11-05-2014, 08:37 AM
I'm trying to do a value study of a skull (see attached pictures).
Unfortunately I seem to suffer from a medical condition that makes me unable to distinguish values.
In other words: I don't know how to do this and I am getting really frustrated, because I know it isn't turning out right, but I don't understand what I can do differently in order to improve it.
I think I have (at least) two problems: I can't really choose values to match what I am seeing (e.g. the left side of the skull that is in shadow seems to always come out too dark in relation to the other values in the picture) - and I fail to see bigger areas of light and darkness (I know in theory that I should be looking for big areas of light and big areas of shade first, before going into details. But when I look at the real skull I just don't see it. I have the same problem when painting hair: I just see the local color of the hair and the individual strands, but no bigger forms).
In this case I am working with acrylics. But I have the same problems when working digitally or with a pencil, so I don't believe it is a problem with the medium.
Unfortunately I seem to suffer from a medical condition that makes me unable to distinguish values.
In other words: I don't know how to do this and I am getting really frustrated, because I know it isn't turning out right, but I don't understand what I can do differently in order to improve it.
I think I have (at least) two problems: I can't really choose values to match what I am seeing (e.g. the left side of the skull that is in shadow seems to always come out too dark in relation to the other values in the picture) - and I fail to see bigger areas of light and darkness (I know in theory that I should be looking for big areas of light and big areas of shade first, before going into details. But when I look at the real skull I just don't see it. I have the same problem when painting hair: I just see the local color of the hair and the individual strands, but no bigger forms).
In this case I am working with acrylics. But I have the same problems when working digitally or with a pencil, so I don't believe it is a problem with the medium.