Intro to Contrast Part 2

There are two steps you can take when thinking about contrast that will really help you understand what you're seeing. The first step is to judge the distance in values, or how far apart your lightest value is from your darkest value. The second step is to judge the rate at which the values shift from lightest value to darkest value.

Step 1
Pure black to pure white is a very large shift, and so would create a higher level of contrast. On the other end of the scale, a dark gray to a light gray would be a very low level of contrast. This is the example I showed in my  Intro to Contrast Part 1  post, where the first image had a very small value shift from it's darkest dark to it's lightest light. More contrast requires deeper blacks and brighter whites.
Step 2
The more sudden the shift happens between a lighter value and a darker value, the more contrast the eye will notice and be attracted to. If you put a deep black right up against a bright white, there is a huge contrast between the two, because of their opposite levels of value and their proximity to each other. If instead you put a smooth gradient that passes from your deep black to your bright white you will still have contrast from the deep black and the bright white, however it will be less jarring as there is very little shift between each individual value. The more shift between each value level, the more contrast will be apparent. It will also create a level of sharpness, which I will talk about in a future post.

Intro to Contrast Part 1

Let me show you two images I took this morning and think to yourself which one you think looks better as an image. Remember, if you want to take a closer look you can click to enlarge them.

I'm guessing you would prefer staring for 80 hours at the bottom picture instead of the top picture. On their own, each of these images might have unique characteristics with their own appeal to any given viewer, but as a general rule, the image on the bottom will draw attention quicker. Why, you ask? Contrast is the answer!

Contrast is a feature our eyes have been able to perceive since our very early stages of development. Starting even as far back as micro-organisms, the single-cell creatures that could better determine the contrasts between light and dark values had a better chance of survival. Knowing when there's a threat, and avoiding predators was something that must have been critically difficult for creatures that couldn't make those distinctions, so it makes sense that the better ability would be passed down through the generations as a result of natural selection.

An easy way to think about contrast is the shift in value levels, and how quickly the shift happens. The more separation between the darkest dark value level and the lightest light value level in an image will determine how much contrast is in the image. The space between the light and dark areas will also change how we see contrast, the closer together the lights and darks are, the more contrast there will be. If there is a lot of space between the light and dark areas, usually in the form of a gradient, the contrast will remain at the same level, but will be a much smoother shift. I will explain more about this in Thursday's post, so check back then!

Intro to Value Part 3

Essentially, all of the value levels we see are within a certain range. Our eyes can adjust to make this range have more or less light coming into our eyes, but all the values still fit into their original scale.

The value shift in the far right square that goes from it's white background to light gray lines, is the same amount of shift happening between the gray background and the black lines in the far

Intro to Value Part 2

Hi friends! In last week's post I started to talk a little bit about the value scale and one way you can think about it to understand it a little bit better. Today I'm going to get a little bit deeper into how our eyes perceive the value scale, and how you can use that to your advantage as a visual element.

Our eyes have been trained to understand saturation in almost everything we see. A good way to think about saturation is in terms of a scale, or how much of something is in a specific area. In the image I created above for this demo, the darkest area in the bottom is the most saturated with lines, and the lightest areas in the top corners are the least saturated.

Intro to Value Part 1

Let me start today's post with some imagination. Have you ever been in a very dark corridor or room, and opened a door to the outside on a bright sunny day causing you to be temporarily blinded by the light? Our eyes work as an aperture which dilates and narrows to gauge how much or how little light, respectively, we perceive. Understanding how that works is a great first step into understanding value, and how to represent it, which is useful especially in art with the purpose of rendering.

Let's start with cross-hatching because it's a common, and simple, tool often used in sketching to represent values. I will represent the value by adjusting the density, and not adjusting the thickness, of the strokes.

Notice that the far left example is much lighter than the far right example. This is because the density of the lines changes from spread to dense. They don't grow thicker to make the shape darker, they become dense, and the appearance becomes darker. When the space between the lines increases, more of the white paper beneath is visible, and our eyes associate the white (or blankness) as light.

Check out part 2 by clicking here!

January Review

Hi friends, glad to see you back again! January brought this blog lots of great sketches. Today I've got just a short review and a fun little image to wrap it all up.

Sketching is definitely a good pastime. If you haven't yet, be sure to read some of January's posts, there's some really neat information in a few of them! The general idea is to keep sketching, and allow your mind to have something nice to do. Freedom of the mind is a great exercise for understanding as well as relaxing. Need a break from the business of day-to-day life? Try makin' a sketch! It doesn't have to matter to anyone but you, so long as you're having fun.

Portland's First Thursday

February has arrived! We are now a full month into this new year, 2016. One way to entertain yourself for a night is to take part in the First Thursday event in Portland, Oregon. If you happen to be in the area and you don't know what First Thursday is, it's a once-a-month event where galleries open their doors with new shows of a variety of local artists work. If you would like to find more information, you can read about it at PADA's website, or by looking up "First Thursday Portland" in a Google search.

I'll be around checking out some of the galleries myself tonight, and I definitely recommend it to anyone close enough to visit. Just be sure to bring a coat and possibly an umbrella, this winter weather can get cold and wet!

More Sketching

Hey, and welcome back! For today's post I have a few more sketches to bring to you. First off, a work-in-progress sketch of a portrait taken a while back.

Portraits are really a nice thing. The best part is, they have been used throughout history to such