This week we learned about value in the Teen Class as we began working on Torn Paper Portraits and got a brief taste of using acrylic paint.

Value: Value is the amount of light reflected from the surface. Value creates depth in a picture making the object look 3 D.  We started by painting the classic sphere in our sketch books and labeling the values as follows:

Highlight: Brightest spot where the direct light hits the object.

Light: As the surface curves it gets less light and thus becomes darker.

Shadow: The side away from the light source that does not receive any direct light. It is not completely black because it does receive light from the surroundings.

Reflected light: The light that bounces off the surface the object is sitting on.

Cast Shadow: Darkest dark that gets lighter as it moves away from the object.

Portraits:

A picture was taken of each student and it was abstracted in Photoshop using the cutout filter. This filter breaks the image down into specific values. The student mixed black and white acrylic paint to create similar values on pieces of paper.

The photo was attached to foam board. The students are in the process of tearing value-toned paper into small pieces and gluing the pieces directly onto the photo. We will finish by adding some multi-media collaging to personalize the portraits.

Thank you for sharing your student with me.