š Do you paint for value or color, and why should you care?
Art can tell us stories that get stuck in our heads. One of the ways to achieve is through a skillful use of drama and atmosphereā¦ or value and color. See why ā”ļø
Art can take us to different places, make us feel lots of different feelings, and tell us stories that get stuck in our heads. One of the ways to achieve it is through a skillful manipulation of drama and atmosphere.
Drama draws us in and makes us feel the weight of the story. Atmosphere, on the other hand, creates a sense of place and mood.
But do you know how to implement each of these effects into your art? If not, this guide is definitely for you.
What Are Drama And Atmosphere In Art?
Letās start by briefly defining the terms.
What Is Drama In Art?
Drama in painting is all about creating excitement and tension. To achieve it, artists use things like strong contrasts of light and dark, dynamic compositions, and exaggerated forms to make the painting feel alive and full of energy.
Example: Judith Beheading Holofernes by Carravaggio
What Is Atmosphere In Art?
With atmosphere, your goal is to create a mood. Atmospheric paintings can evoke a sense of peace or tranquility. Itās usually achieved with little value contrast and a skillful manipulation of hue and saturation.
Example: Impression, sunrise by Claude Monet
Thatās for the theory. I think itās relatively easy to spot the difference. When looking at Monetās artwork, you feel the calm and serenity of the scene. On the other hand, Carraviaggioās painting makes you feel the very strong emotions Judith must have experienced.
Of course, itās partly because of the theme of both artworks. In the end, a revenge-driven woman cutting off a manās head is endlessly a more intense depiction than a static water landscape. But what other factors make a painting more ādramaā or āatmosphereā?
Painting For Value Vs Painting For Color
The mood of your painting depends on whether the main focus of your artwork is value or color.
It stems from an assumption that:
- To access a wider range of values, we must limit the chroma in our image.
- To represent a full range of color, we must limit the range of value.
Itās related to the nature of color. Extremely light and extremely dark-valued colors hold less hue identity than colors in the mid-value range.
So how to achieve value or color priority?
Want to learn more about color in art? Check this blogpost:
Value Priority
- HUE INTERACTION: whatever
- VALUE CONTRAST: high
- SATURATION: low
To paint for value, use the full range of values (from 1ā2 to 9ā10). The saturation in your artwork will be rather low, with more saturated accents. Value priority makes your paintings more dramatic.
Color Priority
- HUE INTERACTION: whatever
- VALUE CONTRAST: low / medium
- SATURATION: medium / high
To paint for color, keep the values in the midrange (approximately 3ā7). Have the colors more saturated. Color priority makes your artwork more atmospheric.
(Thatās color vs. value priority in a nutshell. If you wish to learn more about the value/color priority concept, check out these two resources:
- Mitchell Albala, The Landscape Painterās Workbook, Chapter 6: The Complete Color Strategy
- Artistsā Master Series: Color and Light, Chapter Tints, Shades, and Tones
What Creates Drama & Atmosphere In Art? Table Comparison
Okay, now we know one of the ways to achieve drama or atmosphere is through painting for value or color. But thereās more to it ā letās analyze it through the table below.
What youāll find in the table is nothing but a simplification. Remember, you donāt have (or maybe you even shouldnāt?) strictly stick to it. However, I hope it can help you better grasp the difference.
*In the āLightā row I listed times of the day/atmospheric conditions that favor creating dramatic or atmospheric paintings. For example, letās suppose you create a scene with a single light source, like a candle. Since thereās only one light element and the rest of the artwork is covered in shadow, your painting automatically becomes more dramatic rather than atmospheric.
Drama & Atmosphere In Art. Summary
I hope this short article helped you better understand the difference between drama and atmosphere in art and how to achieve both.
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