The Fill the Bus project is being run by the Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement. We needed a very fast turnaround for this. I think it took me about 20 minutes total to create this image in Illustrator.

Interestingly enough, the font (Ravie) was a random pick. I wanted a font that would be fun and bouncy and chose it because it sounded like it might fit. Normally I’m pretty obsessive about font selection, but this time the first try actually worked well. I love it when things work out in my favor.

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Tip #1: Adding a few lines, illustrating muscles and shadows, works wonders at conveying motion and depth. Tip #2: Sometimes drawing is counterintuitive. Or, at least, I’ve trained myself to draw things in a more cartoony style–so if I’m trying to draw, say, a slender leg, I’m used to cutting down a lot more than is actually accurate. It’s hard to explain, but imagine looking at something through a concave and a convex lens. Intuitively, I want to draw more in the concave style–my brain reads “slender” so I try to taper things almost immediately–when in reality convex is more accurate–that is, you notice a dramatic inward sweep because it has the outward angle first.

Tip #3. Drawing is as much about the negative space as it is about the occupied space. So–you illustrate the space between the torso and the dangling arm, because in some ways that empty triangle of space is more dramatic, more defining, than either arm or torso. It’s a concept that translates rather easily to the graphic design work I do–it’s about the white space giving shape to the page.

Which has always been difficult for me, because my natural instinct has always been to fill every inch of open space. It’s why my bedroom walls have historically been covered with posters or tapestries or art, even if it’s cheesy. I just have that hard a time with the emptiness.

And it’s a concept that translates rather depressingly well to my life in general. Right now, I’m in a bit of a downward slump. I’m done with grad school, and still adapting to the concept of full-time work. All of a sudden, most of my evenings are open. And while there’s always something going on in the background that I should be doing (editing, for example), I still find myself with a glut of undesignated time.

Hence the drawing class. And actually the lifegroup I’ve joined through church. They fill up the “negative space” of my Monday and Tuesday evenings.

And my entire life continues in that negative space.  Life’s in a bit of stasis. I’m not in a relationship, I don’t have any long-term committments, and I don’t even have a permanent, salaried position (for whatever “permanent” means in Michigan in this economy). I don’t even have any good, productive hobbies to work at in my free time (see also why I’m taking the drawing class–to see if I’m interested in doing something vaguely art-related as a hobby). I’m feeling a little purposeless at the moment. It’s monotonous. But it’s in that negative space–the time between promise and fulfillment–where God does some of His most important work. See also Moses herding sheep for 40 years in the wilderness before being called to herd Israelites. Or, before him, Abram and Sarah waiting for 25 years and full impotence between when God promised Isaac and when he was actually born.

Because sometimes, the negative space is necessary to give shape to a life.

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