11-25-2014, 05:34 PM
If you are just getting a grip on values, I would start drawing cylinders and spheres and move to the medium you are most comfortable with (even digital, just once you are done with that go straight back to traditional and try it all over again).
I tried to read through most of the replies, so sorry if this is mentioned already, but the way I check color and value is by picking comparison points. For example:
Is the brightest point of the nose as bright as the brightest point of the brow bone?
Is that shadow under the cheek as dark as the nostril?
Oh, the socket of the eye is as dark as the shadow under the cheek next to the nose.
This is not the most scientific of methods and can result in inaccurate values, but if done right will be believable and can help later when using reference for different projects. This doesn't mean you shouldn't also learn a more accurate method, this is just one type of approach.
Another thing is that you're working with paint that is pretty dark. Paint your background first (maybe try an almost-black for that top-left-corner background, a light midtone for the background paper area, and good luck trying to nail that metallic board. If you can,change it out for a piece of cardboard or something since you're new to getting value right). It's going to be SO much harder for you to paint the right values for an object that's not sitting on (or next to) the values it's surrounded by. They are, after all, affecting how the light bounces off the skull in the first place. AND how your human eye sees color.
Hope that was helpful and not confusing. Also, everyone else's replies are awesome :D
I tried to read through most of the replies, so sorry if this is mentioned already, but the way I check color and value is by picking comparison points. For example:
Is the brightest point of the nose as bright as the brightest point of the brow bone?
Is that shadow under the cheek as dark as the nostril?
Oh, the socket of the eye is as dark as the shadow under the cheek next to the nose.
This is not the most scientific of methods and can result in inaccurate values, but if done right will be believable and can help later when using reference for different projects. This doesn't mean you shouldn't also learn a more accurate method, this is just one type of approach.
Another thing is that you're working with paint that is pretty dark. Paint your background first (maybe try an almost-black for that top-left-corner background, a light midtone for the background paper area, and good luck trying to nail that metallic board. If you can,change it out for a piece of cardboard or something since you're new to getting value right). It's going to be SO much harder for you to paint the right values for an object that's not sitting on (or next to) the values it's surrounded by. They are, after all, affecting how the light bounces off the skull in the first place. AND how your human eye sees color.
Hope that was helpful and not confusing. Also, everyone else's replies are awesome :D