Drawing Values in Painting
Drawing is essential for painting. In academies, before beginning to paint, several drawings are made using charcoal and white chalk, as it is one of the best ways to represent values.
When we talk about values, we refer to the amount of light that different parts of our drawing possess. For example, shadows represent dark values, while highlights represent light values. Between the shadows and highlights, we have the midtones, which are the intermediate values.
Difference Between Real-World Values and Values Achieved with Oil, Charcoal, and Pencils
Values in the real world are always more extreme. This means that the maximum black and maximum white in the real world will always be stronger than what our tools allow us to create. In other words, the white we can achieve with oil paint or the black we can achieve with oil will always be less than what exists in the real world. Therefore, we need to compress the shadows and highlights.
This means that we need to group the extreme values together to represent our figure or object in a realistic manner, maintaining the same contrasts that exist in the real world.
It is important to remember that values are always interrelated (values of drawing in painting). In reality, values will always be more extreme, but what we need to copy is not the exact same value. Instead, it is the relationship between the values in the scene we wish to represent.
The tonal ranges of light or shadow that can be achieved in a drawing will always be less than those in the real world. What matters for realism is that the relationship between the values in our drawing remains consistent. What does not change is the relationship of the midtones. This is why it is important to group and concentrate the shadows. This concept is crucial and should begin to be learned through drawing.
Importance of Drawing Values in Painting
The importance of drawing in painting does not only lie in replicating the form exactly or in the proportions, but also in the values. To learn how to paint, one must first learn how to correctly produce values.
All good realistic paintings, or those that are truly figurative and accurately represent reality, have the values correctly related (see next image).
In the previous painting, you can see how a black-and-white painting works perfectly and explains the volume exactly as it is. It also shows how many different colors can have the same value, with only the saturation changing.
Identifying Volumes of Drawing Values in Painting
In order to properly understand and explain volumes, we need to know their value and the level of light and darkness they possess. Once we understand this, we can decide what their saturation is, what tone they have, and what colors they should be.