We've talked color to death, but Value is an important counterpart to Color and without it even the wisest use of color and placement can make a project fall flat.
Value describes the lightness or darkness of a color and how it interacts in a piece. This is where you find shades, tints and tones. You can have a wide array of values in a single color, which is why Value is such an important thing to consider.
Value creates highlights and lowlights. If your quilt shows a wide range of values, it will be more dynamic and exhibit a greater sense of depth and contrast. Limit your values and your quilt will blend more and be more static - static sounds like a bad thing, but it doesn't have to be if you're going for a softer look!
One of the tricky things about Value is that at a certain point, values can be difficult to differentiate because they are just. so. close. So what do you do about that? Sure, they make those spiffy red lensed specs, but what if you don't have those? If you have a smartphone, you can see value in the palm of your hand! Take a picture of the fabrics you are struggling with, but set your camera to greyscale (or, take the picture and use a greyscale filter). If you don't have a smartphone, take the picture and ask a friend to help you convert it to greyscale. Look how much better it helps you see those lights and darks!
And here's an example using one of those red filters:
Check out how effective the use of Value can be in a quilt - from lots of values to few!
What's your favorite value range to work in? Let us know in the comments below!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Start or join the discussion by leaving us a comment below! Please keep comments kind and constructive.