In this first tonal value exercise I’ve done some preparational work. I’ve reduced the tonal values on the photo strictly to nine values.

In the previous exercise with the apple, we worked with a simplified reference photo with only nine values. This time we’re going to search for important main values in a photo that contains a wide variety of values.

A grisaille is an underpainting done in grayscale. It’s a technique used by old masters like Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Rogier van der Weyden, and Jan van Eyck, and it is still widely used by many artists today.

In the previous exercises you may have experienced the importance of tonal values and also that it takes quite a bit of concentration to judge them correctly. This is exactly why a lot of artists for centuries use to make grisailles. A grisaille is an underpainting in grayscale.

When making a grisaille, all focus can be spent on the correct range and placement of tonal values. There’s no distraction of colors in this phase. Color is added in later layers, only when the artist is satisfied with the greyscale layer.

In this video I’ll show you how you can make a grisaille and in the next (last video) I’ll show you how you can add color on top of this layer.

Now you’ll experience the benefits of working on a grisaille.

Colors consist of three main elements:

·         Hue: The actual color, such as red, blue, or yellow.

·         Value (or lightness): The lightness or darkness of the color.

·         Saturation: The intensity or purity of the color.

In the grisaille we already established the tonal values. And although we need to focus on the values when mixing colors as well, you’ll see that it’s easier because you’re doing that for the second time.

Also, the grey base layer will give a strong foundation for the values. So, if you’re slightly off with tonal value in color, the grey base layer will still push it in the right direction.