Honing Your Craft: Value
by Armand Cabrera
"Theory has no place in an artist's basic education. It is the eye and the hand that should be exercised during the impressionable years of youth. It is always possible to later acquire the accessory knowledge involved in the production of a work of art, but never -- and I want to stress that point -- never can the will, perseverance, and tenacity of a mature man make up for insufficient practice. And can there be such anguish compared to that felt by the artist who sees the realization of his dream compromised by weak execution?"
Adolph Bouguereau
Here are a couple of exercises for mixing accurate values. Seeing values in their correct relationships to each other on the canvas is crucial to great painting. The exercises are a simple variation on mixing your color and value charts. You will need black and white paint from which to mix grays.
PAINTING EXERCISE ONE: IMPROVEMENT OF SEEING CORRECT VALUES
- Using each color on your palette, paint a vertical line of one-inch squares in a column on a canvas. Leave 1/8 of an inch between the squares.
- Paint the squares from dark to light.
(As an example I’ve used ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, alizarin crimson, cadmium red light, cadmium yellow light and cadmium yellow lemon.)
- Now, mix black and white to create a gray that corresponds to the value of each color square
- Next, use your palette knife to place the correct gray in the middle of the corresponding color square.
- If it is not right, you must start from scratch. Do not blend the color and the gray together.
- When you are finished, your colors and the gray spots within them should be the same value.
- Practice this until you are successful.
PAINTING EXERCISE TWO: PAINTING IN GRAYSCALE TO SEE BETTER VALUE
Another exercise is to paint everything in grayscale, using no colors. Painting from life this way will help you see value better. It will also help you simplify and organize your composition without using color as a crutch. In addition, it helps with brushwork and mixing because you are painting. Working in charcoal and or pencil is worthwhile, but not as helpful for your craft as when you are actually painting.
These simple exercises will facilitate your ability to see accurately. Next to drawing, seeing value is the biggest challenge for most painters. Practicing these exercises will help you overcome that challenge.
