The importance of value studies of watercolours painting
Watercolour as a medium in painting has his own challenge. It is very difficult to learn how to control the water and how much pigment to use for the best effect.
Study for landscape and still life with apple
Each painter develops his own style while respecting some rules. The best thing is to do first a value study about your painting.
In my case, I do sometimes in soft pencils, as 4B for example, but also directly in aquarelle, as I did in the above image. This process helps me a lot to bild in my mind the final variation of the composition. It also helps me to "feel" the paper. I noticed that, depending on what you paint; still life, landscape, cityscape, etc, the paper behaves differently too.
In the above image I din not use any pencil because, in general, I like a "loose" painting instead a carefully painted work.
Do as much value studies as you can for the best final composition and result.
Don't forget that in watercolours you can't erase what you paint if you do a mistake. This is something I learned by practice.
I hope you find some good information and inspiration.
Thank you for stopping by!
@aci7
i am just starting to learn watercolor. i will have to try a value study before my next practice and compare it to a painted pencil sketch.
thanks for the tips, i like your stuff.
Thank you too and I wish you success and inspiration!
Watercolors are great to work with. Yes they can be difficult to control but overall the look that watercolor can give no other paints can match that consistency and transperency. I like working with water colors but I don't always follow the rules and mix and match my techniques.
Yes, indeed! This is why I said each painter develops his own style. And yes, watercolours are spectacular! :)
watercolors are the best from the best :)
I invite you to my profile @drawingsbymilena :)
Ok, I will! ;)
@aci7
Beautiful writeup!Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for your patience to read it! :)
I'm a novice, can you please explain what a value study is?
Yes, of course! Values are a range of tones that span from pure white to pure black. In watercolor paintings the value is given by the amount of water mixed with the pigment. I made a scale for you in the bottom image. Trying to draw the apple first I applied the brightest parts, and then gradually the darkest. But not all of colors possess the full value range. For example the Transparent Orange I have here from Schmincke must be mixed to reach a true black.
You have to draw a landscape, for example. See what colors are present and what are the color tones. For each color a scale like this can help you a lot. The blue of the sky: try to understand where on the scale are located the tones of blue. This is a short description of what can be a value study. Success!
Cool, thanks for educating me a bit!
You are welcome! :)