Value can be confusing for a beginning artist. Learn how to see the different values in your reference photo and how to transfer them to your painting.

#9WLovesBlackWhite

Good image for shading exercise.

I created this post to discuss how an artist can think technically about achieving an intended value key discussed in the previous post. This method helps to simplify an overwhelming number of values into a more workable structure at early stages of a painting (a digital one in this case). The loose renderings below are quick head studies from my imagination as they might be lit for dramatic and compositional purposes. I began with this basic head drawing which indicates some of the major…