>>5024522For anyone who's beginning to study value, this is incredibly useful:
Instead of using a full range of 12-13 shades of grey, begin by just using 4 values.
>Mix or pick a dark one for Extreme Shadows>Mix or pick a less dark one for Moderate Shadows>Mix or pick a bright one for Moderate lights>Mix or pick a brighter one for Extreme lightsand stick to these. See pic related for an example.
Now, for everything that's lit, you can ONLY use the 2 lighter shades, and for everything that's in shadow, you can only use the darker shades.
This is important, because if you use "moderate lights" value for something that's not lit, you'll break the illusion of the painting, the brain will not be fooled because one part that is in shadow will have the same value as a part that's lit up.
Use the darkest value only for extreme shadows, and the lightest for highlights.
Block it in first, then you can blend to soften the edges of form shadows.
Keep the edges of cast shadows sharp.
You'll be surprised how good a picture can be with only four values.
As you get better, you can start mixing or picking more shades of grey.
For example, you can mix "darkest shadows" and "moderate shadows" and obtain an in-between value.
It really helps to use this method to remove clutter, since at first the student is lost when having to pick from a full set of greyscale range of values.
It's also good to start with still life rendering, with simple shapes, instead of plunging into the human body which is really complex (not difficult, complex).