Watercolor values evaluation is the degree of lightness or darkness of a color. Gauging it is very important if the painting is to very good. A good idea with good composition will not look right once the values are off.
Understanding Watercolor Values
There are four things considered in understanding color values.
Color – is the degree of perception, light absorption, reflection, or emission of light as it interacts and is recognized by the eye. In layman's terms it is the recognition of blue being blue, red as red, and yellow as yellow including all its derivatives.
Shade – is the degree of darkness in a color
Tint – is the degree of lightness of color where deepening or lightening the tint by minute increments would change the colors temperament until you arrive at a totally different color.
Hue – is the degree of a colors modification. For example blue Green, Red Violet etc.
Watercolor Value Scale
Every eye reacts to light and color perceptions differently. The differences though are very minute but judging values are affected by these little differences. A blue-eyed person for example could see better in bright surroundings but perceptions suffer when in darker areas. Opposite in perception to light and darkness are darker eyed persons. Even when no two eyes are exactly the same in the manner by which it gauges color, shades tints and hues, a uniformity could be approximated if not totally achieved by using value scales as guides. Most artists learned to gauge this by using a gray scale. A typical gray scale is divided into ten increments of varying shades. On the top of the scale is a color that is pure white. The ten shades following that differs by 10% increments in the darkness (grayness) until the tenth shade, at the bottom of the scale that is colored pure black.
Gauging the Watercolor Value
The depth of a color is influenced largely by the manner in which the eye responds to light. When you place a lightly colored strip of paper and place it alongside the value scale, the eye will be drawn to compare it to the lighter shades of the grey in the scale. Conversely, darker colored strips will draw the eye to compare the color with the darker shades of grey. It is in this approximation of color that helps the artist judge color values and applies it to his color renditions.
Using a Value Scale in Watercolor painting
When color values have been determined, there are two methods that are used to make a value change. First is either the lightening of colors by diluting the pigment with more water until the correct value is achieved or darkening it by adding more pigments. The second is creating an illusion in the painting to lighten up the values like softening (or roughing) inside edges of the colors of the objects and images.
Finally, even with the best brands, watercolor values are different when the pigments are still wet compared to when the color dries. Adjustments in coloring then are made to achieve the best color values possible.
o start a watercolor painting, it is always best to start with a sketch. Now there is a dilemma here. Watercolor is a transparent paint and black lines underneath a wash will somehow tend to show through a painting. For this reason, watercolor pencils were developed.
What are watercolor pencils and Watercolor Crayons?
A watercolor pencil is a hybrid pencil that is for drawing and painting. You sketch with it as you would an ordinary pencil but it is also water soluble that when you run a wet brush over it, the lines dissolves and turns to watercolor wash. There are different softness levels for watercolor pencils depending on the manufacturer. The softer the pencils, the easier it breaks but it is also easier to color. The best thing before buying watercolor pencils is to try out a single pencil and judge what works best for you before deciding to buy a set. Watercolor pencils like colored pencils come in all range of colors.
A variation of the watercolor pencil is the woodless type. These pencils are not encased in wood but are wrapped in paper. There is not much difference except that with the woodless variant, you have a wider crayon circumference to work on. Larger in circumference is the watercolor crayon. This too looks very much like ordinary coloring crayons except that it is water-soluble. Watercolor crayons are best used when you need to put down more pigment into your paper to enable you to work faster.
Watercolor pencils and watercolor crayons are very similar in appearance to colored pencils and coloring crayons. As an aid of differentiation, watercolor pencils and crayons are usually stamped with a brush or a water droplet. However if you mix your pencils up when working, it is best to test out first on a bit of scrap paper every time these tools are used or the results could be disastrous.
How to use watercolor pencils and watercolor crayons?
Watercolor pencils and crayons are used pretty much the same way as you would a graphite pencil or a color pencil. When the paper is dry, it would also appear very similar to color pencil lines and like color pencils it could be erased. The addition of water changes its consistency and its uniqueness appears.
There are different ways in applying a watercolor pencil.
• You can apply it dry and paint the lines over with a wet brush
• You can wet the pencils and lift the color with the brush and apply it to the paper
• You can wet the paper and apply the pencil directly or
• You can wet the pencil and apply it to dry paper.
In the absence of a particular color in your palette, you could dissolve watercolor pencils and crayons in water, mix hues of different combinations and temperaments, and create watercolor paintings very similar to how you would use watercolor pigments in tubes and in pans.
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