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Lesson Plan Image

Study in Value

Color value is an important art concept. Students will explore this topic and incorporate the principles into an illustration of their name.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

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  • Paper Pad(s)

Steps

  • Step 1

    Understanding color value is an important step in creating art that projects emotions, depth, and dimension. Explain that color value relates to the brightness of a hue and might be described as a range from light to dark. White is at one extreme of the value scale and black is at the other.

  • Step 2

    Ask students to write their name or a word that has meaning to them in pencil across a piece of plain paper using large letters. Have them paint over the word with a primary color of their choice (red, blue, or yellow). Then have them add white paint, a little bit at a time, and go over the bottom edge of the previous line that was painted. Create at least five lines beneath the original word with gradually lighter values of the primary color before getting to the bottom edge of the paper. Then repeat the process from the top edge of the word by adding a little bit of black to the primary color before painting the lines that go up to the top edge of the paper.

  • Step 3

    Have a discussion about how color value can greatly affect and direct the mood of a piece of artwork.

Standards

ARTS: Speculate about processes an artist uses to create a work of art.

ARTS: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

Adaptations

Have students explore how value is used in abstract art, which is focused on color, shape, and form rather than realistic depictions. As they compare and contrast various surrealist and abstract artists, have them focus on how color value communicates the artists' intent. They might investigate works by Ellsworth Kelly, Mark Rothko, Louis Morris, Helene Frankenthaler, and others.

Have students explore value in realistic art as they view images of "A Dinner Table at Night" (1884) by John Singer Sargent or "Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect" (1903) by Claude Monet. Have them note the effect of color value in each. For example, in the Sargent painting, the various shades of red on the walls together with the lighter shades of red from the lamps create a warm ambience.