I'm practicing Value Studies
3yr
Hi, I've been practicing value studies for a little over two months. I feel like I'm starting to get a good grip on it. Here's a value study I did, from a photo I took of an old house on Södermalm in Stockholm. I painted it in Krita and it took around 30 minutes. Any feedback appreciated :)
Looks great, and seems to be excellent exercise for seeing values. An interesting question occurs to me is, how would/ could you change real life values in composition to invent a version where a focal point/ eye path becomes whatever you want by deciding what you want to be the biggest contrast of value. For instance, if there was light emanating from all of windows and it was a night sky, or if there was people added to scene. In the photo now i perceive the roofline versus the sky above i suppose is the greatest value contrast and draws most attention.
•
3yr
And here's a 4 value study of another photo I took. The most tricky part was the glasses sign. I want it to be a little brighter, but using the lightest value in my palett made it too bright. Though I still think It attracts focus similar to the way it does in the image - the effect is similar. What do you think?
Cheers!
•
3yr
Looks great! Yes, I think the glass sign is effectively contrasting in a similar way to the photo. By doing a quick check on Photoshop, we see it is in fact a tiny bit brighter in the reference - but, since you’re working with a limited palette, your second brightest value is definitely the closest you can get. Using the brightest one must have certainly made it too bright indeed.
Good job!
•
3yr
Cool, Jesper! I agree with Steve and I’m also wondering if you intentionally limited the value palette. But knowing this was a quick study, I’m assuming you really were aiming at simplifying the major value shapes, so I think it looks great anyway.
Where have you been studying values from?
Also, how do you like Krita so far, do you think it’s as good as Photoshop or Procreate for painting? Students often come ask me about free art softwares, but I have a hard time recommending alternatives because I’ve never used Krita myself, so I’d love to know your impressions, if you don’t mind sharing!
•
3yr
Thanks Liandro!
Yes I limited myself to 5 values in this one, following Dorian Iten's shading course instructions. Is there another way to do it?
Before this I've been practicing 2-value and 3-value studies, since I found 5 values to be too difficult, but I'm getting the hang of it now.
I've also read Alla Prima II which gave me a good understanding of values, though it wasn't until I started doing value studies that I really got it.
To be honest, I'm not that skilled at using painting software. I've manily used the very basics of krita, as a study tool. But I've looked up some things, and I'm often able to mimic what I see people doing in photoshop. One thing I haven't found in krita is something equivalent to the median filter - the oil paint filter is close, but not the same.
I really like that krita has a built in frame by frame animation workspace.
Cheers!
Is this an exercise to use only 4 values? I've done this myself to help simplify values and design a pleasing value structure. If that's what your doing, nice job :)
•
3yr
Thank you! This one was a 5 value study. Dorian Iten suggested to have that as a maximum amount in his shading course. Before this I've been practicing 2-value and 3-value studies, since I found 5 values to be too difficult. Maybe I should try some 4 value ones too :)
