What is value?
Value is essentially how light or dark a color is. In other words, it is the brightness of a color. The lighter the color, the higher the value — and vice versa. Value is what gives a painting the volume .
Knowing how to correctly use value can be the difference between dull or uninteresting paintings and beautiful eye-catching works of art. It's the dark color that tells the story in a painting. It took me some time to learn the importance of value, but once I did, it was a game changer. Value is what makes your subjects discernible and can describe a scene where colors can't. Value can help emphasize certain parts of your painting and direct the viewers eye right where you want it to go.
Did you know you have 20 times more the ability to read value vs color? Not to nerd out on you, but the human eye is made of receptors. These receptors are the sensitive elements that absorb light and start the process of sending visual signals to the brain. There are 6 million receptors that help us see color — 120 million receptors help us to see value.
That’s the technical reason why value is more important than color. However, as artists, we need more relatable arguments as to why we should prioritize value so read on.
How do we see Value?
As novices to the craft, it can be challenging to determine how value is applied to paintings. However, there are ways — to help us see the value in our subjects so that we can properly apply them to our paintings.
Here are some of those ways:
1. Squinting and compare
Looking at paintings in their entirety can be overwhelming to some, but when you observe your subject while squinting, most of the details will be blurred out and the values, particularly the dark values will become prominent. It’s those dark values you want to pay attention to and use.
2. Using a value finder
Value finders are essentially tools that scale a color from dark to light. Just hold them beside your subject and you'll be able to spot the value in a matter of seconds. They could be your new best friend since they are very easy to use.
3. Turning a photo black and white
It can be discouraging to find the value in a colored image or subject. Black and white photos of your subject make it easier to spot value because it removes the complexity of color. Not only that, they can give the observers an idea as to whether or not the value pattern is good.
Editing a photo to be black and white can be done with just one finger. All you need is your smartphone. Open up your album, select a photo, tap on edit, look for the saturation setting then set it to its lowest setting, and there you have it. Easy right?
4. Looking through a hole-punched surface
Most people won't even think of doing this! As I've mentioned before, looking at your subject in its entirety can be overwhelming. A hole-punched surface can help with that. Using this method allows viewers to identify specific areas without any neighboring distractions. When we look through hole punches, only a portion of the value can be seen and the colors should be isolated.
How do we use value?
Now that we know the basics, we can now use value to our advantage. We can do this by copying what Rembrandt does in his paintings.
The storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt
If we look closely, Rembrandt used value to emphasize that the source of light is coming from the left side of the painting. Rembrandt cleverly uses value pattern with high contrast and subtle shifts in value to lead the viewer through the story. With the help of value pattern, the painting tells a moving story even if the image is still.
If we think about it in a more technical sense, value can be divided into three: dark, medium, and light. Furthermore, if we focus on what these three subdivisions are doing, rather than what the object is representing, we can create more depth and emotion in our paintings.
Another thing we can see in Rembrandt’s work is that value has a greater effect when formed in groups or when massed together. Generally, you would want a large part of your painting to have one dominant value (either dark, medium or light) — the other parts should individually have medium and small amounts.
When value patterns are used properly, it should give more emphasis on your object, and consequently, your painting could have an eye-leading effect.
The Value Scale Exercise
Improving your skills with value can be a challenge, but with this exercise, you can get to know what values are available to you as an artist without the distractions of color.
Here’s What you’ll need:
Grayscale value finder;
Black and white paint;
2 brushes (one for each color);
Palette; and
Brush cleaner.
In this exercise, we will be painting 10 values from white to black with increments of gray in between. We will match the values that we see on the Gray Scale Value Finder from 1 to 10.
It may sound easy but it can be very difficult to figure out how light or how dark a value should be compared to the one next to it. With that being said, if you follow these steps on how to do it, you’ll have nothing to worry about.
Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Draw ten one-inch squares side by side.
Step 2: Color the box at one end black and the at the other end white. Black will be numbered as one (1) while white will be ten (10)
Step 3: On your palette, SLOWLY mix a little amount of the white into the black. Make sure to be careful and don’t add more white than what you think is enough. Don’t be in a rush. Our goal is to get the feel of the mix.
Squint at the intersection between the two values above, you can see value 1 disappears, while value 2 is clearly lighter. Make sure to squint at the intersection of the two values on the Value Finder to know if you have a match.
Step 4: Once you think you have the shade you are looking for, use the value finder as reference. Hold it beside the mixture and squint to compare — make sure to focus your vision at the intersection where the two values meet. That's the area you want to compare to with your mixture.
Step 5: Repeat the process for the next 5 boxes — from box 1 to box 5.
Step 6: Once you have the 5th value, do the same process but this time, try going down from the white (start from box 10.) Starting from white gives a different feel.
The goal in this exercise is to help improve artists’ color mixing and observation skills. Although other hues aren’t used, the fundamentals will be incorporated to the painters’ abilities and he/she will gain more control and be more familiar with the brush.
There are a lot of nuances in value and it will take some time to get used to, but once we get the hang of it, we can make this technique our own — and we’ll be one step closer to being masters of the craft.