Zed A. Shaw, Painter

Value is so fundamental that it's *very* difficult to find anyone who is missing it visually. Like, if you can't see color you can still see. If you can't see value then you're basically blind because it's just a random mess of colors with no form. But, not for designers.

Search all over the design blog world and not a single mention of value. Even though it's a central concept in all visual arts, and without it you can't render anything, I haven't ran into one book or author who uses the word or even knows the concept. Why's that important?

If design had value CSS would be value first, color second. You'd indicate the monochrome levels of every element, then simply give a color scheme assignment to each element and your design would be about 90% right. Artists always say "get the values and color can be anything."

When you are told "pick 3 colors to make your color scheme!" You're being lied to. You need to pick 3 colors, AND give each element a value from light to dark with that color to do a *real* color scheme. That solves your context. In fact, color doesn't matter.

In the color scheme style of painting they basically prove this. You first have to do a fairly accurate monochrome underpainting so that you know where the values are, then you can literally put any colors on as long as they match the values.

If you paint with pigments that let you accurately match the color of what you see then your values are handled for you automatically. But, if you want to use a color scheme you have to rely on a good monochrome rendering to keep things straight. That was my big mistake.

I was used to just mixing the color for what I see, then painting it. So I was trying to do extra duty by mixing the color scheme, trying to work out the values, and trying to balance where it went, and it was too damn hard. A monochrome painting solved it easily.