Weak Values? Get in Those Darks
When Ep.68 guest Randy Hayashi is ready to move from the plan into the paint, he has a very set of steps he walks through.
First starts with a wash over his entire painting.
Second up, he places his darkest darks.
Those darkest darks play an important role in making sure his work… works.
By starting with those darks, he's making sure he anchors his painting from the very beginning.
He knows how dark he is going to go... because he’s already put it in.
So many painters struggle with getting in the full value range, especially darks.
Hayashi avoids that all together by getting them in from the very beginning.
Now he can build the painting from a place of confidence.
Next, he adds in a layer of mid-tones and then he'll place his lightest and brightest whites.
He’s far from a finished painting, but he has his full range of values in place. He knows where what values go and he can move confidently as he builds the rest of his painting.
Put it to Practice:
Your reference and your plan will have a darkest dark and a lightest light. This is part of what's known as your painting's hierarchy.
And knowing what those are is important because everything else relates to those.
Sometimes lightest lights and darkest darks get lost between the plan and the painting. Even if we’ve done it in a thumbnail, we forget.
That’s why Hayashi puts them in early. If he knows where they go, he can then play more with his colors.
And it’s a reminder every time he goes to lay a brush mark down to check to make sure that the value on his brush matches the value that should go there.