Concept · Foundations

The Value Scale

A value scale runs in steps from the lightest light to the darkest dark.

It gives a painter a ruler for tone. Merrifield also named five broad steps: light, half light, middle tint, half dark and dark.

• Teachers use five, seven, nine or ten steps; even spacing matters more than the count.
• On any lit object, Merrifield observed, middle tints take up most of the surface; the brightest and darkest spots are small.

Image: Internet Archive · Public domain (published before 1931)