Blocking in Values

1. The Power of Simplification: Graphic Reduction

When we look at a scene, our eyes see a nearly infinite number of different values. A common mistake for beginners is to try and capture all of them at once, which often leads to a confusing, "muddy" drawing. Professional artists use a powerful technique to avoid this: they simplify. They reduce all that complex information into just a few core value groups.

This process is sometimes called graphic reduction. Before we worry about smooth blending or tiny details, we want to establish a strong foundation of clear, readable shapes of light and shadow.

The simplest, most powerful way to begin is with just two values: one for the entire "light family" and one for the entire "shadow family".

This two-value study is an incredibly effective exercise. It forces you to make decisive choices about what is in light and what is in shadow, which builds the most critical skill for rendering.

2. Adding the Third Value: The Halftone

A two-value block-in creates a strong graphic read, but to describe form more effectively, we can introduce a third value: the halftone.

The halftone is a transitional value. It still belongs to the light family, but it describes the parts of the object that are starting to curve away from the direct light source.

Let's see how this third value is introduced.

So, our three major value areas are:

• Light: The planes of the object facing the light source directly.
• Halftone: The planes that are still lit but are turning away from the light source.
• Shadow: All areas that are turned away from or blocked from the light (this includes both form shadows and cast shadows).

3. Practical Exercise: Blocking In Your Still Life

Now it's time to apply this three-value system to the still life drawing you created.

Estimated Time: 25-30 minutes

Objective: To fill your line drawing with three distinct, flat values representing light, halftone, and shadow.

1. Setup in Procreate:
   • Open the Procreate file with your still life drawing.
   • Find the "shadow map" layer you made in the last lesson. You can keep it visible for reference, but reduce its opacity so it's not distracting.
   • Create a new layer and drag it underneath your line art layer. This is where you will do your value blocking.
2. Create Your Value Palette:
   • On a separate layer (or off to the side of your canvas), create a simple three-step value palette.
   • Choose a light gray (for light areas), a dark gray (for shadow areas), and a medium gray that's closer in value to the light gray (for halftones).
   • Pro Tip: Your light gray shouldn't be pure white and your dark gray shouldn't be pure black. This gives you room to add brighter highlights and deeper darks later.
3. Choose Your Brush:
   • Select a brush with a hard edge and no opacity variation. The goal is to lay down flat, clean shapes.
   • In Procreate, a good choice is the Studio Pen (in the 'Inking' set) or the Hard Brush (in the 'Painting' set). Make sure the opacity slider for the brush is at 100%.
4. Block In the Shadows (Value 1):
   • Select your dark gray value.
   • Using your shadow map as a guide, carefully fill in all the shadow areas on your new layer. This includes both the form shadows on the objects and the cast shadows on the table.
   • Focus on creating a single, unified shadow shape. At the end of this step, your drawing should have a clear two-value read: the dark gray of the shadows and the background color of your canvas.
5. Block In the Lights (Value 2):
   • Select your light gray value.
   • Fill in all the objects completely with this light gray, right on top of the shadow shapes you just made. Since your shadow layer is underneath, this will effectively make the light gray your base color.
6. Block In the Halftones (Value 3):
   • Now, select your medium gray (halftone) value.
   • Look at your objects. On the light side of the terminator line, identify the areas where the form begins to curve away from the light.
   • Paint these halftone shapes onto your objects. These shapes will bridge the gap between your main light areas and the dark form shadows.

When you're done, you should have a drawing that looks "blocky" or "posterized," but has a clear sense of light and three-dimensional form. You've successfully built the value foundation.

Conclusion

Excellent work. You've just performed one of the most important steps in the rendering process. By translating a complex scene into simple, graphic shapes of light, halftone, and shadow, you've created a powerful and readable foundation for your drawing. This skill—seeing and simplifying value—is fundamental and will be used in everything you draw, from simple objects to the complex musculature of the human body.

Key Takeaways:

• Value simplification, or "graphic reduction," is the process of reducing a scene to a few core value groups to create a strong foundation.
• A three-value block-in consists of a light, a halftone, and a unified shadow shape.
• The halftone is part of the light family and should be closer in value to the light than to the shadow.
• Use a hard-edged, non-opacity brush in Procreate to create clean, decisive shapes for your block-in.

In our next lesson, we will build directly on the foundation you've created today. We'll move from "blocking in" to rendering the objects using shading techniques, learning how to blend these value areas to create smooth gradients, texture, and an even greater sense of realism.