The Color of Light: An Artist's Blog

Sometimes if I am having trouble with a composition or seeing value I will employ the photo editor on my iPhone to help me. In this painting that I recently completed as a gift for a friend, I was having a little trouble understanding my value relationships. Since I had decided to work in sections on this painting and not all over the substrate as it came together, I needed help making sure the values I had already placed were correct.

One way to do this is with a photo editor. I took a picture of my work in progress and then digitally added marks in roughly the correct value. This way I don't have to make the marks on my substrate before I'm ready, yet I can still see if what I already have down is going to work with the entire value map. 

It's not a foolproof tool but it is more often helpful than not.