Practice: Value Couplets

The Shading Course

Module 3 - How to Control Values

Practice: Value Couplets

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Practice: Value Couplets

368
Mark as Completed

Instructions

This is the little brother of the Value Scale assignment. Your main challenge here is edge control at the meeting between the two values.

Materials

  • One or two pencils. Any hardness appropriate to the tone you want to use.

  • A kneadable eraser and a mechanical eraser. 

  • A ruler. You can also use the edge of a book.

  • A piece of paper. You need a proper drawing paper, around 160 gsm (98 lb). Canson Mi-Teintes, Fabriano Roma, or Arches work well.

Duration

This project should take 1–2 hours to complete. The time depends on your experience level with graphite pencils. Take your time with this. Aim for quality.

Steps

  1. Draw a square, keeping the lines very light. They should not be visible in the final drawing.

  2. Draw two values next to each other that are similar in brightness/darkness. (Low contrast between them.)

  3. Your primary goal is to keep the meeting/edge/transition between the two values as razor sharp as you possibly can – without drawing a line between them. Watch the demonstration video of the Value Scale assignment before you start, it might help you with this.

  4. Your secondary goal is to make the tones as smooth as you can. (Free of texture/noise.)

Example

Newest
@rfrimpong3
I did it in procreate
@marq777
8mo
HB and an F
Vin
8mo
I compared 2H and HB. When I zoomed in on the photo I took, I found that my drawing looked so sloppy…even though I drew it as carefully as I could.
@kotka
9mo
2B Mars Technico lead holder. A bit zoomed in.
Victoria Lupian
This looks very nice. I would suggest going another pass at it and do the island hunting thing.
Daniel Lucas Nizari
Samuel Sanjaya
value couplets assingments. any feedbacks will be appreciated
Jean-François (Jeff) Durix
2 versions of the same couplet and I still struggle with using the kneadable eraser when I try to stop from darkening the value to create uniformity: it kind of creates a fatty smudging that changes the paper surface structure than I cannot. Properly work on afterwards.
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Former program director at Barcelona Academy of Art. Passionate about teaching craft and exploring the inner game of art.
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