The Element of Value
Read this discussion of value or the relative lightness or darkness of shape when you compare it with other elements in the work.
Value is the relative lightness or darkness of a shape in relation to
another. The value scale, bounded on one end by pure white and on the
other by black and between a series of progressively darker shades
of grey, gives an artist the tools to make
these transformations. The value scale below shows the standard
variations in tones. Values near the lighter end of the spectrum are
termed high-keyed, and those on the darker end are low-keyed.
Value scale
In two dimensions, the use of value shapes the illusion of
mass and lends an entire composition a sense of light and shadow. The
two examples below show the effect value has on changing a shape to a
form.
Two-dimensional shapes
With value, the shapes take on the illusion of three-dimensional forms.
This same technique brings to life what begins as a simple line drawing of a young man's head in Michelangelo's Head of a Youth and a Right Hand from 1508. Shading is created with lines (refer to our discussion of lines
earlier in this course) or tones created with a pencil. Artists vary
the tones by adjusting the resistance between the pencil and
the paper they are drawing
on. A drawing pencil's leads vary in hardness, each one giving a
different tone than another. Washes of ink or color create values
determined by the amount of water the medium is dissolved into.
Using high contrast, placing lighter areas of value against much darker ones creates a dramatic effect, while low contrast gives more subtle results. These differences are evident in Giuditta and Oloferne by the Italian painter Caravaggio, and Robert Adams' photograph Untitled, Denver from 1970-74.
Caravaggio uses a high-contrast palette in a dramatic scene to
increase the visual tension for the viewer, while Adams deliberately uses low contrast to underscore the drabness of the landscape
surrounding the figure on the bicycle.
Caravaggio, Guiditta Decapitates Oloferne, 1598, oil on canvas. National Gallery of Italian Art, Rome
Source: Christopher Gildow, http://opencourselibrary.org/art-100-art-appreciation/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.