Image Essay #8

VALUE IN ART
Value is the lightening to darkness of a color. We use value to create three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional plane. Without value, the world would be flat, our bodies would be paper thin, and our artwork bleak and static. Painters will use Values to create a sense of space and form in their paintings. Having different Values give a work of art interest The viewer will look at a work of art longer if it contains elements that that will invite the human eye to look and excite their vision.

In this charcoal piece by Lita Dawn, she uses value to achieve realism and depth in space. It seems as though you are really watching a women sitting down on a bench reading. The bench looks so real that you could actually sit on that bench. If you glance at the value from the bench closest to you, and then follow your eye to the back where the building you should notice the value gets progressively darker. Artists use this technique to achieve depth and illusion of space within the piece. Quick changes from light to dark values are used to create texture such as the rocks on the ground, and the bark on the tree. Lastly, darker or lighter values are used to show an illusion of color. If you look at the trash bags in the trash cans, they are shaded very dark creating a sense of the color black. The light shade of value on the benches give a sense of the color white or maybe yellow to the benches.