We asked Skip Whitcomb: Is color more or less important than value and why? Skip’s answer was:

They work in conjunction with each other. Value is absolutely necessary to carry color. Without good strong values, the color is basically worthless. Value is of the utmost importance and it always comes before color. There is the old saying: “color gets all the credit, value does all of the work” and this is as true as it gets! For someone struggling with color, there is a good chance they are also struggling with value. If Skip Whitcomb has a student who is having a difficult time with color or composition, he recommends they immediately go back to doing studies in black and white. This will really strengthen their whole concept of value and edges. Then, they can reintroduce color to that study and hold onto those values. Without good value, the most incredible color in the world would not be able to read and carry one’s concept.

Gabor remembers taking a workshop from Skip where Skip had them do an exercise with a limited palette that illustrators use. It kept them from getting that high-intensity color they wanted and kept them thinking about value. The palette could have been a simple palette like burnt sienna, black, yellow ochre, and white. This is a very compressed palette and was a great introduction to the importance of values. These are always good exercises to push yourself to do. On top of it, they were painting from life, which doubled the difficulty.

These are just a few of the things you could learn in Skip’s online, 365 day mentoring course. Click to find out more:

To listen more on topics like this, listen to Skip and Gabor on the Paint & Clay Podcast here.