Artists & Illustrators - UK (2019-10)

COLOUR THEORY

1. Tonality

COLOUR THEORY

In his new series

on colour theory,

Pennsylvania Academy

of Fine Arts tutor

AL GURY begins by

showing you ways to

better understand

and replicate the

valueofcolours

O

ne of the most complicated

issues for artists when

it comes to colour is

understanding the value of colours

in nature and how to replicate this

in paint. This is also sometimes called

the tonality of colours.

In the modern world, a greyscale

• usually containing as many as 10
  stops on the scale from pure white to
  absolute black – is used as a guide to
  colour values. A pure middle grey is
  usually the fifth stop on this scale.
  Value refers to the visual quality of
  light and dark of surfaces, colours,
  objects and shapes, as we see them
  in nature. In other words, how light
  or dark are they. Matching colour
  mixtures to capture the correct values
  of an object or a scene is a skill that
  is developed and learned over time.

RIGHTAlGury,StudyafterFransHals

(Copyof1633’sMeagreCompany),

oiloncanvas,35.5x28cm

“Therearethreevaluegroupshere:

lights(3-4ona valuescale),shadows

(6-7),andthedarkestelements(8-10).

TheHalsoriginaldramatisedcontrasts,

withthedarksaddingmystery.”

A 10-point greyscale

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10