CREATIVITY LESSON 2: Wide and Narrow Tonal Range
In the creativity lesson, you use a narrow or wide tonal range in an acrylic painting to evoke a mood. Tone is another word for “value,” usually used in relationship to color. Successful paintings have tonal contrast in them showing a tonal range.
Value describes the lightness or darkness of a color. The density of the watercolor paint will affect the value; the more pigment in the water/pigment mixture, the darker the value. Also, the color chosen will affect the value; yellow is lighter than most blues. You can choose to use a full range of values within your painting (a). A full tonal range includes white and black and the grays in-between. These strong contrasts in value evoke an expressive, confident mood. You can choose a narrow range of values (b). A narrow tonal range can be anywhere on the value scale, but it will always contain values that stretch 3 or 4 steps. A narrow range aims to evoke a quiet mood, or at the dark end, a dramatic mood.
Full tonal range (a)
Narrow tonal range (b)
Look at your past work in terms of tonal range. Some students naturally paint using a wide tonal range and some may use a narrow tonal range. Evaluate which range you naturally go to first. You should use a value scale to determine what you’ve done in previous paintings. In this assignment, choose the opposite of what you naturally do. If you primarily use a wide tonal range within your work, use a narrow range today. Choose a subject that you enjoy from your photo library. Use any special techniques that you’ve learned through this book.
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