Not Knowing Cost Me 10 YEARS | Art Rules To Live By

The Value Framework changes the way you paint, draw and see the world. It was a game-changer when I discovered this and so many beginners and avid artists don't know about it.

Correction in the pinned comment, I should have used a Bell Graph to explain this, so sorry folks! Safe to say I colour in for a living and don't do maths 😂 Also, sorry the music is so loud!

If you want to know how to paint or how to draw, you need to know this.

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Favourite brand of pastel pencil? Faber Castell
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Intro - 0:00
Why value is king - 1:32
Why value is hard - 2:58
How we process light - 3:50
Value scales & compression - 4:45

[shillanassi]

I suspect the graph that describes what you’re talking about is more of a bell-shaped curve: ie, low level of detail at low light levels (dark), maximum detail at medium light levels, and low detail (again) at very high light levels.

[ajax]

For those struggling with this, she is using the term 'value' to mean tonal value - the spectrum between dark and light regardless of colour or anything else. So many people use the term value without the required explanation of what value they mean.

[debarjo]

"Compression simplifies what we see into a handful of key values" - this sentence is a key to a goldmine! Thank you Emily!

[geoffchilton]

As a professional artist myself, let me tell you there’s more to being an artist than learning ‘value compression’, as you term it. There are so many other factors involved and it takes years of practice. Honestly! There’s no sudden revelation or method that will instantly transform your art. All you need to do is keep painting and drawing.

[monicaagee]

I have been an artist from childhood, sold my-first paintings at 9 years old, I think you continue learning all your life with something you love. I appreciate you sharing something that helped you so much. That’s why I love the art world, even though you have a few people who think too much of themselves, the majority are willing to share their experience with up and coming artists. Thank you for being generous.

[nickyperryman]

It would have been nice to actually have some visual examples to explain what you were talking about.

[randolphpinkle]

One online art school I attended trained us to draw and paint in a four- value scale system. It absolutely works.

[ivandoychev]

Putting the main compressed light and shadow values is literally everything! When you do that with a portrait you can immediately get a feel of realism even at such an initial and simplified stage.

[amandadewet]

Mercifully you never need have face to face conversation with rude people. Fortunately their comments boost your channel so regard them positively even if they are rude. There is always a nice way of bringing the same message across. You be you, definitely helped some who never commented ❤🎉

[jamminoutrexan]

Paraphrasing for my own learning:
"Learn to compress similar values into a single value (rather than many), and put details either into the shadows or the details, but not both."

Thank you! And the comments down here about making images with only three to four values are helpful for getting into a value-based mindset too!!

[adamthorntonillustration]

It's great to see artists explaining the importance of value. I heard Marco Bucci say that not having control over your values immediately shows the difference between a professional and amateur artist, or an artist that does or doesn't know what they're doing. Once I'd heard that, every piece of art I saw afterwards immediately demonstrated that.

[DonAndrewsAWS]

This is excellent you ever notice the vast majority of art books chapter one (you know, the chapter we all skip over to get the 5 page step-by-step in color demonstration), is VALUES!!!! Milford Zornes, a true legend of a watercolor painter said, " if you want your painting to read from across the room, put a lighter value next to a darker value next to a lighter value next to a darker value etc! Good stuff!!!!

[lihtan]

I have a background in photography. The same concepts you describe here are known in the photography world as "dynamic range". If you're photographing a sunset, and want to adjust the exposure so you can see the nuances of color variation in the clouds, don't expect to see any details of the trees in the foreground. At the same time if you want to make out the texture of the trees, you can expect the sky to be bright and overexposed. Many cameras have a High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode which will take multiple exposures, and then computationally assemble an image that has details in both the shadows and the light. The HDR feature typically produces weird uncanny results in the final image. It's just not how we see the world.

[gutsman_]

Thank you for this video! The importance of value can't be understated. I was fortunate to learn about it when studying traditional pixel art, which requires making very specific decisions to create the illusion of shape. Once you understand value in the context of only 3 or 4 values at a time, you can simplify your art in nearly any medium!

[hellofromdavid]

I have 6 diplomas. And have been reading and studying all my life. I compose music - paint pictures - photograph - write stories - narrate books I didn't understand this concept.

[Jorjibou]

OMG what a discovery. Thanks 10 times. It took me so many years of reading, scketching, painting to discover Simplicity, and I'm going into that picture. So true.

[DrawingFromImagination]

What a wonderfully well produced video! Very well-deserving of the number of views. Subscribed and excited to see what content you put out next!

[mrq]

Values do all the heavy lifting, while colour gets all the credit.

[Doll--ff]

Thank You a Lot !! 🎉You are a great teacher. I'm so excited to continue painting 🙂

[Ralphsearsart]

I get what you are saying the same thing happened to me about 5 years ago when I had a friend give me a light and shadow course one on one. I naturally grabbed onto your compression information in this video because that is what I have been doing without knowing it. Single darkest values first then fill in the lighter ones later. It works for me.😀