I’m preparing “Still Life with Toy Pony Design 32” for painting. During the drawing phase, I assigned one arrangement of values. I often tone my drawings to get a better feel for the design. I want to know if the design is complete enough to translate into a painting.
However, one thing I’ve learned in “problems solving” is that it’s a good idea to make yourself look at different options during the planning process. One such work practice that’s helpful is to do multiple value studies. Yup, you’ve heard it before, and now you’ll hear it from me: value studies work!
What I Do:
- Trace the outline of the original drawing in felt tip pen onto tracing paper
- Scan and save to my computer
- Using a “paint style” program, ie. one with a “bucket” fill, fill the outlined cells with an assigned value. (Paint style program: Photoshop or Corel Painter; I use Painter because that’s what I have.
Alternative: One could just as easily copy the tracing four times and fill in the values with ink or pencil.
The Result:
- Now I have four value plans to consider. I get to think about such fun concepts as “which one best supports my idea”.
- I can do the same thing with color schemes.
- I can make adjustments based on what I’ve learned regarding values.
- When I begin to paint, I have an idea where I’m headed!
Try it if you like; see if it works for you.
Tomorrow I’ll show you what I do with colors.
Note: This is not an advertisement for Photoshop or Painter; they’re listed only as examples. One thing I like about Painter is that I could have re-drawn my entire design. While time consuming, it is great research for a design. I can change colors, values, shapes, patterns….really go to town!
6 Responses to “Painting Research: Value Studies Design 32, Still Life with Toy Pony”
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I’ve never done with with my drawings before and am not sure how this works. I really look forward to returning and seeing further work on this piece.
Hi Renu, I hope I’m not misunderstanding. Value patterns are how we arrange our light and dark shapes in a drawing, painting or design. I like to play with the patterns to see how they effect meaning and the power of the design. Does this make sense? In lots of the watercolor design books that I read, the Masters recommend studying the dark and light pattern to develop a plan. Then, when we paint, we have an idea where we are going. As you may well know, making corrections with watercolor can be a challenge!
Thank you for stopping by!
i like to read how you prodeed with work, thanks
Peggy, thanks so much for sharing your process. I really need to do a lot more planning than I do, especially doing the value patterns. I am going to try your method — if I can’t readily figure out my Photoshop, I will do it by hand. I made my living in computers — you would think I would be better at this.
I just read about Coastal Kitty — if you wanted to have a dual career as a wildly successful writer, you could do it! I love these pieces and you inspire me to want to create stories around my art(and that’s the English Major coming out in me).
Hi Lilas, Thank you. One of the questions that I think about is “how do the Masters do it”…all I know is how I do it!
Hi Mary, It’s funny how differently we can use computers. What you did for work can be so drastically different from other applications.
The value studies are helping me see composition tremendously. I keep coming back to them. I may deviate when it comes time to paint, but it really helps!
Thank you for the encouragement about MsKitty and her story. Maybe I need to start writing entries more consistently!
You’re a great friend, Mary!