THE VALUE OF THE VALUE SKETCH

These are 4 value studies I did yesterday in preparation for my next painting. I want to do more because I really like this image and plan to use it to explore color ideas. It gives me so much more confidence to start painting when I have the darks, lights and middle values already decided. I totally messed up the Zentangle painting because I didn't have a plan. That is when I really became a total believer in creating these multi-value sketches. Each time I do one, another variation comes to mind. I finally had to quit after four because it was getting late.

It took quite a few steps to get from original drawing to finished value sketch. The original image was created by overlaying two drawings to create a new one. The resulting pattern is half-sheet size. To reduce it down, I photographed it and then tried to adjust the lighting in the computer. This was nearly impossible because tracing paper on a sliding glass door doesn't photograph white. I then printed it out in a reduced size. There wasn't that much difference between the lines and the background. I went over the lines with a pen, then I traced the small image twice and put that in the copier. It's worth all the trouble because now I can print out as many as I want. I glue them into my sketch book to save them.

I have started the first painting using one of the value patterns. Hopefully, I will manage to finish it tomorrow.