Painting values

I created this post to discuss how an artist can think technically about achieving an intended value key discussed in the previous post. This method helps to simplify an overwhelming number of values into a more workable structure at early stages of a painting (a digital one in this case). The loose renderings below are quick head studies from my imagination as they might be lit for dramatic and compositional purposes. I began with this basic head drawing which indicates some of the major…

On color value: All of us, beginners and experienced painters alike, can benefit from a refresher course in the bedrock principles of ...

For me, even a simple landscape painting needs to have three basic elements. A foreground, midground and background. How those three elements are handled will

Join George Strickland with his opinion on the importance of values and how the key to mastering values is to simplify them.

A short tutorial on intentionally organizing your values for a stronger render and better composition.

Painting in progress … for landscapes with depth it’s important to adjust your contrast, saturation and value between different distances. Land becomes lighter and less yellow the further away from you it is.

I used a big brush and it was glorious! Bananas really lend themselves to giant brushstrokes. In this painting I really tried to keep it simple, there were a lot of subtle shifts in the values of shadows that I especially tried to ignore. I didn't end up using what would've been my "darkest dark" - number 9. It seemed like it was just a bit much

Learn all about tonal values in painting and drawing and how to create a sense of light and dark in your own paintings. Tonal value scale

LIVE paint along classes online.

Still life value study - 6x6" (demo) A couple of months ago I put out a challenge to anyone who wanted to take on doing 50 value studies in 30 days, ideally from life. We also set up a challenge over on the Daily Paintworks site for those who wanted to simply take one crack at it. (This challenge is still on if you want to join in.) The idea is to use only 4 values (white and black included) to portray your subject. What this forces you to do is make decisions about where values must be…