{"id":3317,"date":"2018-12-24T15:57:16","date_gmt":"2018-12-24T21:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/evolveartist.com\/blog\/?p=3317"},"modified":"2022-05-24T12:50:13","modified_gmt":"2022-05-24T18:50:13","slug":"value-drawing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/evolveartist.com\/blog\/value-drawing\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Value in Drawing: A Beginners\u2019 Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cYour darkest light always has to be lighter<\/strong> than your lightest shadow and vice versa<\/em>.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

-Kevin Murphy<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If you’ve ever had to ask yourself, ‘what is value in drawing?’, this this article is for you!  In this video, you will learn how to assign values to an image before drawing<\/a> it. Read about the five steps included in this process below.<\/p>\n

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Step 1: Identify Shadows And Lights <\/h2>\n

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To begin assigning values<\/a> in a drawing or painting you need to understand what value means in art. So let’s start with a definition of what is value<\/strong> in drawing: <\/p>\n

Value in art is the darkness or lightness of a tone or color<\/em>.  Value is one of the 3 building blocks of art and is best visualized as a scale or gradient, from dark to light.<\/p>\n

At Evolve<\/a> we use a value scale with four categories: Extreme shadowModerate shadowModerate lightExtreme light<\/p>\n

The first step in assigning values is to label our shadows as shadows and our lights as lights<\/strong>. To begin we label all our shadows as such:<\/p>\n

\"what<\/span><\/p>\n

Next, we label all of our lights.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, find extreme shadows <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Step 2: Identify Extreme Shadows<\/h2>\n

Once we’ve found all our shadows and lights, is to find our darkest<\/em> shadow. In this example, the shadow cast from the cat is our darkest value. <\/p>\n

Step 3: Identify Moderate Shadows <\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Step 3: After we’ve found our darkest shadow we need to find our lightest shadow. We label our lightest shadow “moderate shadow.” Now we compare the remaining shadows to see whether they are closer in value to our extreme or moderate shadow. Whichever value they are closer to is what they get labeled.<\/p>\n

Step 4: Identify Moderate Lights <\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Step 4: Next, you’ll move on and find your darkest light which we’ll label “moderate light.” For instance, in this image the darkest light is found on the black pot. <\/p>\n

Step 5: Identify Extreme Lights <\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Step 5: In conclusion, step five is to find your lightest light. Here you can see that it’s found on the cat’s back. The value on the red ball is also very light meaning it will also be rendered as an extreme light. The remaining lights that are closest to this value will be labeled “extreme light.” The lights closest to your moderate light value will be labeled “moderate light.”<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts on Knowing What is Value in Drawing <\/h2>\n

Learning the 5 steps on how to assign values to an image before you start drawing will drastically improve your drawings.<\/p>\n

Consider building a still life box<\/a> when learning to assess values on objects in real life.   A still life box can help control the light thereby making the values easier to assess and also help train your eye to know what to look for.<\/p>\n

Apply what you’ve learned: Imagine you were drawing this image and you had to decide the value of the table top. You know it’s a light value – but do you think it’s a moderate or extreme value? Why?<\/span><\/p>\n

FREE MASTERCLASS:The 4 Part Framework to Develop <\/span><\/em>Artistic Excellence in 12 Months<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

rEGISTER NOW!<\/strong><\/span><\/span> <\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYour darkest light always has to be lighter than your lightest shadow and vice versa.\u201d  -Kevin Murphy If you’ve ever had to ask yourself, ‘what is value in drawing?’, this this article is for you!  In this video, you will learn how to assign values to an image before drawing it. Read about the five […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-equipment","category-techniques","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolveartist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolveartist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolveartist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evolveartist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evolveartist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3317"}],"version-history":[{"count":47,"href":"https:\/\/evolveartist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13437,"href":"https:\/\/evolveartist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3317\/revisions\/13437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evolveartist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evolveartist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evolveartist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evolveartist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}