Watercolour Challenge 237: Grayscale is a gamechanger for getting to grips with colour theory. (Patreon)

Hi everyone, I think this might be one of the most useful videos I've created to date!

Today and for the next few sessions I want to get into COLOUR. Colour theory can be a bit confusing and the more we remind ourselves of the magic symmetry of the colour wheel the easier it can become.

We've talked about the VALUE scale of a single colour: diluting a hue for light values and concentrating for dark values. But have you ever thought about the VALUE SCALE between the variety colours you're using? Where do red, yellow, blue and all the others fall if we put them next to each other in a value scale?

We're going to employ a fantastic trick, turning our colours to grayscale to see them purely for their place on the value scale. It's a brilliant way to help you plan a colour palette.

Over to you:

Look through your paintings and turn your phone's camera setting to Black and White (please don't ask me how to do this as we all have different phones, I'm sure a quick google will give you the answer). Which of your paintings show a good level of contrast in black and white and which ones look consistently grey all over? How could you improve the piece? Desaturating colours in the background, making the foreground more vibrant?

Hue: the colour

Value: the light to dark scale of a colour

Intensity: saturation scale of a colour