Tonal value. Painters do not have the apparatus problems of a photographer, but they do face a similar value design problem: anchoring the middle value of a painting in a way that communicates the intended feeling of light or dark without sacrificing a complete representation of the tonal range.
Our visual system naturally adjusts to the average luminance in our environment to produce the best visual representation. Because this adaptation also affects the appearance of any physical gray scale, the key to the value design of a painting lies in the distribution of gray values across the luminance range.
What should this distribution look like? The diagram at right shows a basic value plan that can serve well in thinking about the value range of any painting. Creating a Value Scale (Grayscale). Color Scheme Designer 3. FM 100 Hue Test. Navigating Color Space (NCS) My Multi-Dimensional Approach to Color Mixing—by Robert Gamblin Navigating Color Space is a DVD program I created on color mixing.
By using 3D computer animation, I can best show painters how to access the universe of color, I call Color Space. The animated sequences demonstrate how to define a color by its attributes: value, hue and intensity (chroma). During the program, I demonstrate a few of the secrets of the Old Masters so you, too, will know how to mix green and red into blue.