Painting Accurate Values

The value masses drive most paintings. So getting then in accurately is important. But accurate to what? A photo, life, or your painting's needs.
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[@markdonovan1540]

A simple, yet huge take away: ensure that the values SERVE the painting. Thank you Ian, for these gems of insight.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Well said. Thank you and glad you liked it Mark

[@scottpitner4298]

Making that scene look easy! Great painting and explanation of value choices for the scene to read the way the artist wants instead of having to stick with what’s live or how a photo looks. A lot of freedom in the idea that you could go on location and paint a bright sunny scene in a different way such a overcast, moody :)

[@prodbymorii2058]

You are a genius when it comes to composition and colors.

[@RoseDragoness]

This is amazing break down of values. Usually I got the impression that accurate value is what accurate like in real life!

[@paintingsofwaves_mikewoning]

That was a bit more in depth analysis of how our attention moves through the painting: loved it! Very informative and soothing to watch. So much to learn still... pfff. Thanks!

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Wonderful! Enjoy the process, and have fun.

[@thebirdartistscottage]

Hearing you walk through the composition of this painting was so helpful, Ian. I really appreciated learning about the choices you were making and what you were changing versus what you left in from the photo. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and expertise with us so generously!

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

You are most welcome. Glad you found it helpful.

[@vincenth9751]

Simply helping to understand what is values but I think the composition of painting will be a very important too ? I believe my eye what I could see much better than photo. Thank you so much. Ian Roberts .

[@G1g1658]

Loved how you led the eye to the center of interest way back and not only the value shifts, but the subtle color temperature shifts. This painting sings!

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Thank you very much! What a compliment.

[@janey2562]

A real artist. He knows well the craft. He is the one we should seriously learn from

[@dvango2023]

WOW! I see the light! Thank you Ian. I have struggled with value for so long. I knew what value was but never explained to me how to use it. Instead I tried hard to make it match what I saw in front of me. Wasn’t working!

[@lovewillwinnn]

Thank you for helping the world get some values. They certainly are lacking these days.

[@MrDs131]

As a watercolorist things are not as simple and require more planning but the essence of what you teach is still invaluable.

[@geraldmiller347]

Ditto David, I work in Acrylics but yes, Ian's insights are applicable across materials

[@nompaintedthis]

yes I apply this to watercolours too. He covers the basics of painting and visualising very well!

[@DavidMiltonJones]

I agree. Composition and value are relevant to all media. Get lots from Ian's tutorials.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

HI David, you know they call watercolor the medium of the masters because one most watercolor artists are looking for that nice loose look and using the accidents AND it takes a lot of planning so that is possible. But I'm delighted you find the videos helpful.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Delighted to know it Gerald.

[@abinlp]

Great timing for me, with this video. I'm at the point in painting to learn these things. Not using values had been what kept my paintings from the next level. The way you've explained it in this video is so helpful and such an important thing for painters to learn. Especially when you point out "its the values WITHIN the painting that matter." Not the plein air in front of you, or the photo you're working from, but the painting. Its priceless information. All of your videos are great, but this one is really special.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Thanks so much Alan. Really glad that idea hit home. All the best.

[@mothereartha7]

Bravo , lm an accomplished painter, but l needed to see your work, l tend to get lost in detail, rather than the vital components, thank you so much.

[@joannesharpe6137]

This is so helpful. Perhaps I'm just getting dialled in, but listening to your thinking and watching paint go onto your canvas at the same time has really resonated for me this morning. I may try a 'copy' of this painting to reinforce the learnings. Thank you

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Hi Joanne, makes me happy to hear the video resonated with you. Making a copy's a good plan if that idea inspires you. Good luck with it. All the best.

[@donitafichter8298]

Stunning!

[@timcat61]

Fantastic demo !

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Glad you like it!

[@sandraworrall-hart3840]

Oh wow, I always love your drawings - as evocative as your paintings.

[@travisneighborward2205]

Ian makes fantastic points about values! Thank you.

[@jultolentino7515]

A gem of knowledge & simplified.thank you sir ian "GOD BLESS & TAKE CARE."

[@ezfitchick]

Thank you - great info - loved how you took our eye through the painting...the puzzle of values revealed

[@markbowenagates1987]

Yes! Preach it brother! Subscribed.

[@martigreen7229]

I have been watching you for over a year, you are my saving Grace as I struggle with value and light. You are the best with explaining. Your a beautiful artists and I admire you and your work. Thank you for taking the time to helping other artists. Bless you.

[@stephfindlay]

Thank you Ian , Brilliant!

[@careymilne9501]

So excited to find this channel. Started watching last night and can’t stop - so super helpful and informative. Thank you!!

[@audiobaglioni]

Fantastic demonstration. I truly love your channel. Thanks a lot Ian.

[@nikibeam.]

Thank you so much😭this was so beautiful

[@louielouie4187]

Really like it, much appreciated Ian

[@selftrue670]

A true master class. Just brilliant. Thank you, Ian!

[@ejfalias4696]

no shenanigans. just incredibly helpful. what great resource you are. Thank you.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

You're very welcome!

[@sunsun39steps]

I love all of your videos, you've inspired me on painting more landscapes while practising my techniques. Thank you!

[@martimajor4766]

I can taste the salt and smell the fragrance of that vegetation mixed with ocean spray. So evocative. Love. Love love!

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Thanks for sharing. Glad you enjoyed it. All the best

[@sachet22]

Absolutely scrumptious use of color, value and design. New to the channel but going back over the many different lessons. Big Thanks because your content is easy to understand and thus useful and engaging.

[@neilbarton7216]

Wonderful transition from a very dark composition through the different stages showing the lights and pulling us in…. Thank you Ian.

[@mountainside26]

Another beautiful moment- thank you for your generosity with your talent and skills- so helpful.

[@milesyalzin2018]

Wow... incredible

[@Phylthya]

This is magical! So glad I found your channel. I never understood values, but you explain it so well that I can finally begin to comprehend. Your videos convey this crucial but often vaguely-explained information incredibly well and I believe they might just be what I need. A subscription well-earned. Looking forward to all your videos. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us, it is greatly appreciated.

[@lynd4188]

You are simply the best!!

[@darcymanwaring1489]

This really helped tremendously. I so often get stuck with photos trying to match values in frustration sets in and never finish. This is so exciting to know and be aware of. Thank you again for such an excellent video.

[@catbraunwell6450]

Such well explained information. And your painting is way more gorgeous than the photo

[@Orangebouganvillea]

I’m so impressed, thank you so much.

[@marieradi-nahas767]

Thank you Ian. Your thinking process makes so much sense even if it’s applied to watercolour. Thank you.

[@julliettecarignan8563]

All of your videos are great but this one really took my breath away, Ian! Wonderful, evocative painting, perfect for illustrating your point about value accuracy being relative to the painting's needs as you designed it. Bravo!

[@Lawec]

Fantastic video! Thank you.

[@rakeshshah5032]

Thank you Ian. A brilliant lesson as always. I learnt so much more about edges and contrasts even though I thought I knew about them.

[@anikatasnim6001]

you're an incredibly good teacher and you help with genuine problems artists have, you're like a guardian angel😇

[@maxinebutcher379]

Learning so much here. Thank you.

[@nomidrawsbears2163]

Your videos are always so great. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. Hopefully I'll put them to good use in my work

[@jacquescassagnol7730]

So useful, relaxed and overall just so easy to listen to and learn. Beautiful painting as well. Great channel

[@charlesemery84]

The idea of using value to serve the painting is very valuable. My tendency is always to try and portray the picture accurately but this idea will really expand my compositional approach. Thanks

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Delighted you found the concept so helpful. All the best

[@eyeonart6865]

Love your perspective book!

[@atulpande9774]

You are an amazing teacher. I learn something new, or understand something better, with each video lesson. Thank you.

[@muraliram8802]

Excellent demonstration. Thankyou !

[@houghwhite411]

Thank you for the color guide

[@jeanbyrd7444]

Great lesson thank you Ian! First time I've heard a Master say that the artist chooses the values🙏

[@ClayExtrudingExpert]

Hello. This painting of yours suggests to me, yet again, the importance of knowing when to stop. For me, as a novice, my wife plays an important role in my development, especially when I'm painting outdoors. Namely, she tells me when to stop by sweetly saying in this coaching whisper of hers, "Stop messing with it or you're going to screw it all up!" Thanks, again, Ian.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Hi Daryl, it's true thought. You can get your head so into the details that you lose sight of the whole. And an outside viewer can see the whole and isn't buried in the weeds. With practice you start to keep both those visions alive at the same time - the whole and the parts. But one thing I'd say is spend way more time standing back and looking at how it is coming together because lots of things that you can get buried in you can't even see from 8-10 feet away. Viewing distance. But bravo to your wife's eye.

[@ClayExtrudingExpert]

@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Early on, I followed the oil painter Mark Carder who said to regularly move back to 7 ft. and assess the painting. This is consonant with your advice. Some paintings just look better from a distance since the small flaws are less obvious. It seems that the trouble with submitting a photograph of a painting for a contest is that it is typically photographed in a close-up crop to the edge of the canvas. One wonders, then, if the judge will look at the photo from his/her desktop or from 7 ft. away.

[@odissey100100]

I'm an accomplished drawer. I even teach drawing and won a few prices. But painting is incredibly hard to master. No matter how hard I try, it always look amateurish and uninteresting. I understand what you say, I just can't put it in practice. You are amazingly talented, mister Roberts.

[@TheBambie86]

Ian , great demo and subject. The way you did it, sure turned it out beautifully. This one has been a great one for me to learn, big thanks and looking forward, Bob

[@suzannebonham583]

Love this painting and demonstration - thank you!

[@janecochrane444]

That was excellent - thank you

[@timliddy731]

Great lesson on where to place the contrast and stronger values. Thanks.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

You are so welcome

[@suarezromelia3115]

This is really amaizing, thank you!

[@ArtBSP]

Thank you so much for all of your videos! They are incredibly helpful 💌

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

You're so welcome!

[@huenihuang]

This is very helpful! It clarified some questions I’ve struggled with, now I know why I couldn’t get where I want to go and what did I do wrong. Also gave me ideas on how to practice and improve. Thank you!

[@jamesaustin7324]

You are a fabulous teacher. Thank you.

[@leonoraljus146]

i LOVE your paintings!!! theyre so gorgeous!!

[@teachies902]

thank you! this is the second video of yours that i've watched, and i'm learning a lot.

[@carjam49]

very helpful, thanks again

[@michaelbooth7000]

Nice tutorial, I think I recognize this location in Cambria. Great place for walks and painting!

[@auntchristineandvalentino3122]

Also a watercolor painter and what you're teaching us about "value masses" is the best lesson I've heard re values. Watercolor painters tend to obsess abiut how many levels of value a given color can achieve by adding water. And, frankly that has (had) created an irrational fear of painting in me!!!! Because, I simply cannot see those six or ten or twelve steps. Value masses I CAN SEE and achieve without obsessive swatching of my watercolor palette.

[@auntchristineandvalentino3122]

P.S. Light and dark. 👍🏼 great demo. Thank you

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Thanks so much. Delighted you found the video helpful and perhaps freed something about painting values in watercolor. All the best.

[@lucianocortopassi3098]

So good!

[@karensliwinski1243]

What a great lesson in values and contrasts. Thank you as always. Your knowledge and generosity are so appreciated.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

My pleasure! Thank you Karen.

[@marciagklarosk5161]

Thank you very much, again. It is hugely useful to understand the contrasts.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Glad it was helpful!

[@rodrigogalliano4609]

Beautiful

[@cynthiasenerchia2441]

Great demo of a complicated scene. Thank you!

[@gorgeousli]

such a helpful video...my takeaway just like Mark Donovan..."ensure that the values serve the painting". Thank you so much for this.

[@jatinderdevgun9093]

Great lesson and I thank you dearly; I also loved your book about composition which I purchased. A very satisfied student!

[@artgrungyjunkjournalrad7849]

Super content as always! Thank you!

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

You are so welcome

[@springtime445]

Gosh I’m going to learn so much from your videos. Thank you so much.

[@marcusbuckner5582]

Thx for listing the colors you use. Thanks for sharing your gifts with others. Blessings!

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

You are so welcome Marcus!

[@f.m.a.3206]

Thank you for the explanation about values in photography.

[@smarterthanawaffle]

The Painting Coach was singing your praises just yesterday if you haven't hear already.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Yes, someone told me about and it and I went and watched. I thought that was very kind and generous. I left a message thanking him on his Instagram account.

[@BarBaraWhorleyCrawfordESS]

Brilliant. Thank you. I always learn so much. 🖼🖌🎨

[@orlane219]

Thank you so much. I love your painting. Yes your process and explanations are really helpful.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

You are so welcome! Thank you Hannah

[@sherryblack7586]

What a fantastic lesson this was! Thank you.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

You're very welcome!

[@chrismoon7758]

Thank you Ian for taking the time to make these interesting and informative videos. I am learning a lot

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

You are so welcome Chris

[@geraldmiller347]

Values, Values, Values, as usual my primary problem, back to reworking my Cliffs and River, Thanks Ian

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Happy to help Gerald. Have fun and enjoy the process

[@timothyleslie8832]

This is one of my most favorite paintings. And the explanation of the relative values was very enlightening. I'm sure that you may have explained the same thing before, but this time, with this illustration, the light simply turned on in my mind. I understood the difficulty I've struggled with in some of my maritime paintings, and more importantly, how to fix it. Thank you.

[@metinkaraca2190]

You are a very good teacher sir.

[@joannegagnon-marihart]

Very helpful and a beautiful painting. Thank you for your time and your generosity. Each of your lesson is a great gift.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

My pleasure. Thank you Joanne

[@christinelewis5765]

Excellent lesson and tips! I found this extremely helpful. Thank you!

[@paul-oram]

These are wonderfully informative movies Ian. Thankyou for all your efforts.

[@angshumansengupta6322]

Another beautiful painting...love the subtlety of this painting 🎨

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Thank you so much!

[@LongerTomTV]

Thank you for this channel! I'm learning so much and values are the toughest part of painting for me :D

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

You are so welcome!

[@javajoe668]

Thank You!

[@harrygraham923]

Thanks again Ian for the lesson and love todays painting.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@lucillegrooms5948]

I am so grateful I stumbled upon your KZbin channel. Your a gifted teacher. Thanks

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

You are so welcome Lucille

[@KathyBrooksArt]

Very, very helpful! Great points and guidance. Beautiful painting demonstration. Thank you

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

You are so welcome!

[@helenstephenson1948]

This was so helpful, especially the idea of letting go of those values in the photo but also in the real life view, in order to serve my idea of the painting is liberating! Thank you once again.

[@IanRobertsMasteringComposition]

You are so welcome Helen!

[@andrewwykes4137]

So glad you have a copy of Patrick George’s painting on your shelf. A great British painter, Andrew Wykes