Why values are important in digital painting

Values

Values defines the most important part of your painting, being the tool that helps you keeping an artwork balanced since the very beginning. It represents the "intensity" of colors, and therefore, its shadows and lights. It is better to work in greyscale at this stage, as in the beginning is not easy to get colors values.

The best way to properly understand its importance and use, is.............. copying masters.
I know... It may suck sometimes but the reward is worth it!

Here an example of a 1h work where I block out the values in a digital reproduction of the original painting.

Notice how for most of the time I keep the canvas quite zoomed out to be able to catch the overall balance of the composition.

At this stage, details doesn't matter too much. Is better to focus on the overall look and the main values until you are happy with it.

After this step I can jump into the detailing and coloring stage!

Of course AAAAALLL of this reflects my personal workflow and preferences, and is not meant to be an objective truth or something :)

Let me know if is this article was helpful or if there are things you would like to know more about!