Shape, Form, and Space

What’s the Difference?

Shape is an enclosed two-dimensional geometric or organic shape that has height and width, but no depth. Form is a three-dimensional space that encloses volume, includes height, width, AND depth. Like shape, it can be geometric or organic. Space refers to the areas around, between, and within things (either shape or form) that define or give a sense of depth. In a nutshell, shape, form, and space are three very crucial building blocks of art. Let’s dive in a little deeper.

Shape

Form

The difference between shape and form lies in the dimension. If I convert the simple two-dimensional geometric shapes of a triangle, circle, and square into three-dimensional forms, I’d end up with a pyramid or a cone, a sphere, and a cube. Space can be positive or negative and includes background, middle-ground, and foreground. Shape and form cannot exist without space.

Shape to Form

Granted, what we do on canvas or paper is still technically two-dimensional, but sometimes the job of an artist is to make the two-dimensional appear to have volume or form. How do you do that on a two-dimensional surface?

At some point, every kid learns how to draw a cube.

Creating forms from shape can be done in several ways utilizing one or a combination of elements. Using line is one that I’m willing to bet almost all of you have done as children…at least this first one, anyway. A few added lines to any square will give you a cube.

Shape to form.

Value (shading), which we’ll get into soon, adds to the illusion of depth. A circle, for example, doesn’t need any additional lines like the cube does. But add a little value in the right spots and you’ve created a sphere. Simple, right?

Space

Now, space is one of those things that just is. Shape and form exist within in. As an artist though, you decide where those things sit within the space of your canvas, be it a still life, cityscape, or landscape. The negative space, or the space between objects is just as important as the objects themselves, the positive space. Is your subject matter alone in the space? Or are there other objects with it? Do they sit closely to each other, or is there a lot of space between them? Is it balanced or asymmetrical? Those decisions are all up to you. It’s a lot to consider, but we’ll take things one step at a time.

For now, let’s practice turning shapes into form, shall we?

Cube

Let’s start with the one you likely did as a child…the cube.

1. Draw a square in your sketchbook. It doesn’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to use a ruler. Just eyeball it and try to make the angles as close to ninety degrees as possible.
2. Now draw another square, roughly the same size, just slightly higher and to the side of the first square.
3. Next, connect each of the corners of the original square to the corresponding corners on the second square. And bingo! You have a cube!

Pyramid

Now let’s try changing a triangle into a pyramid.

1. Draw a triangle in your sketchbook. Again, it doesn’t have to be perfect, but try to make it even on both sides (not leaning over).
2. Now draw two parallel lines (the same length) at an angle coming off of the two bottom corners.
3. Connect the two lines with a horizontal line.
4. Then, connect the top point to the left corner in the back. And connect another line from the top point to the right corner in the back. These won’t be entirely straight up and down (perpendicular), but at an angle since this is…TADA!…a pyramid.

Cone

We can also convert a triangle into a cone.

1. Draw another triangle. Erase the bottom line (or don’t draw it at all).
2. Next, very lightly sketch an elipse (oval) with the long ends just touching the two bottom corners of the triangle. And there you have a cone!

Sphere

Finally, let’s try changing a circle into a sphere.

1. Draw a circle in your sketchbook. Once again, it doesn’t have to be perfect. As close as you can get will suffice.
2. Now we’ll put to use those cross-hatching skills you used last time. Start off by picking a side that a light source is coming from. In my example, the light is coming from the upper left side. This means that the right side will be in shadow. Start off by lightly hatching a crescent shape on whatever side you chose for shadow. You can hatch horizontally for now.
3. Next, light cross-hatch vertically, keeping to the crescent shape.
4. Finally, you’ll want to keep cross-hatching horizontally and vertically until you get a nice shadow. You can start to narrow the horizontal hatches and shorten the vertical hatches so that you have a darker shadow on the lower part of your shadow area. All shadows are not equal and we will discuss why in the post where we discuss value.

But wait…

What about cross-hatching for your cubes and pyramids? Follow the same procedure. Decide on a direction for your light source and go from there. The cube for example, if I stick with the light coming from the upper left, the right side will be the darkest shadow and the front will be partially shaded. For the pyramid, the same applies. Since these are both flat sides, you can hatch in the direction of the angle. For the cube, the vertical cross-hatch stays totally vertical (at least for now). For the pyramid, the vertical cross-hatches can follow the vertical angle. Keep cross-hatching until you have a nice dark side opposite the light and only go to about medium on the other side. The secret to this is to build things up gradually. If you try to lay it all down in one shot, it looks very amateurish and sloppy.

Shading a cube.

Shading a pyramid.

Shading a cone.

In Conclusion…

So, there you have it! Shape, form, and space. Not that hard, right? As we go, we’ll refine the process, correcting perspective and such. But in the meantime, keep practicing with these basic shapes. You can vary the squares and triangles. In other words, you can make the squares into rectangles, varying the height and width. Likewise, your triangles can be taller or wider. Try to make your cross-hatching soft and subtle, gradually building it up as you go. Don’t dismiss this exercise as juvenile or too basic. Drawing well largely depends on you being able to identify and draw basic shapes and forms. These exercises will also help loosen you up and help you not be so apprehensive about drawing. You can do this! Keep at it and it will soon become second nature.

See you next week!

Further Reading:

A Brief Note on Color

Line in Art