Value and Tone Tools for Artists

A value workflow reads first and reduces second. The value checker converts a reference to perceptual grayscale and reads any point on the 1–10 scale, so the lightest light, the darkest dark and the value of the largest shape are known before anything is decided. The notan generator then cuts the picture to two or three values, which is where a composition stands or falls: a light–dark pattern that fails as a notan is not rescued by adding more values.

Once the big pattern holds, the value study maker posterizes the same reference into as many steps as the painting needs, with thresholds you move by hand, and that posterized image becomes the map you paint from. Drawing media need one more step. The value range compressor re-keys the photograph's range into what graphite, charcoal or paint can reach, and the pencil-grade map labels each region with the grade that makes it.

At the easel the loop closes on your own work. Photograph the painting, and the value key analyzer reads the reference's key, value span and largest mass, then shows whether the painting reads lighter or darker, whether its span narrowed and which value zones drifted.