Value Study Glossary

Unlike direct light from a specific source, ambient light wraps around everything softly. It's why outdoor shadows on overcast days aren't pitch black—the sky itself acts as a huge, soft light source. In digital art and painting, understanding ambient light helps you avoid making shadows too dark.

Asymmetrical compositions usually feel more dynamic and interesting than perfectly centered, symmetrical ones.

Also called aerial perspective. Mountains in the distance look blue-gray and washed out compared to nearby trees. This happens because you're looking through miles of atmosphere. Using atmospheric perspective in your paintings creates depth—darks stay dark in the foreground, but gradually lighten as objects recede.

Different from the form shadow on the object itself. A cast shadow is what you see on the ground beneath a tree, or on a table under a coffee mug. Cast shadows help anchor objects in space and show their relationship to other surfaces.

An Italian term (literally "light-dark") made famous by artists like Caravaggio and Rembrandt. Creates mood, volume, and focus through bold value patterns.

Good composition guides the viewer's eye, creates visual interest, and supports your intended message or mood.

On a sphere, the core shadow is that dark band where the form turns away from the light source, before reflected light bounces back into the shadow side. It's darker than both the form shadow (which gets reflected light) and the highlight side. Understanding core shadow is essential for painting convincing form.

While photos are convenient, they compress values and can be misleading. Training your eye with direct observation develops stronger visual skills.

Edges can be hard (sharp, clear transition) or soft (gradual, blurred transition). Varying your edge quality—using both hard and soft edges—creates depth and visual interest. Value Study's toggle outlines can help you see edges more clearly.

Value Study’s eyedropper lets you click on a part of an image and highlight other areas with a similar value. This can be a helpful way to check what tones you are actually seeing and compare different parts of a reference.

Usually created through maximum value contrast, detail, or placement. Also called the "center of interest." Most strong compositions have one clear focal point.

While "shape" is flat (2D), "form" has volume and depth (3D). We create the illusion of form in drawings and paintings primarily through value changes that show how light wraps around surfaces.

Different from cast shadow (which the object throws onto other surfaces). Form shadow is what makes a sphere look round instead of flat—it's the gradual darkening as the surface curves away from the light. Form shadow usually includes the core shadow and gets lighter toward the edge from reflected light.

While styles and mediums vary, these fundamentals remain constant. Value is often considered the most important fundamental.

Converting photos to grayscale helps you see values clearly without being distracted by hue. Also called "black and white" (though it includes all the grays in between). Value Study's toggle color feature lets you switch between color and grayscale instantly.

Common types include simple squares, rule of thirds, and golden ratio grids for transferring compositions to canvas. Value Study's grid overlay offers multiple grid options.

High-key paintings feel bright, airy, and often cheerful. Think beach scenes, foggy mornings, or sun-drenched interiors.

On a shiny object, highlights might be nearly pure white. On a matte surface, they're more subtle. Highlights are crucial for showing the direction and intensity of your light source. Controlling the size and sharpness of highlights helps define material properties—tight, bright highlights suggest glossy surfaces; soft, diffused highlights suggest matte surfaces.

The left side represents darks, the right side represents lights. Peaks show where most of your values are concentrated. Used by photographers and digital artists to analyze tonal balance. Value Study's histogram shows you the value distribution of your reference image in real-time.

Hue is what we usually mean when we say "color," but it's separate from value. A red can be light or dark; a blue can be light or dark—same hue, different values.

Could be the sun, a lamp, a window, or multiple sources. Understanding your light source is the anchor for all shading logic—once you know where the light comes from, you know where shadows go, where highlights appear, and how forms turn. Multiple light sources make things more complex but follow the same principles.

A white egg has a light local value; a black ceramic pot has a dark local value, regardless of lighting conditions.

Low-key paintings feel dramatic, mysterious, or moody. Think candlelit portraits, night scenes, or shadowy interiors.

Midtones are central to value theory and get referenced constantly. They're where most of your painting lives—the transition zones between light and dark. Managing midtones well prevents your work from looking flat (too many midtones) or overly dramatic (not enough midtones). Most value problems happen in the midtones, not the extremes.

Many beginners focus only on drawing "the thing" and ignore the shapes of the spaces around it. Learning to see and design negative space dramatically improves your compositions.

A concept (literally "light-dark") that reduces images to just two values—pure black and pure white, with no grays in between. Notan studies reveal the underlying abstract pattern of your composition. If it works in notan, it usually works as a painting.

French for "open air." Plein air painting trains your eye to see accurate values and colors under natural lighting conditions, which change throughout the day.

This is what Value Study's value selector does intentionally to help you see value masses. In regular photography, unwanted posterization is usually considered a flaw, but for value studies, it's the goal.

Critical for realism. This is why shadows aren't pitch black—light bounces around the environment. A white tablecloth under a red apple will bounce warm light up into the apple's shadow side. Reflected light is always weaker than direct light, but it's what makes shadows feel alive rather than dead.

Professional artists often shoot their own reference photos rather than copying others' work. Value Study helps you analyze any reference photo to better understand its value structure.

Creates a 3×3 grid. Placing focal points at the intersections of these lines tends to create more dynamic, interesting compositions than centering everything.

High saturation means vivid, bright colors. Low saturation means muted, grayish colors. Saturation is independent of value—you can have a dark saturated red or a light saturated red.

Instead of seeing "a red apple," you see "a circular shape with a light value area on top, a mid-value area in the middle, and a dark value shadow beneath."

Essential for good painting—if your value shapes aren't strong and clear, adding details won't save it. Value Study's core feature.

A strong silhouette reads clearly even when filled with solid black. If your silhouette is weak or confusing, your painting probably will be too. Try using toggle outlines to check your silhouette strength.

Squinting blurs details and makes value patterns more obvious. If you can't see clear value shapes when squinting, your composition probably needs work.

Working small forces you to think about big shapes and value masses instead of getting lost in details.

A limited tonal range means your values are compressed (all mid-tones, for example), while a full tonal range uses the entire value spectrum.

Value is independent of color—a bright yellow and a light blue might have the same value even though they're different colors. Understanding value is considered one of the most important skills in drawing and painting.

This explains why photos lie. Cameras can't capture the same value range your eye sees, so they compress it—darks become lighter, lights become darker, everything gets pushed toward middle gray. This is why painting directly from a photo often looks flat. Value Study helps you identify compression so you can expand the range back out in your painting.

High contrast means light values next to dark values (dramatic). Low contrast means similar values next to each other (subtle). Controlling contrast directs the viewer's attention.

Good paintings organize values into clear masses rather than random spots of light and dark. Also called "value shapes."

Artists often use 5, 7, or 10-step value scales to train their eye and plan paintings. Value Study's value selector shows you a dynamic value scale based on your image.

Creating value studies of your reference photos before painting helps you plan your approach and avoid common problems.

You can have great value structure with terrible color choices and still have a readable painting. But perfect color choices with poor values usually produces mud.

Many professionals work in grayscale first, then add color later. If your values are right, everything else becomes easier.