Value study (Anne Hathaway)
4yr
Izak van Langevelde
I'll start this value study with an analysis where I reduce the image to 5 values, following Dorian Iten's tutorial. As usual, comments and critique are welcome.,
First of all when you chose a photo for value study make sure that it has all main groups of tonal values, that they weren't cut out or the reference wasn't shoot in a studio with diffuse or difficult lighting. And when you study try to draw the THING using minimum amount of light and shadow groups. Start with two (only light and shadow) and add one by one untill you get to clear pictire of the THING you study. This is one way to do it, a good one. There are others.
Also it would be better to study it on objects thet are esier for you to draw and to understand first, than to try go more complex. Cubes, spheres ... asaro head is pritty good for it. ...Marco Bucci has nice free videos about it, chack them out.
Asked for help
I reshuffled the values a bit, to get rid of accidental deep shadows, like under her right arm, and make her fit the 5 value palette a little better. Feel free to shoot!
My only advice would be to fix that broken clavicle. I don't see it staying at that sharp angle unless the arms is raised high up.
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4yr
Looking good. Some of the values on the dark side are competing with the mid-tones on the light side a bit. The mid-tone on the cheek for example looks a bit too close in value to the values on the chest. It may help to add a bit more value to that area to keep it in the 5 value hierarchy.
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That's cool dude, only 5 values!
Hi Izak!
This is looking alright to me. Maybe you can try making the shapes to "contain more information" (I don't know how to express that) ? For example, on the left hand (right on the image), you can see in the photo, the shadow area actually isn't straight when it connects to the arm, some hinting in that shape could really show how the volume changes along. Maybe it's due to the thickness of the brush, some smaller features appears to be a bit bulky? maybe you can use a smaller (but still big enough so you don't go right into the tiny stuff) brush with an "almost opaque" setting to push things around in the smaller areas.
I think your reflected light is too bright, that you could compress the darks more. Try squinting your eyes and you can see how unified the shadows are in the original image. The whites of the eyes are too bright. On the shadow side of the face, your lights got too bright. On the original, they look brighter than they are because they're surrounded by darkness. Think about a candle at nighttime vs. A candle in sunlight. It looks brighter at night, though its brightness hasn't changed.
Also, your shapes are very loose and blobby. Go for clear, interesting shapes of value. Marco Bucco has a good youtube video "Good Shapes-10 minutes to better painting" It's very hard to focus on shapes and values at the same time, but I just wanted to mention this so you start thinking about it more, even if you don't immediately focus on it
I think you are right, I will be more considerate in picking my 5 values. That is, two values for hair, three for skin, and I'll use the lighter hair colour for the background. And yes, my shapes are blobby, as this is a value analysis only.
