Understanding Colour and Value

In this tutorial I try to explain the relationship between local colours and their inherent values.
Tools:
Adobe Photoshop CS6
Wacom Cintiq 22HD
Camtasia Studio
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[@DanRadSai]

finally i understand the color/value relations oh my god ive never felt so relieved in my LIFE

[@otaquid]

Of all the color and value tutorial I found on the net, this is the first one that made me say "SO THAT'S THE REASON WHY I KEPT MAKING MISTAKES!!!" Seriously man THANKS a million for making this tutorial!! Now that I know how to do it, time to go back my drawing

[@keithdonald6583]

Sycra your a genius! How come non of our art teachers taught us stuff like this?

[@Graham_Joshua]

Cause art teacher specially in university can't draw. I'm learning about animation in my univ right now, and i can tell you that. Many teacher didn't understand perspective, shape, form, or anything about art. They only have knowledge about the software that they teaching, about how to operate it, how to make silly editing stuff but not to make art itself. What a joke huh

[@Barbodo]

You are SO GOOD at explaining these things, Sycra. I love your run-throughs and videos, even though I have books that say exactly the same thing, I learn much more from your videos. I think I´m one of those audio visual people who can´t f*ing understand written text! Thanks again for sharing

[@edwnx0]

something i've started to do: when picking colours with the default picker, look at the Lab values. the L represents the luminance value, how bright the colour is perceived. and to get a better understanding of what is perceived as light and dark, make a rainbow gradient and then on a layer above it, fill it with a neutral grey and set the blending mode to color.

[@dragoscostinionita752]

This is totally easy, and I can't believe I didn't think of it before. Thank you so much for this video!!!

[@TheCoziestOne]

You have no idea how much I'm going to improve in my skills as an artists thanks to your tutorials. Thank you so much.

[@TheAlison1456]

how much did you? it's been ten years I am the ghost of the future-past

[@justaperson9444]

I Just got to say it, the boy looks real derpy :^)

[@Aresous]

The boy is sinix btw

[@baredog2]

You have a great knack for taking information( that seems intuitive for you) and turning it into visual knowlege for us..... thank you Sycra. I sincerely appreciate your efforts, Cheers,Barry.

[@FearlessPotatoe]

Many people told you that, but still: THANK YOU FOR SHARING WITH US! I learned from your videos much more than from an art class! You explainig everything in very simple and original way. Keep your amaizing vids up!

[@MisguidedLullabye712]

2:05 : perfect impression of me before I understood this xD Thanks for the help!

[@suhailahmad3737]

Damn

[@nonamebear1136]

Thank you for sharing. I am a graphite artist trying to transision into digital media, and have been strugling with colors. The chart made it easier to relate to and understand.

[@arturthebear3960]

Your videos are gold. Coming back all the time. Thank you ^^

[@apatts6]

Thanks so much mate, this is easily the best tutorial on value and colour, it's been confusing me for an entire year.

[@valeriachilders]

This is the best explanation EVER! Thanks!

[@AlessandroZir]

very useful, thanks! the most importantant tip I got from you here is that each color has a particular value range;

[@aknotienenestefito]

This is probably the MOST helpful video illustration related i ever watched i studied and i mean hours upon hours invested on watching and reading about digital illustration THANK YOU.

[@ciscoponch67]

THANK YOU, SYCRAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! Dude, I love you!!!! You have no idea, how long I've been looking for a tutorial like this. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SENSEI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[@WishingStarflakes]

I just started the gray scale method a few weeks ago, and had this exact problem. Thank you so much for clearing this up to me!

[@realswobby]

1:55 "No... Why...' - I'm crying from laugh x'D

[@timclayton8214]

This is a brilliant explanation - thanks for doing this video.

[@MaryGadsby]

Thank you for the helpful, informative and clear tutorial. I'm so grateful for all the time you put into teaching. I am a complete novice to art, and I'm glad I stumbled on your videos right out of the gate.

[@puddingpancakesplays]

Very useful. Thanks for posting the video tutorial!

[@anbuhyuga8299]

I feel like I've acended to another lvl of consciousness...

[@Crunchyr1ce]

This video is like.. mind boggling. This is incredibly helpful, thank you so much Sycra!

[@c4trin4]

In plein air (exteriors), shadows are hidden from direct light of the sun, but receives light from the sky and the surrounding ambient, so I use blue or violet for the up normal surfaces, and warm color for the surfaces pointing down. For interiors I use a mix of blue, and the complementary color of the object, to boost the color contrast.

[@tulanintombela2541]

I love this video. This is great

[@TheKcUTube]

Love the way u explain color,easy to understand and practical. Wish u'd made more video of this kind. The other video about picking/choosing color was really useful,too. Thank you.

[@xXTiamaXx]

It depends on the drawing style. Like Sycra said, it's mostly helpul for complex pieces. For example, when I speedpaint landscapes, I normally do this in greyscale only, as it's faster and I can concentrate on the contrast first. If you want to colour if afterwards this knowledge can be helpful. (I guess it's also helpful for people who draw mangas or other greyscale images as the observer can understand the actual colours better.)

[@MiauwDoodles]

Thank you so much! This is probably the video I've learned most from, amongst all of your uploads! I feel enlightened!

[@ernestogonzalez4799]

I learned something today, good tut.

[@thuaners]

such a clear and concise explanation, thank you!

[@elizabethgeorge9600]

Thank you so much.... this really helped ☺️

[@hfortenberry]

Excellent video and lesson topic! Thank you!

[@c4trin4]

I investigated a lot the color theory topic (traditional and digital), and the best material I found until now is the James Gurney Book "Color and Light" and the free online tool called "Gamut Mask Tool" it helped me a lot to understand and visualize the diferent color schemes and color strategies

[@Sycra]

Hmm... I personally use 2B and 3B leads with mechanical pencils. I sometimes use 4B but they're pretty soft, and HB, but with HB it's hard to get darker values. It also depends on the paper though... You can use 4H on comic book boards and it's about the same as HB on copy paper.

[@mz4933]

The kid is hilarious, my face went really weird when he popped out under the sentence Thanks for the tutorial!

[@jobell7356]

Superb!!!

[@NotThatBob]

brilliantly explained. Thank you.

[@sandynguyen3162]

So from my understanding, each colour that looks good depends on the inherit value. Say we go to a 9 for the purely saturated yellow will make it look yellow. And when you use the brown looking colour of the yellow due to desaturation, the brown colour has a wider range of inherit value? Sooo desaturation of the pure hue will allow a wider range of inherit value?? Sorry, I'm new to colour... :P

[@Mrskwonable]

dat mustard yellow.

[@hklbly]

Every color has an inherent value. This is the key.

[@huglojsk]

Thank you Sycra, you have helped me so much.

[@dramalama4u]

Could you please link to the tutorial where you teach about how to color skin, from grey to colours. If you already have, could you link it to your video or something? =) Btw, I love your videos! =)

[@petrok8618]

Should I bother about it and use it somehow, if I am drawing drawings directly in color from it's beginning without greyscale stage?

[@fayz-dayz]

This was very informative! Thank you🙏🏾💙

[@rahotep789]

Sycra, a.k.a Art Jesus, thanks so much for this video. It has helped me soooo much. (I know im here a bit late)

[@BubbaJames]

Excellent demonstration, thanks for the great upload

[@SkyeaterP]

It's interesting how this relates to the amount of energy the particular color of light have. It would seem that the higher the energy, the bigger the color range (blue and purple have high energy as opposed to red and yellow).

[@c4trin4]

A good example is the "Millbrook Library by James Gurney" (google it =D). I use a high saturated blue or violet for the shadows in exteriors, normal blending mode. The opacity varies acording to each situation. The surfaces pointing down, does not receive the light of the sun, nor the light from the sky. They only receive the reflected light from the floor, so for better form describing use warm tone like in the "Millbrook Library by James Gurney". Also google for "Sorolla" for violet shadow =D

[@AyaBondokArts]

I want to ask a question that might really be stupid😂 So why do we bother to color in grey scale?? How does it help, why not just add the blue or red that we want right from the start

[@metashinryu]

I think its because its simply easier to see value on grayscale, if you wanna go straight into color you would need a really good grip of color saturation and how to transition them properly. On grayscale yo do cool looking stuff from the go, make an overlay layer and put some base color on top of it, if you got your values right it will perfectly adjust to the saturation of the color.

[@greyareaRK1]

Maybe it's because my art education was pre-digital, but I've never heard the relationship between colour and value explained that way before. Thank you.

[@123456ghjklcv5919]

enjoying your videos, really informative,also, a suggestion for a video: "Lighting in interiors" there aren't many resources on this, and I'm thinking many people would be interested, me as well :)

[@Lamar154]

Really like this video, very helpful. Really trying to get use to colors. Thanks :)

[@vasconelson8136]

i finally understand a little bit of the art world now

[@TheGodOfPegana]

I see what you mean. I'll have to try that when I have the chance. Thanks.

[@kaoruhonjou]

In the future could you also do, a screen calibration. I'm having trouble with mine. I used Photoshop and Sai but after coloring a piece. It looks good on my laptop screen, but not so well on my tv monitor. Even when I look at my work after upload, on my cell phone it just doesn't look right. :/

[@ChindoEnyidah]

Helpful and clearly explained. Thanks!

[@petrok8618]

Hello Sycra. I have one question about this tutorial. From where you understood that dependency of which color may be in which values of darkness? Is it only from practical experiments with "color" mode that you've done? Or it's having some scientific/theoretical grounding?

[@noplaygaming1635]

You just opened my mind, Thanks!

[@slytoffcntr]

Another fine example from you, Sycra.

[@pedrotenoriomendes]

Thank you Very much for this tutorial!

[@TheGodOfPegana]

Thanks I'll give it a look.

[@MrGommpa]

Manga studio does not have a Color blend mode :( What is the best mode to use then?

[@audiofreaks7687]

now i understand the value! tnx!

[@KaitaSenshi]

Thanks Sycra! Very usefull information.

[@harperbye]

Thank u

[@SoulDragonWithFlow]

such an awesome explaination!

[@Singularity-vp9xo]

This was super awesome and informative thx sycra! :)

[@jorgesanchez3403]

Regardless of the saturation in each value?

[@gerbilho]

Very good info!

[@4najib]

Just Awsome !!!

[@rubenslp]

thank you. Very useful

[@MrGogocad]

Very nice!

[@kidrowgfx]

Hi, many thanks for this & all of your other vids. They are extremely helpful & very much appreciated! I have a query which I'm hoping you can help with - What would be the best way to see the values of old master paintings in a program such as photoshop? Would changing the mode to grayscale be appropriate if one has to see the local colors' values & thus how they are perceived in relation to one another? Or would a luminosity blend mode be better? Many thanks!

[@dipu384]

your every video is awsome. i need more help from you please upload a vdeo about light and shadow made by sun in a scenery composition lke summer season evening, i want to say that light changing through moods explain the please.......thanks for videos

[@PraveenSawh]

great lesson

[@christianfekete]

so, you always create a value scale drawing first and then add a color layer on top? How Is the top layer not hidding the value scale?

[@arq.FelipeLima]

ótimo vídeo !!!

[@saeedAhmed-ck3ot]

Thank you very much

[@shoepanda]

Thanks, this was really helpful.

[@kredenzp.5468]

This was fascinating!

[@CoyotePark]

Great! Thanks!

[@streammedia6457]

very helpful information as always!.

[@KoKunTe]

Thank you so much

[@ImCelticlol]

dat boi

[@cesarrodriguez-tw9bp]

You’re awesome !

[@rokkuform]

I like this tutorial

[@Illumirage]

Good video. Thx.

[@SD159AZ]

So... Should I paint everything in value first and the add colors?

[@davidjwp]

look at the grey bar under the paint wheel at 8:26

[@heisenberg3016]

Woaaah you defintely changed the way i ll draw this is so usefull !! :D Thank you so so much!!

[@MarcusAseth]

this was enlightening,thank you Sycra :)

[@Hamazan]

Finally it all makes sense. :D Thank you!!

[@TheRajatfx]

Great Man, you've solved the confusion

[@TheGodOfPegana]

Cheers. I see what you mean.

[@miyu93]

thank you so much

[@trinehybert140]

Amazing drawing !!!!

[@Ulvenok]

I have problem with painting with colour. I wish I knew how to do it but all my drawings are always just value then I'm too afraid to mess up the values by adding colour. Colour is just so alien to me, thanks for this please make more stuff on colour please. I need it!