Value study (2.1)
This preliminary study will address a number of techniques we will use, and is an important 'warm-up' exercise giving an overview of methods, in order to work on our main piece.
Tracing, Cartoon, Inking in, Imprimatura, Value Study in Optical Greys
This preliminary study will address a number of techniques we will use, and is an important ‘warm-up’ exercise giving an overview of methods, in order to work on our main piece.
Gather these materials:
- Tracing paper
- HB Pencil
- Vine Charcoal
- India Ink – Sennelier. This ink does not dissolve under the influence of either acrylic OR oil which is why we use this genuine shellak ink. If you cannot get this brand of ink then please test it does not melt under the unfluence of water.
- A4 canvas or panel
- Masking Tape
- Acrylic Raw umber or burnt umber
- Titanium white oil paint
- Raw umber and mars black oil paint
Brushes
of the approximate kind I showed in Zoom call or on student resource materials page
Reference study
You will need access to a printer to make printouts.
Please note : The purpose of this exercise is an academic, skill building exercise in order to increase our skills with understanding optical greys, as well as our ability to perceive values.
Steps of the Process
- Find Reference material and print or make drawing from reference
- transfer with charcoal
- ink in
- render imprimatura
- sculpt values using optical grey techniques with oil paint
Step 1 – Find a Suitable Reference
Use a statue or black and white photograph with a suitable range of ‘values’ and make a ‘cartoon’ transfer to your canvas or board.
Cartoon Refers to a simplified and linear version of your study – so a photograph or drawing is reduced down to its outlines and major features, which are transfered to the canvas as simple lines without shading.
You will need to print out x2 black and white prints of your chosen image. One of these could be a high quality version, the other should be on plain A4 as it will be sacrificed to the process of transferring it onto your A4 study canvas.
Step 2 – Transfer
See the instruction page for making transfers.
Step 3 – Imprimatura
See the instruction page for making imprimatura.
Imprimatura means ‘first stain’ – It is a tone, usually a mid-tone in a desaturated earthy hue, upon the canvas.
Sometimes the mischtechnik paintings start on a very strong red imprimatura. But this need not be the case for our study, since a highly chromatic red can easily throw off our ability to judge values. Therefore, we are going to train our understanding of optical greys and values by following in the path of the old masters, and making a study from a sculpture, or a sculptural grey-tone image.
4 – Render Values via Optical Greys
Question: What is value?
Answer: Value refer to everything from white to black, they refer to the lightness or darkness of our greys or colors.
Question: What is optical Greys?
Answer: Optical grey means ‘grey to the eye’. In this technique NO GREY is used on the palette. We just use WHITE on our palette initially, and a transparent dark, but they do not physically mix!
Please take time to observe some of the features of the following image by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon (Study for La Source c. 1801, Black and white chalk on tinted paper). Notice that this image is created on a midtone. He has used black and white chalk to artfully render the form as it is revealed by light.
I want to emphasise, he did not mix the white and black together. He controlled their intensity upon the mid tone to produce his high keys and low keys.
Notes
I wish to give you the option to resource your own study in order to make the process more personal. If you wish for the study to work off a photograph of a human being, then ensure the photograph contains a full value range. Avoid bleached out photographs or where the model has facially contoured with makeup, as working from such photographs gives little nuanced information to work from.
