Drawing Values and Tones with the Following Drawing Lesson Full of Techniques

DRAWING VALUES.

Definition.

Value means the relations of tones to each other, and concerns the quantity of light or dark they reflect without regard to color, so there may be many different colors of the same value. With different colors there is usually a difference in value, so that a light and shade drawing may generally be true to nature in values and yet suggest the different colors throughout the subject.

Value has to take into account not only different colors but different tones of the same color, and also variations in the effect of one tone or color which are produced by distance or by light and shade, and value is generally understood by artists to mean variations of light and dark produced by any cause whatever. All the variations of effect explained in Chap. I are differences in value, and the student will at once see that upon the values depends most of the merit of any black and white study.

Unit of value.

In a light and shade drawing black is usually taken as the unit for comparison, the strongest values being those which are nearest black, the lowest (lightest) values those which are farthest from black. In color work the unit for comparison is white, the strongest values are those which reflect the most light to the eye, and the lowest (darkest) values those which send the least light to the eye.

Truth of value.

The art student should be continually asking himself if his drawing is like nature, and his first problems should deal principally with comparisons of his work with nature, which he will generally be able to make, so as to discover any important differences. Here the question arises, " How far is it possible to imitate nature ? " The strongest light of the artist is given by white paint ; even the effect of sunlight upon pure white must be represented by means of white paint. Hence the bright lights of nature are often much brighter than those of a painting seen in the light of any common gallery or room. It is natural, then, to ask if it is possible in every case to produce a picture which is like nature. It is well to consider this point, although this question is more important to the artist than to the elementary student who works in a studio and does not have sunlight effects to represent.

The strongest lights of a landscape, whether in sunlight or in moonlight, are represented by the same white paint, with perhaps faint tints of warm and cool colors respectively added. Sunlight is many times brighter than moonlight ; and yet one picture suggests sunlight satisfactorily, and the other, moonlight. Neither picture represents nature, but simply suggests one of her effects. In each picture the artist's problem is very different from that of the student, who works indoors and can place his drawing beside the subject and study both at an equal distance and in the same light. In such a case, though the glitter lights of the subject may be lighter than those of the drawing, there is not the great difference that exists between the high lights out of doors and the effect of white paint in a studio ; hence the art student is often able to make a drawing whose contrasts are as great as those of the subject in a studio. With color he can do this more frequently than with black and white. But when he attempts sunlight effects, it is impossible to obtain in any drawing lights equal in intensity to those of nature, With the same contrasts of black and white and color he is obliged to give the effect of moonlight and of light many times stronger.

Not reproduced, but suggested.

The artist is able to represent with the same pigments such very different effects, because he is not obliged to reproduce the actual colors or contrasts, but simply to suggest them. As shown in Chap. I, nature's effects are due to contrasts of masses of light and dark and color, and whenever these contrasts are suggested, the effect of the subject will be created. The masses are much more simple by moonlight than by sunlight, but either effect will be expressed by representing correctly the relations of the various masses of light and dark ; in other words, the problem is simply that of values. If the relation of any light or dark to every other in the moonlight subject is correctly given, the picture will create a satisfactory impression of moonlight, and in the same way the effect of sunlight will be given by a picture which gives the relations between the different masses of the sunlit landscape.

High or low.

In the case of moonlight or that of sunlight, the picture may be in a high key or in a low key and still produce a satisfactory impression of the subject. Thus the same sunlight effect may be represented by two pictures, one very much darker throughout than the other ; or the same moonlight effect, by two pictures of which one throughout is very much lighter than the other. The relations of light to dark in each pair are, however, the same, and so they give the effect of sunlight or of moonlight, while their general effect is very different. It is in fact possible for a satisfactory impression of moonlight upon any subject to be given by a picture whose general effect is little, if any, darker than that of another canvas which gives a satisfactory impression of sunlight upon the same subject.

Whether the light upon any subject be strong or weak, it will produce masses of light and dark and gradations of tone ; and if the relations of these masses and tones are correctly represented, the effect of the subject will be expressed, whether the contrast between the different values is very strong or not. There are no more lights or no more shadows with a strong light than with a weak one, and there are as many gradations of light and shade with the former as with the latter; in fact, there is often less gradation with the strong light than with the weak. So it is simply a question of values, and the weakness of pigments in contrast with nature is a difficulty which has been greatly magnified. To produce a strong picture it is not necessary that there should be violent contrasts of light and dark, but simply that the relations of the principal masses be truly given ; and the student should apply himself to the study of values until able to see quickly and render truly the relations between all parts of a subject ; for until he can do this he cannot produce a picture which will give the effect of nature. He may make the most perfect studies of form, but if without values, they will be unatmospheric, unnatural, and unsatisfactory.

Must be studied.

The fallacy of the belief that all that a student has to do is to learn to draw, and that values will come then as a matter of course, is proven by the work of many who are splendid draughtsmen, but who, not having studied values, never succeed in making drawings that are not almost without atmosphere and the sense of color.

No black in nature.

It is important that the student should understand that in nature he sees no pure black. Black is the absence of all light, and light is color. In a perfectly dark room not even the whitest non-luminous object can be seen. If a little light is allowed to enter the room, the lightest objects will be dimly seen, but they must appear of some color; and the darkest objects visible will not appear pure black, because they must send some light to the eye, and light is color. When there is very little light, however, there is so little color that it is often difficult to realize that we do not see black. The student will be assisted to realize how much light and color there is in nature if he looks outdoors from a room which receives light from one or two windows in one side of the room. If he stands at the opposite side and, blurring his vision, looks through a window (which thus serves as a frame for the landscape seen through it), he will be surprised to find that the light-colored window frame seems darker than the dark objects outdoors; and even if white, the frame in shadow will generally appear darker than the darkest objects outdoors, unless they are quite near the window.

If a piece of black velvet is held near the eye and wholly in the shadow of the hand, it will appear practically black, for it is so near the eye that the atmosphere does not change its color ; it receives no direct light, and reflects very little of the reflected light which strikes it. If the student will now compare the darks of the room with the black thus held in the hand, they will be found to be quite gray and luminous in contrast with the black. This is true of the strongest darks of groups, such as those of Figs. 14, 15, and 16; and 2 even black objects or draperies in the room will seem much lighter than the black in the hand. This is in accordance with the law of aerial perspective, which causes the nearer of any two objects equally dark to appear the darker.

Little black in any drawing.

The student who works in color will do well to make the absence of black in nature the basis for a rule which forbids the use of pure black in any color study. But the student of light and shade works with mediums far less powerful than color, and it is often necessary or desirable for him to represent the strongest dark in his subject by the strongest dark to be obtained with the medium employed; for by so doing he is able to give more of the gradations in the mass of the light than can be given if the strongest dark of the group is represented by gray. And whenever the strongest dark of any subject seems very dark in contrast with the light, and no detail is seen in it, the student should generally represent this dark by the strongest dark to be obtained with the medium used. But this accent or spot of black must be very small; for if any large part of the drawing is without the gradation seen in all parts of the subject, it will not be atmospheric, and therefore not natural. The student must have in any drawing one high light, that is, one light which is brighter than all others, and one dark which is darker than all other darks, but he must be particularly careful not to use pure black freely.

As already shown, a drawing may be upon a light key or upon a dark one. But the most truthful representation of the appearances due to daylight, either indoors or outdoors, will be given by one which at first glance gives the impression of light and color. Generally the student will find the lightest drawing which can be made to suggest the masses of light and dark, and the principal gradations in the mass of light will be most true to nature; for when it is seen from a short distance the detail is seen, and when seen from a long distance it gives the effect of light and nature, which cannot be produced by a drawing whose lights are so dark that at a distance the drawing seems largely or wholly dark.

Values may be changed.

The value by which any part of any subject shall be represented depends somewhat upon the extent and nature of the subject. Thus, suppose a group similar to that of Fig. 18 placed upon a table covered with black drapery, which hangs in folds to the floor, the group being lighted by a feeble light from behind or at the left of the spectator, and a window being situated some distance to the left of the group, through which a sunlit landscape is seen. If the room with its contents is to be represented, the mass of light will be the window. The group will seem composed of gray colors, and the strongest darks will be upon the black drapery. If simply the group is to be represented, the most truthful drawing will be that which gives the values seen when the group is compared with its surroundings. The most truthful representation of the landscape alone will be that which gives the impression of the brilliancy of light and color seen through the window. The student should aim to represent truly not only the relative values, but as far as possible the actual values seen in any subject, and in order to do this he should compare the values with pure black material which is held in the hand and shaded so as to appear black.

When the student can represent truly the actual values in any subject as far as this is possible, the values may be changed, just as the form and color may be changed, to more perfectly express the artist's sentiments. Thus the values of any subject such as the group alone may be changed so that the lights of the group are lighter than they seem when compared with the high lights seen through the window, and so that the darks are somewhat darker than the darks of the group appear when they are compared with the strongest darks of the room. And in representing the landscape alone its darks may be made darker than they seem when they are compared with those of the room. But in all work in which it is desired to give the effect of the light and color seen in nature, it will be well to keep the drawing as luminous as 'possible, and to have the strongest darks in it simply the accents or small bits of dark, which may be pure black or not, according to the nature of the subject and the medium used. Fixing a charcoal drawing darkens it, especially in the lighter tones. This is another reason why such drawings should be very luminous.

Necessary in all work.

Students often wish to learn to illustrate ; that is, to take lessons that will enable them to make drawings to be reproduced by some of the special processes. They often think that they can do this without going through the severe training needed by the art student. But it is a mistake for any one to study processes until he can draw, and the student who wishes to illustrate should study art in the same way and just as long as the artist studies. When one knows how to draw, the skill required for making drawings to be specially reproduced will be gained in a very short time.