Zach’s 100 Day Challenge: 10 Daily Value Study Thumbnails

[Zach]

I’m hoping to improve my sense of 3D form and also improve my understanding of value.

This will be a fun challenge that will better prepare me for diving into Human Anatomy and Color.

[Josseline Jeria]

Hi Zach,

Great challenge you’ve set for yourself! Have  you covered much on designing matrices? using your major AND minor keys for developing your value matrices? I’ve found I get a lot out of doing those specifically, but of course sometimes you just need to use thumbnails to get down very quick ideas.

and yeah this’ll be great to prepare you for those studies.

All the best, looking forward to your posts.

[PaulDidier]

Sounds good. Looking forward to seeing your work!

[Zach]

[Zach]

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement everyone! I’ve realized it takes me a long time to complete just one of these value studies and perhaps 10 was biting off more than I can chew at my current skill level. I had never tried still life studies before but am finding them to be fun and challenging. I decided to just study one object at a time to start out but realize I’m missing out on learning relationships between objects. So as I improve throughout this challenge I’ll begin studying multiple objects together. But man, I’m sweating already haha.

@josselinejeria Thank you for mentioning matrices! I vaguely remember a Bill Perkins class that went over them but I never took notes or studied them. Now is a great time to watch that class again and follow along, I’m going to jump on that!

@pauldidier Thank you, I hope you enjoy!

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by Zach.
• This reply was modified 4 years ago by Zach.

[Lucero]

Bill Perkins has to be one of the most knowledgeable people alive when it comes to art theory. His color theory course is perfect for you to review during this challenge.

[Joshua Jacobo]

Zach, nice work! Start by breaking your items down into two zones, light and shadow. Then do additional gradations. It will help you keep a handle on the complexity.

[Zach]

Thanks Lucero and Joshua! I’m going to take a look at Bill Perkin’s Color Theory and Color Boot Camp courses today, specifically the parts on value. And I’ll give that a try today Joshua, I appreciate the tip!

[Eden]

These look great! So organized.

[Josseline Jeria]

You’re welcome. Yes! Bill Perkin’s value section is fantastic for understanding thumbnail matrices. It’ll help a lot.

[Zach]

Thanks @Eden ! Here’s the Procreate template I used online: https://tinyurl.com/v6urch3

I can’t take credit for the organization haha.

@JosselineJeria I took notes on one of the Bill Perkins value breakdowns and oh my gosh he makes it looks so easy! I’m going to do my best to internalize his process during this challenge!

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by Zach.

[Zach]

Day 2 – After Joshua’s recommendation above and taking notes on Bill Perkins’ video on values (in his Color Theory series), I decided to try something different for today’s study.

I grouped the light and dark values into white or black and tried to describe form that way.

The object is a small humidifier that I laid in the middle of my bed – I used one light in the same place. I moved myself around the humidifier to see how the relationship of light and shadow changed based on my point of view. The shapes they made were kinda cool, it took me longer than expected and again I only pulled off doing 6 studies today but had fun doing it.

For now the future plan is: When I begin adding more values and gradation to my studies, I’ll begin them in this way then practice adding the gradation after per Joshua’s recommendation.

[PaulDidier]

These are very cool! So are they all done using Procreate? Are each image one screen then combined for posting?

[Zach]

@PaulDidier Thanks Paul! These have all been done in Procreate yes!

Actually they’re all done in the same file, it’s just a 3X3 grid (I’ve cropped off the bottom 3 because I’ve only managed to pull of 6 studies at a time so far).

The file itself is a high resolution so I can actually zoom in on each individual thumbnail as if it were its own separate canvas and work on it, then zoom out and move to the next.

[Josseline Jeria]

These are good to get a sense of shape value and how your would approach the start to creating a more developed matrix.

Haha yes he does. For me he’s a great teacher. Very clear with how he explains concepts.

[Author]

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