Elements of Art: Value | KQED Arts

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Estimated reading time: 7 minutes for the text on this page.

Summary

KQED Art School's video elucidates the concept of "value" in art, which refers to the lightness or darkness of a color or hue. This video discusses how value is one of the seven foundational elements of art and illustrates its significance in creating contrast and texture in artworks. Through examples such as photographs and paintings, the video explains the role of value scales—from absolute black to pure white—in understanding tonal variations and depth. Artists often manipulate value to either highlight or suavely blend different areas in their work, contributing to the overall perception and impact of the art piece.

Highlights

Photography is essentially 'drawing with light'. 📸
Value in art refers to the lightness or darkness of a color. 🎨
Value scales visualize the range from pure white to absolute black. ⚖️
Low contrast images have many gray tones, unlike high contrast ones. 🖤🤍
Textures affect our perception of value in artworks. 🌿
Try creating art with various value scales and mediums for uniqueness. 🎨

Key Takeaways

Photography is often described as 'drawing with light', illustrating its foundational concept. 📷
Value is a crucial element in art, which describes how light or dark a color is. 🎨
Artists use value scales to create depth and contrast in their works. 🖌️
High contrast is characterized by a few tonal values, while low contrast has many shades between black and white. ⚖️
The texture of an object influences how we perceive value in art. 🌿
Artists can enhance their works by practicing creating value scales with different mediums. 🎨

Overview

The video from KQED Art School serves as an enlightening guide on the element of art known as 'value'. It begins by associating the term with photography's etymology, where 'photograph' translates to 'light drawing'. In essence, photography and art intersect on the principle of manipulating light, or value, to achieve desired visual effects and representations.

Value is explained as one of the seven fundamental elements of art, alongside line, shape, form, texture, color, and space. The video navigates through the concept of value by demonstrating its versatility in creating illusions of light and depth through various tone scales. By examining photographs and artworks, viewers learn to distinguish between high and low contrast visuals and understand how artists employ different techniques to render value. This not only highlights distinct areas within a piece but also contributes to the storytelling aspect of art.

Encouraging viewers to engage with the concept hands-on, the video advocates for practicing value scales using different mediums and hues. This practice allows artists to refine their skill in creating unique and expressive pieces. The concluding advice equips aspiring artists with the knowledge to make their artworks shine, emphasizing how a keen understanding and application of value enriches the visual and emotional appeal of their creations.

Chapters

00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Photography and Light This chapter introduces the concept of photography, emphasizing that the term 'photograph' is derived from Greek words meaning 'light drawing.' It highlights the definition of photography as the art of drawing with light.
00:30 - 01:00: Understanding Value in Art The chapter 'Understanding Value in Art' explores the concept of value as a key element in art. It highlights how light, essential for visibility, is used by artists to create illusions through various tonal and color values. This manipulation of light and dark shades allows artists to define objects and render visual depth, making value one of the core components alongside line, shape, form, texture, color, and space.
01:00 - 01:30: Visualizing Values and Gradients The chapter "Visualizing Values and Gradients" discusses the comprehension of values through visualization as scales or gradients. It focuses on a value scale transitioning from pure white to absolute black with various gray tones in between. The concept is applicable to any hue or tone, each having its scale from dark to light. Different values emerge by lightening or darkening hues. In artworks, employing a range of tones between black and white can enhance visual understanding.
01:30 - 02:00: Low vs High Contrast The chapter explores the differences between low and high contrast in photography. It highlights how low contrast images, like those of Nicholas Nixon, feature many shades of gray, while high contrast images, exemplified by Kenneth Josephson, have limited tonal values between black and white. The texture of an object's surface also influences our perception of value, as discussed with a photograph by Brett Weston.
02:00 - 02:30: Texture and Its Influence on Value The chapter discusses how texture influences the perception of value in visual art. The veins in lettuce leaves create a strong contrast between light and dark, as seen in a photograph by Weston. In contrast, the dull skin of bananas in another of Weston's photographs produces less contrast. This exemplifies how artists use lines and implied textures to affect the perceived value of images.
02:30 - 03:00: Lines, Textures, and Perception of Value The chapter "Lines, Textures, and Perception of Value" discusses the differences in rendering values in various artistic mediums, using a charcoal drawing and a watercolor painting as examples. It emphasizes the heaviness and darkness of blacks in charcoal drawings, as well as the smooth transition of shades from dark to light. In contrast, watercolor paintings do not achieve the same level of darkness and the shading is less smoothly blended. The chapter encourages readers to observe how artists render value in photographs, paintings, or drawings.
03:00 - 03:30: Creating Art with Value and Contrast The chapter focuses on the importance of creating value and contrast in artwork. It emphasizes practicing value scales using various mediums and hues to enhance the uniqueness of the artwork.

Elements of Art: Value | KQED Arts Transcription

00:00 - 00:30 [ MID-TEMPO DRUM BEAT PLAYS ] [ MID-TEMPO MUSIC PLAYS ] Narrator: THE WORD "PHOTOGRAPH" COMES FROM TWO GREEK WORDS THAT TRANSLATE TO "LIGHT DRAWING." SOME PEOPLE DESCRIBE PHOTOGRAPHY, THEN, AS DRAWING WITH LIGHT.
00:30 - 01:00 LIGHT DEFINES OBJECTS AND LITERALLY ENABLES US TO SEE THINGS. ARTISTS CREATE THE ILLUSION OF LIGHT BY BEING ABLE TO PRODUCE A WIDE RANGE OF TONAL AND COLOR VALUES. VALUE IS ONE OF THE SEVEN ELEMENTS OF ART, ALONG WITH LINE, SHAPE, FORM, TEXTURE, COLOR, AND SPACE. VALUE IS HOW LIGHT OR DARK A GIVEN COLOR OR HUE IS.
01:00 - 01:30 VALUES CAN BE BETTER UNDERSTOOD WHEN THEY ARE VISUALIZED AS A SCALE OR A GRADIENT. HERE'S THE VALUE SCALE FOR THIS GRAY TONE. IT RANGES FROM PURE WHITE TO ABSOLUTE BLACK WITH A NUMBER OF GRAY TONES IN BETWEEN. ANY HUE OR TONE HAS A SIMILAR SCALE FROM DARK TO LIGHT. DIFFERENT VALUES ARE CREATED BY LIGHTENING THE HUE. IN THIS CASE, ADDING WHITE TO IT, OR BY DARKENING IT WITH BLACK. WHEN AN ARTWORK HAS MANY TONES IN BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE,
01:30 - 02:00 IT IS CONSIDERED LOW CONTRAST. FOR INSTANCE, IN THIS PHOTOGRAPH BY NICHOLAS NIXON, NOTICE HOW MANY DIFFERENT SHADES OF GRAY THERE ARE. A HIGH-CONTRAST IMAGE, ON THE OTHER HAND, WOULD HAVE VERY FEW TONAL VALUES BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE, LIKE THIS PHOTOGRAPH BY KENNETH JOSEPHSON. THE TEXTURE OF AN OBJECT'S SURFACE CAN PLAY A ROLE IN HOW WE SEE VALUE. IN THIS PHOTOGRAPH BY BRETT WESTON,
02:00 - 02:30 NOTICE HOW THE VEINS IN THE LEAVES OF LETTUCE CREATE AREAS OF DRAMATIC CONTRAST BETWEEN LIGHT AND DARK. COMPARE THAT WITH THIS PHOTOGRAPH OF BANANAS, ALSO BY WESTON. THE SKIN OF THE BANANAS DULLS THE LIGHT, WHICH GIVES THE PHOTOGRAPH MUCH LESS CONTRAST. THE DIFFERENT WAYS ARTISTS CREATE LINES AND IMPLIED TEXTURES CAN ALSO AFFECT HOW WE PERCEIVE VALUE.
02:30 - 03:00 NOTICE HOW HEAVY AND DARK THE BLACKS ARE IN THIS CHARCOAL DRAWING. ALSO NOTICE HOW CERTAIN AREAS SMOOTHLY TRANSITION FROM DARK TO LIGHT. THIS WATERCOLOR PAINTING'S BLACKS AREN'T NEARLY AS DARK. NOTICE, TOO, HOW THE SHADING ISN'T AS SMOOTHLY BLENDED. THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE LOOKING AT A PHOTOGRAPH, PAINTING, OR DRAWING, TRY TO NOTICE HOW THE ARTIST IS RENDERING VALUE.
03:00 - 03:30 AND WHEN YOU'RE CREATING YOUR OWN ARTWORK, PRACTICE CREATING VALUE SCALES WITH A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT MEDIUMS AND HUES SO YOUR ARTWORK SHINES IN ITS OWN UNIQUE WAY.