Written by 
Punishing Platoon
Today finds another piece published by Headless Hydra Games for its newest release “Eldritch Secrets Spell Compendium Volume 1″.
The challenge of all of these assignments on an artistic level was to create strong compositional focus and to really push the values. They seem a step in the right direction and demonstrate to me how important value is in the development of a painting.
Previous work of mine relied more on “relative value” ( a light next to a dark creating contrast) than what can be described as “absolute value” ( the value of a color on its own and without visual comparison).
Putting light gray next to a darker gray can fool the eye into thinking that they are seeing a truly strong contrast.
But if one were to hold up a swatch of black and a swatch of white to these areas they might be surprised by what they discover. Previous work of mine, if held up to this scrutiny would reveal that the values in the image reside very much within the middle grays without strong lights and darks.
While not necessarily a bad thing, if not handled carefully and with consideration, it can lead to a weak structure for the painting.
Lessons learned on these recent assignments will be seen in force on all future work I am pleased to say.
One handy trick is to squint while viewing a work in progress. It obscures the details and allows examination of the value structure of the image. If it still seems strong and pleasing when viewed this way, then you are probably on the right track.
The use of white and black swatches can also be very helpful. Hold it up to your image or palette color and consider the value of the color on the canvas, screen, or palette. How does the value of the color you are examining compare to the swatch? This process can be useful in considering the values of the colors you are using in your composition.
Do you have some tips to share on keeping the values in your illustrations strong?
It would be great to hear them!
I can also be found on: