Design Boot Camp Taster Video: The Role of Value in Your Artwork

In this taster video, I am sharing how an understanding of VALUE can help you bring your artwork together and understand HOW to make changes to your artwork that make an IMPACT.  If you have trouble making decisions, you will be very interested in how VALUE can help you!

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Helpful Value Related Takeaways from the Video:

• Value is the lightness or darkness of a color. It creates the underlying structure of an artwork.
• Color and value are not the same thing. Very different colors can have nearly identical values.
• Value does the structural work. Color may attract attention, but value helps organize the composition, create contrast, and guide the viewer’s eye.
• Every color has an inherent value. Converting an image to grayscale makes those value relationships easier to see.
• Create a simple value scale. Practice moving from the white of the paper to the darkest mark you can make, with several clear steps in between.
• A tint is created by adding white. This makes a color lighter in value.
• A shade is created by adding black. This makes a color darker in value.
• A tone is created by adding gray. This reduces a color’s saturation but may not significantly change its value.
• Saturation and value are different. A muted color is not necessarily lighter or darker than a bright color.
• You do not need dozens of paint colors. A few colors plus black and white can produce a wide range of tints, shades, tones, and neutrals.
• Value applies to every medium. Painters, collage artists, quilters, stitchers, printmakers, sculptors, and other artists can all use value to strengthen their work.
• Busy artwork often has a simple value structure. Looking at a complicated piece in grayscale can reveal a surprisingly clear composition underneath.
• Strong value contrast can create a focal point. A very light shape against a dark area—or the reverse—naturally attracts attention.
• Grouped values can make a composition feel calmer and more organized. Too many scattered light and dark areas may make the eye jump around without direction.
• Repeating similar values can unite separate areas. Adding a light, medium, or dark value across different parts of a composition can help them feel connected.
• Value can help fix an artwork that feels disconnected. Before changing the color, ask whether the piece needs a clearer light, middle, or dark structure.
• Use grayscale photos as a diagnostic tool. Photographing your work and viewing it in black and white can reveal weak contrast, competing focal points, and disconnected areas.
• Intuitive choices become more effective when they are supported by knowledge. Understanding value gives you a reason for your decisions instead of relying entirely on guesswork.
• Learning art vocabulary makes problem-solving easier. When you can identify what is not working, you are better able to change it.
• Practice matters. Making charts, completing exercises, discussing artwork, and applying the ideas repeatedly turns design theory into usable knowledge.

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Things to Know about Design Boot Camp:

Here are all the details about Design Boot Camp:

• Boot Camp runs February 7, 2023 – March 7, 2023. We will meet twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays 7pm-9pm EST) over Zoom.
• There is an online classroom for sharing photos, links, questions, and chatting.  You can get a peek at the new online classroom in the video above.
• This is a serious five-week art workshop that will challenge, inspire, encourage, and educate you!
• Who is Design Boot Camp for?
  • Do you have trouble articulating what it is that’s wrong or “off” with a piece you don’t like?
  • Do you struggle with decision making while you’re making art?
  • Do you have trouble figuring out if a piece of artwork is done?
  • Are you searching for the words and the language to be able to discuss art?
  • Do you make a lot of things that simply don’t feel “finished?”
• If you answered, “yes” to any of those questions, then Design Boot Camp might be for you.
• During class, I will teach you about each of the Elements & Principles of Design. Through a series of art exercises, we will explore each element and principle and then learn how to combine them together to create compositions that sing.
• You will learn a lot about yourself over the five-weeks.
• You have to put in the work to get the results.
• Class space is extremely limited to ensure that each student gets plenty of personal attention. 

Here’s a peek at some feedback from students who participated in Design Boot Camp in 2022:

Design Boot Camp is a life changing live online class experience. Don’t miss out. 

ETA: I no longer offer Design Boot Camp, but have rolled that experience into membership at My Art Practice. The cost of one year of membership at My Art Practice is the same as five weeks of Design Boot Camp!

Thanks for stopping by!