Value shapes comparision

we often talk about using different numbers of value as shapes for compositional purpose, for example either of 3/4/5 etc. also we often do a quick thumbnail or detailed value sketch before going for the colored version to use as a 'road map', more specially for watercolor, to construct the composition in stronger way. but afterwards how often do we check or know if we have achieved it closely if not exactly.

so this is a small exercise i do most often if not every time after a sketch or a painting has been completed in color and turned into a digital format. i not only often do a value sketch before the colored version, but also convert the final digitized color version back to grey scale or completely desaturated it discarding all its colors keeping only the value shapes to see if the colors i have used holds the desired initial value shapes.

as you already know, all colors apart from their hue and intensity also holds a value of its own. all colors are relatively more or less darker or lighter than the other ones and vise versa and more than often we ignore this hidden but important aspect of colors as we get carried away with our emotions while applying the beautiful hues. and at the end the results may be disappointing because of not using enough value range and contrast from light to dark resulting the painting as 'flat'. by observing a finished painting or sketch as a grey scale or desaturated image helps us to check and analyze this again how close we are to our initial planned value sketch.

© dhruba mazumder, 2014. all rights reserved.
www.facebook.com/dhrubamazumderfineart