Ma

Ma sketch: a kayaker glides through a calm lake with a shoreline reflection on a moody grey day

Prints

Still need a gift? 🎄

Get the book. 135 sketches explaining the world

Ma is the negative space — the space that makes the whole. Formed by the rather beautiful Chinese characters of 'Door' and 'Sun', like the sun gleaming through a doorway, it represents what isn't there and how that helps form what is.

Ma is present in art, including beautiful minimalistic ink brush drawings and music where the silence and quiet that surround the notes help make a piece what it is.

Some vintage-related sketches: figure and ground, use white space with care, John Cage

Original ma sketch (without kayaker)

Published 13 Nov 2022

A weekly sketch by email

Learn something new in a sketch each Sunday

Get the book!
Big Ideas Little Pictures

Prefer to listen?
Try the podcast

Sketchplanations is ad-free
thanks to supporters like you.See more on Patreon

Keep exploring

Kawaii

Kawaii is the word for the Japanese culture of cute, adorable and childlike. When you see a sushi roll with a cute smiley face, that's Kawaii at work. You might also find it in an innocent, high voice like a child's. I love how, by adding a couple of big eyes, maybe with a couple of little highlights, a smiley mouth and perhaps a little shy blushing on the cheek, it's possible to transform a cactus or a pencil case into something adorable. As a family, we've enjoyed the card game Sushi Go, which includes cute wasabi, fried shrimp, and even a chopstick holder. It's a bit like the magic of adding googly eyes to anything to make it fun. The childlike simplicity, sweetness and cute artwork of Kawaii is also in Sanrio's Hello Kitty. Also see: The rules of cute Lego faces More lovely stuff from Japan: Wabi-sabi Kintsugi Tsundoku Ma Hara hachi bu I liked chindogu, the art of unuseless inventions, so much I accidentally sketched it twice: chindōgu back-scratching t-shirt, the 3 tenets of chindōgu…Kawaii is the word for the Japanese culture of cute, adorable and childlike. When you see a sushi roll with a cute smiley face, that's Kawaii at work. You might also find it in an innocent, high voice like a child's. I love how, by adding a couple of big eyes, maybe with a couple of little highlights, a smiley mouth and perhaps a little shy blushing on the cheek, it's possible to transform a cactus or a pencil case into something adorable. As a family, we've enjoyed the card game Sushi Go, which includes cute wasabi, fried shrimp, and even a chopstick holder. It's a bit like the magic of adding googly eyes to anything to make it fun. The childlike simplicity, sweetness and cute artwork of Kawaii is also in Sanrio's Hello Kitty. Also see: The rules of cute Lego faces More lovely stuff from Japan: Wabi-sabi Kintsugi Tsundoku Ma Hara hachi bu I liked chindogu, the art of unuseless inventions, so much I accidentally sketched it twice: chindōgu back-scratching t-shirt, the 3 tenets of chindōgu

Newer

RRandom

Older