Value study

values and edges

Niklas Andersen Graphite powder tutorial

I recently stumbled upon This post on Niklas Andersen's blog. I asked him some questions about his use of graphite powder. His elaborate answer was very useful, and Niklas was so kind to let me share this on my blog. 

 Niklas: " Here is a illustration made and inspired by the great world we are living in now financially speaking and those who has played a major role in making that grave, I thought it was the appropriate time for this kind of evil picture:-)

Apart from the mockery it has been a very good learning experience of doing it all analog. I made it with pencils and graphite powder that i have spread out with a paint brush and rendered further with the pencils going from HB to 4B. I can really recommend the pure graphite powder i got from Sennelier and the paper from Daler/Rowney the heavyweight version.

The brush/brushes I use is first of a large soft round one from Daler/Rowney that gives the initial even soft spread (not precise). Then for the details and the way I get it more precise is with a smaller nr 4 square stiffer brush which makes it posible to apply more pressure and therefor more darkness+precision. How I block out larger areas even, I start out for example with the overlay block on the left, filling it out with the large brush and I even go over the lines to get i even to the edge. Then I take my kneaded eraser and erase precisly to the edge of the block. Then i take the smaller brush and continue to darken it in within the limits of the edge. From there on you have to use pencils if you want it even darker.

Another thing is if you use the graphite powder from derwent then it is almost impossible to get it even and with out spots. It is really a bad brand for that. When i tryed it, it just became dark so fast and it maked spots etc. But the powder I got a hold of from Sennelier, it never makes spots and is so easy to spread out evenly, you can continuously mold it while you have the extra powder laying on the paper. Last things is that when you do graphite powder then you should be really careful not to touch the paper and leave fingerprints, it really shows up clearly and it ruins the even surface. "

Niklas Andersen website: LINK

Paul Felix notes #3

These notes were taken from John Nevarez' Unofficial Paul Felix blog

Controlling values

Controlling values is important to create the illusion of realism in a painting. Under the same lighting circumstances a metal object reflects light differently than a piece of cloth. Understanding how this translates into values is important to express the difference in textures.
Having no control over your values can cause a painting to fall apart, or lose all sense of depth. In this illustration I did a little experiment. I used my values in an unconventional way, by deviding my illustration into four sections, and apply a different range of values to each section. Within each section, the relative use of values is as usual. The range was set in advance.

I used the posterise filter, to show how I four basic values for the entire illustration: black, dark grey, light grey and white. When I block in the basic values for an illustration I trie not to go into detail, but stick to only a few basic values. Refinement and detailing come later on.
The use of values this way, gives an unnatural look to the whole of the image. It's as if the different artists have been cut out an put together as a collage. I magnified this effect by reversing the laws of pespective in some areas. Big shapes in the back, small shapes in front.
Setting a limit for the use of values this way is a great exercise to understand and control values. It made me realize what the effect is and made me use values in my other paintings more consciously.