White space can be used as a design element to give suggestions or to provide a little breathing space to a sketch. Sometimes what you don't draw can be as important as what you draw.

The sketch above is of the Asian Civilisation Museum. I've purposely left out the left side of the museum because they are just repeating windows.

In this piece by Gerard Michel, he has drawn enough windows and uses the white space to suggest the rest.

Here's another example with white space that's open to interpretation. It also gives the sketch breathing space. And if you put anything within that space, it will draw the attention.

Here's a piece I sketch at Amoy Street. I was sketching with some friends and they had moved on. So I just drew an outline for the buildings I didn't have time to finish, and added the text later on at home.

Fabrice Moireau is another watercolour artist who is amazing at using white space. The sketches above are from his book Rooftops of Paris.

A Bernand Fuchs sketch

If you have any favourite examples of other artists using white space in sketches, share them in the comment section below.