I’m not big on YouTube but its such a gold mine for everything art and I recently stumbled on Paul Foxton’s channel while searching for value study tips.

I worked through the exercise with a reference photo of garlic bulbs and even though its a relatively simple photo Paul does a great job of walking you through and reminding you of the fundamentals.

It’s been a few weeks since I finished this but the lesson was really helpful for building a 5-step value scale. One of my weakest skills at moment is mixing paints and even though value studies keep it simple I struggle with creating enough distinction between the darkest lights and lightest shadows. His usage of a grid was also really helpful and I’ll be doing that moving forward.

I also attempted the same exercise with charcoal.