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Start Art 5 10 RT START www.painters-online.co.uk Discover Value Ruth Glenn Little introduces some easy exercises for beginners – all you will need is a pencil! V alue is the relative lightness or darkness of a shade and is used to establish volume, dimension and even texture in a drawing. The ability to identify value changes and create them in your drawings is one of the most important drawing skills. The use of value in a drawing describes the effects of light and shadow. Light and shadow communicate the volume, dimension, depth and surface texture of an object; therefore value communicates those elements in an image. A value scale shows the progression from black to white (below). You can achieve value changes with a single pencil or a combination of tools. Pencils, graphite sticks and charcoal sticks are produced in degrees from hard to soft. Harder grades produce lighter values. They also are less likely to blend or smear, but they will scar and dent paper if you apply too much pressure. Softer grades create darker values with less pressure but do not penetrate the tooth (hills and valleys) of the paper as well as harder grades. Blending the softer-grade strokes fills the paper tooth for smooth transitions. Softer grades smear more easily and are more difficult to erase than hard grades. Value describes your drawing subject Value contrast develops volume. Without values this image would be only a flat outline. I used a 4H pencil to define the initial shapes, followed by an HB pencil to add preliminary shapes of shadows and to initiate the layers of feathers and texture. Value contrasts enhance the projecting shapes while preserving the light areas in the drawing. Remember, the shapes in the front of your drawing gain depth when you pay attention to shapes in the back Value scale Drawing pencils 8H 4H H HB 2B 4B 6B Experiment with value Lots of variables affect the values you’ll be able to achieve. The type of medium (pencils or charcoal) you use, the grade (hardness or softness), and the density and pressure of application determine what you’ll get. Chart your medium and pencil grades using light, medium and heavy pressure. Keep in mind that different paper surfaces produce different results as well Charcoal hard Felt-tip pens light Soft pencil strokes show textures White highlights against the dark values of the head describe the shine of the feathers Light values contrast with the dark and middle values in the feathers, giving them shape Dark values in the shadows indicate depth 4B 2B B HB 4H