1–4 (4th ed.). Cengage Learning Australia.

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2022). VCE Art Creative Practice study design 2023–2027. vcaa.vic.edu.au ↗

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2022). VCE Art Making and Exhibiting study design 2023–2027. vcaa.vic.edu.au ↗

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2023). VCE Visual Communication Design study design 2024–2028. vcaa.vic.edu.au ↗

Artists + artworks

Dove, A. (1942). Over the Harbor, Centerport [Watercolor on paper]. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC. CC0. si.edu ↗

Studio material

One Object, Three Ways.

CUT + MOVE.

Four Squares — Select, Rearrange, Cut + Change.

Four Squares — Translate.

Visual material: Studio work, 2026.

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