Took a 3 weeks leave from drawing and man was this rough as a first assignment. Cold turkey like that I was having so much trouble just simplifying things and I won't comment on keeping the values consistent. Will maybe do this again at a later date, want to get on with the course since I just can't seem to get on with my personal projects.

hopefully not reposting this but it doesn't look like me first one went through. i found this project really useful and thought provoking as someone who tends to struggle with having clear value distinctions in their work.

While consistently hearing about the importance of value studies and playing with lights and shadows this was an aha moment for me. although I feel that I didn't commit to the inversion of the tones.

Just removed some things here, thought it'd read better this way!

I find it very interesting what colors and values do for an image. I also would like to learn to work with limited colors, because there is often something powerful and graphic about it. It feels unnatural to make trees red or skin yellow (or grey as with this assignment), but the result can still work or be interesting.

I've never done an exercise like this before, and I have to admit it can be quite confusing at times, but here's my attempt.

Hello, here is my submission for this assignment. I did the first one while following along with the lecture and then tried again with the second one, referencing ever so often, while with the last one I tried my best to finish it first before looking back at what I did before. I did have difficulties figuring out where to place what value to make the picture read better while also trying to keep the shapes simple and clean, avoiding rendering. Since abstraction is something I struggle with, I will definitely keep trying. This exercise was challenging for me, but I enjoyed it.

Unfortunately I struggle with finding the time, but it was a lot of fun

A really fun exercise ! Im definitely going to keep doing this as practice

Here are some variations I did of one of the frames that was provided. I wish I had been able to flesh them out in more detail but I got distracted from the course by some life events. But I am recommitting to doing these lessons every day before working on my own projects.

One of the reasons I took this course was the recognition that I need to do more preliminary work when I tackle a project. To that end, I'm trying to incorporate what we're learning here into some of the projects on my to-do list. Here is the progress on a Superman cover that I'm working on. The first image is the original thumbnail followed by the value study options.

Gave it another try:

I tried putting the bugs and the field higher up in the hierarchy because I think they are important to the story, but I might’ve made it confusing and now I’ve looked at it for too long to be able to tell if it’s successful or not. Feedback appreciated :)

I noticed when I was done with this and checked out the video one more time that I have only use three values, instead of four. I guess I made the challenge even more difficult in some ways. The first version was the hardest. It really goes against intuition to do white cast shadows, and that I guess is what is great with these kind of exercises.

This is definitely a habit I need get into my workflow. Too often I develop one solution and do with it rather than slowing down a little and exploring options.

Watercolors (using up a tube of gray I don’t use much so no blacks here). I do think the mood and messaging changes. To me, the first one (based on original image) has a lot of tension and sense of something bad about to happen. The other two I think that sense is downplayed or even disappears when the figure in the doorway is portrayed in white, I can read a sense of anticipation, or even hope in the figure in the foreground

I had a great time tackling this puzzle. Definitely need to do this more!

Tried to keep them with in 3 values, it was difficult not trying to add too much and keep them simple. Squinted my eyes a lot to make some of the details blur and focus on the big shapes. I probably spent more time on these then I should have especially trying to chip away at the white areas with my eraser.

Truth be told: that was a little confusing occasionally) Will need to try it a few more times!) The hardest part, probably - was not going after details, kept forgetting about it, and dragging other problems with it) But I really enjoyed the exercise! Thanks! As far as questions&thoughts go: 1. Changed shadows to mid-tones (thumbnail on the right) (I think) it kept the dramatic aspect of the photo but added a surreal feel, kept me thinking about that death cartoon [tale of 3 brothers] from Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows) the person is, clearly, going out of this world in one way or another) And the closer guy is watching 2. Jumping to the high key with inverted shadows and highlights (thumbnail on the left) (I think) upsets the balance and even though the meaning might be similar to a first experiment, now they go out with a bang👀😂 It is clearly the end, for both dudes, I think they both are about to be wiped out and the closest to us is more of a bystander now, rather then watcher/follower Anyway, hope everyone is having a nice day and see you all tomorrow!) p.s. finally tried Affinity Designer on an iPad, I loved: working with references and artboards + all possible effects and adjustments from Photo World but brushes and the act of digital painting seemed to be nicer in Procreate. Anyway, I think thumbnailing and working with the first stages of ideas - is way easier