Go for it! =D I know 100 seems a lot, but they are fun to do and help you improve a lot!

I agree, the horses were definitely tough for me. I've posted my latest study in this thread, by using fewer values I'm trying to focus on just the larger shapes for clarity. I will continue to focus on all the points everyone has brought up. Thanks for your help!

Hi @Prathamesh Pagare, I think you nailed this 2 value study! I especially liked how you simplified the figure of the woman into just rim light and one dark shape. I think I would have found that section to be difficult to simplify into two values. There isn't a proper way to analyze composition unless you know it's component parts. From there, you can choose a specific subset of composition to analyze. Off the top of my head, here are the ways you can study a composition: Abstract Design of the Composition (the shapes created by value) Values - How does the artist compress/contrast certain values to create focus and clarity Metaphors - How does the artist's use of values reflect the mood/story that they're trying to tell? Shape Design - How do the shapes harmonize with one another? And how do contrasting shapes create focus? Motifs - How does the artist use harmonizing shapes to tell a larger story? Implied Lines/Directional Lines - How does the artist use these tools to lead your eye? In addition, all elements of contrast like detail vs rest, warm vs cool, light vs dark, etc. all fall under the decision making process of composing an image. There are many ways to break down composition, and to make studying a composition easier, its best to focus on one. Right now you did a 2 value study which trained your artistic brain in a few ways. One is that it forced you to simplify and make decisions about a complex piece. When you were in the middle of this study, I hoped you found difficulty in deciding what things should be kept white and what things should be kept black. The way you make these decisions should be informed by what YOU as the artist think is important to keep clear in this image, and I think you did a wonderful job at that. After doing a few hundred of these studies (haha) you'll find it much easier to organize the values in your own painting so that they still simple and focused. (Also, these studies should only be kept to about 5-15 minutes long, so you really can crank out hundreds of these in the course of several months.) One way I can think of analyzing this composition is through the distribution of light and dark shapes, and how that emphasizes the story. From your 2 value breakdown, we can see that there is a large distribution of light shapes on the left side, and that the right side with the figures is mostly black, with only some small light shapes coming from the rim lighting. It's also almost perfectly split down the middle. Even without your original photo, I think we'd be able to surmise the greater story about their relationship just by looking at your value breakdown. Their half of the image is mostly dark, which means the status of their relationship is probably just as dark. I could even make a bigger leap with my assumptions based on the positioning of the female figure. She stands over the male figure and is almost centered, which communicates that she has power over him. Additionally, she is physically blocking him from the light, which could imply that she is the one that is causing him to feel these dark emotions. I obviously have no context from this film, but most directors are intentional with their decisions, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of what I mentioned is true. It might sound too 'artsy fartsy' but these are the things that we absolutely have to consider when composing an image. Hope you find this helpful, I could offer you different ways to study a composition down the line, but for now, doing a lot of these 2 or 3 value studies is a great way to go if you've never done compositional studies before. Let me know if you have any questions!

I agree, their shapes are also very distinct and since the backdrop is so light, they pop more easily even though they're not the darkest elements of the painting, it's such a good piece! And thank you :)

Hey, this is actually very useful. Thanks a lot! Yes, I noticed the soldiers were a bit off later on. Thanks for the paintover, I was debating which value to use for the backdrop. I have never attempted this exercise before, this was my first try, I will use fewer values and then go over to 5. I have one more question, as you can see my horses don't exactly correspond to the image, especially the 2nd (from the left) rider and his horse. How do you think I should simplify these complex objects? I haven't tried sketching them out yet, I mostly only use brush and erase tool to create my shapes.