Art Tip: Color Gets All the Credit, but Value Does All the Work
It Takes More than Pretty Colors
One of the most powerful lessons I ever learned was to see through my mind’s misconception about why I found certain paintings so appealing. I thought it was because the colors were beautiful and harmonious (and sure, that was true). But time and time again, I would select and mix a palette of gorgeous, harmonious colors and yet I’d find that my finished painting lacked impact and excitement. It had a dull quality. This was frustrating and disappointing! I’ve since learned that it’s very common, and as I’ve grown as an artist and now as I teach and mentor developing artists, I’ve seen that this is a natural part of the learning process.
Value Impacts Us More than Color
Most people aren’t aware of what value refers to when we refer to visual art. As an artist, you likely know that it’s the relative darkness or lightness of a color in your composition. Obviously black is the darkest value and white is the lightest, but other colors are not so easy to guess just by looking at them. You may have a yellow, a red, a pink, a blue, a green, and a brown and assume that you’ve got a nice range of values there. But if you paint swatches of each of these colors and take a photo in black and white, the value range will be made clear to you—and you may be in for a surprise.
What’s the big deal? Our eyes and minds work together when we look at art, and it turns out that when a work of art includes a full range of values—not just values from the mid-range but some very dark values and some very light values—it pleases us. This happens without us thinking about value or even knowing about it.
It turns out that many beautiful colors fall into the mid-range of the value scale. That’s why some of my early paintings were full of my favorite colors but lacked impact: I had failed to include very dark values and/or very light values. Once I learned about this important tip, it became a top-of-mind priority both in the initial stages of a painting as well as the final stage, when I am evaluating the piece to determine if it’s complete.
Check Your Values
I suggest you take photos or screenshots of artworks that you admire and turn them to grayscale to evaluate the values. Then do the same for your current and past artwork. Are there methods of incorporating dark or light values that you see other artists doing that you’d like to try in your own work? Remember that these darkest darks and lightest lights can be a tiny pop and still be very powerful. Keep in mind that because they are at the far ends of the value scale, they will command a lot of visual attention, so use them sparingly so the other parts of your painting will get some attention as well.
I’m Here to Help
I’ve been where you are, and part of my mission is to help artists at any stage in their development to keep growing and to stay motivated. Be sure to follow me on Instagram for tips with visuals, and be sure to join my email mailing list.