I get so many questions about the values of color, I decided to run this one again, especially for those of you newer to our mailing list.
Among the visual elements we use, color is the only one with three (some say four) distinct parts, each carrying it's own function, yet all
three work in concert. The value of color tells us how light or dark it is, the hue of color tells us its name and the intensity (also called chroma) of color tells us how saturated its hue is. The fourth, temperature, tells us how warm or cool the hue feels. That's a bunch of stuff for one element to do.
AND THEN THEY THROW THESE SCALES AT US
Traditionally, we're learned to read the value of color by referring to a value scale. In my days as a student, the 7-degree value scale was our workhorse.
It showed seven degrees with 1 being the lightest, 4 being middle value and 7 being the darkest. Later, as color theory got more sophisticated, all kinds of value scales emerged. Here are just a few.
PICK ONE THAT WORKS OR NONE AT ALL
The value scale you use is not so important as how you use it, whether you see the value of the color in relationship to its light source.
It doesn't matter what number you give it. What matters is what you notice about it--whether it is in shadow or not in shadow, and to what degree is it being lit or hidden from light.
THE DEGREE OF LIGHT CHANGES EVERYTHING
Thankfully, with the mushrooming of plein air painting, artists have begun to see that the hue of the color we observe will change in value according to how
it is being lit or the degree to which it is in shadow as well as what might be reflecting onto it by other colors around it. We've learned to notice hue like this:
Here's how these register on a 1/10 value scale.
Join us Sunday at 2 pm Eastern for our next YouTube Live Chat. The topic will be Guiding the Eye. Studio Insider members, have your questions
ready!
ALL OF YOU, have yourselves a delightful weekend!
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