on placing value

#1

hello folks,

since I started practising value painting I noticed that I end up being confused with one thing :

I’ve learned that things far away are lighter than those which are close to me. When placing value trying to maintain the 1-2-3 distance rule at the same time and all the shadows, in order to avoid using the wrong value at the wrong place, do you measure it in percentage or using a tool or do you do it by mere intuition ?

I feel a strong tendency to place the values as far the darkness and lightness is concerned just intuitively not trying to measure if it’s 30% or 45% or whatever, so I would paint the value just by gut feeling at the same time keeping in mind that it should be real in terms of where the light comes from and the distance/depth thing…

I’m wondering if professional artists always check it or do it by mere intuition, because I’m kinda trying to do it right and scientifically corrent, but it takes to much time checking if the values I’m using close to the camera are to dark or to light by really checking their strength either in % or any other way…

I hope everybody understands what I’m talking about because I know it’s not easy to express in words…

#2

What you’re talking about is atmospheric perspective, and how you are thinking about it isn’t how it actually works. There’s no formula, and it isn’t always true. Once I explain, you’ll understand.

Atmospheric perspective happens because of the particles in the air, such as dust, moisture (fog, mist), etc. The further something is, the more particles there are between your eyes and the object, thus obscuring the object more and more the further it gets. But remember, this is assuming there are enough particles in the air. If we have an environment that is surprisingly devoid of debris and dust and moisture in the air, then you’ll be able to see very clearly even far away. This does sometimes happen in nature, as well as in large indoor environments that are very clean (with a great air filtration system).

So when you manage your values and sense of distance, you just keep that in mind, and it’ll inform you of how you should approach your scene.

Now, some artists do “fake” atmospheric perspective as an stylistic effect, such as painting a figure and having the arm further from the viewer be heavily affected by atmospheric perspective. Logically, that’s just ridiculous, because there would have to be so much crap in the air for that to happen, but people do it as an artistic effect.

#3

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.