Introduction to Digital Value Painting

Enhance depth and composition in your work with value in digital art

Values are a fundamental yet often overlooked aspect of artistic practice. They dictate light and shadow, allowing you to guide the viewer’s eye and create striking compositions.

On this five-week course, you’ll learn to harness values to build depth and structure in your digital paintings, developing a refined and professional artistic style.

Master essential value techniques to create dynamic digital paintings

You’ll begin by exploring the role of values in digital art, learning how to categorise and track them effectively to maintain balance in your compositions.

As you progress, you’ll discover structured methods to define forms using light and shadow, ensuring your artwork conveys depth and realism. Through this exploration, you’ll be able to use these essential techniques for digital painting and character design with ease.

Bring all your skills together to create a final digital painting

In the final stages of the course, you’ll apply all the knowledge you’ve gained to produce a fully realised digital painting.

By integrating value principles into your creative process, you’ll develop a workflow that strengthens your artistic voice and prepares you for future digital illustration and concept art projects with confidence.

Hone your creative art skills with Leeds Arts University

With expert guidance from specialists at Leeds Arts University, you’ll finish the course with the knowledge and practical skills in digital value painting to help you elevate your artistic practice.

This course is for aspiring digital artists, hobbyists, or professionals looking to enhance their painting skills. It suits beginners exploring digital art, traditional artists transitioning to digital mediums, and creatives looking to master light, shadow, and depth techniques for compositions using software like Photoshop or Procreate.

This is a practical course where you will get hands on with digital painting. Ideally you will have access to a digital art program such Adobe Fresco, Adobe Photoshop, Clip Studio, Procreate or Krita.

While you can use a mouse or your finger if using a tablet, it’s best if you have access to a graphics tablet for a laptop/desktop or a digital pen for tablets.

This course is for aspiring digital artists, hobbyists, or professionals looking to enhance their painting skills. It suits beginners exploring digital art, traditional artists transitioning to digital mediums, and creatives looking to master light, shadow, and depth techniques for compositions using software like Photoshop or Procreate.

• Explain the concept of value in the context of digital painting
• Identify types of shadows and explore how to paint them using values
• Explore how light interacts with different surfaces
• Apply your knowledge of values and planar modelling techniques in the context of digital painting