The Landscape Painter's Workbook: Essential Studies in Shape, Composition, and Color (Volume 6) (For Artists, 6)

MIX VALUES

The white and black values can be used straight from the tube. But you will have to mix the three intermediary values (2, 3, and 4). If you haven’t mixed values like this before, you’ll find that it’s not as easy as it looks. It takes fine control to get all five values evenly stepped without any two being too close to each other. If, say, values 4 and 5 are too close, you effectively lose one of your values. Even steps assures that each value is well-differentiated from the other.

MAPPING

Tape a piece of tracing paper over your example. Begin drawing lines that suggest the pathways of movement you see in the painting. Use a soft pencil so you can erase and make adjustments. Some pathways may fall along the edges of elements, others may not. Your lines should indicate the direction and flow of the movements.

SHAPE- AND PATTERN- FINDING

Place a sheet of tracing paper over the reproduction. Using a marker, as shown here, or a soft pencil, begin tracing. The mountains on the left and the foreground mountains on the right are quite dark and easily interpreted as black. But the clouds and parts of the mountain closest to the sunset are midvalues. Should these passages be assigned to white or black? The goal is to find a balance that indicates the essential character of the subject. There is more than one solution.