Well we all love colour and detail and texture in paintings but that is all just decoration and frippery compared to the big boys of painting – the tonal masses!
DEFINITION of a TONE (or VALUE as they say in the USA)
: A tone is the relative lightness or darkness of an object irrespective of its actual colour.
If you, at the outset of planning a painting, can boil down your subject into broad blocks of tones ranging from lights to mids to darks , then you are on to a winner.
Omit this step at your peril and you’ll be left floundering amidst a sea of colour and detail that is going nowhere and defining nothing – giving your viewer no readable pattern to enjoy…just a rectangle of visual noise.
Today I spent an enjoyable few hours explaining the power and necessity of tones to pupil and friend Jude.
Once you establish your tonal pattern all you then need to is translate those tones into colours and you are on your way to painting a satisfying and believable work of art. This requires attention and practice. Do not let the colours distract you – try to SQUINT your eyes and compare how light or dark they are in relation to the colour next to them.
You can achieve this by:-
1 making a simple outline of your subject
2. using only three tones to create a readable/distinguishable pattern of the elements in your subject with just 3 tones (lights – mids – and darks). This stops you fussing and getting distracted with detail at the wrong time.
3. translating those tones into similarly tones colours (using a tone finder tool is good for this – click here to make one – MAKE A TONAL SCALE
Another tack is to scan in the image you want to paint then convert it to grayscale and reduce the tones to just 3 or 4 and work from that. You will also need to keep in mind that you may change areas of tones that do not contribute to the overall INTEGRITY of the painting – this is where you use your artistic license to alter according to your taste.
I have learned the hard way over the last 23 years by reading books, watching DVD’s and experimentation.Here are some of the best books from which I have gleaned vital tonal information.
Note – In the USA they use the word “Value” instead of “Tone” – but it all boils down to the same thing.
Tony Couch – Watercolor: You Can Do It!
Steven Quiller – Color Choices
Joseph Zbukvic – Mastering Atmosphere & Mood in Watercolor
Richard Scmid – Alla Prima : Everything I Kkow About Painting
Working on tones is a way of limbering up your seeing and discriminating skills which is a major part of creating art – I hope that you will spend some time genning up on it if you feel your work lacks punch or vitality – good luck!
Just have to ask … Jude, did you ever dip your paintbrush into your (what I assume to be) your coffee cup?
Love the simple idea of the paint chip tonal range calculator, Alison … off to the hardware store I go! Great help on your site. Thanks.
Carole Jurack
I can’t remember Jude dipping her brush into her cup but I do it regularly!That idea of the paint scale is good isn’t it? Found it on a site somewhere .
I went to Lowe’s (Home Improvement place here in the States) and their brand of paint (Valspar) offers strips of paint colors with about a 1/2 inch square in the middle of each color … how perfect is that? Don’t even need to punch my own holes and the large size should give a better view of the shade of grey. Can’t wait to try it out.
Hope you have a good time with your log cabin painting demo!
Hi Carole, I don’t think I did, but at home I do …. even a glass of wine has been enhanced by a dip of aliziron crimson, colour wise anyway! I learnt so much that afternoon, my head is still buzzing!!
well that’s one way to save on the old Alizarin LOL
My pleasure Jude – so glad you took it all in. It’s really so simple when you break it down isn’t it!
thank you so much Alison for a lesson that made me think and work so hard …… but was a revelation, the old saying … easy when you know how ….. you explained and demonstrated so simply and clearly that it is now firmly embedded in my wannabe water-colourist’s psyche. Bring on the garlic.! Big thanks to Tilly for sharing you and allowing me into her world … which revolves around you! 🙂 So fingers intact and brain bursting …..all the shades of grey here I come … well 3 tones to start with!!