Value – Amount of white (tint), black (shade) or grey (tone) in a hue

Value is the amount of tint, shade, tone and hue all combined in a specific colour.

To remember what value means, recall the following mnemonic:

I value these pictures so much, I'm going to big a massive amount for them.

I value these pictures so much, I'm going to bid a massive amount for them.

VALUE = AMOUNT

What some artists find very useful is to create a chart or sample chart of their primary oil tubes. This helps them choose the most effective colour option for their paintings.

Some artists create charts to see how their tube paints will mix with white and the new tints they will end up with

So for their cobalt blue colour, for example, they would create tint, shade and tone charts:

For example, a tint chart based on a cobalt blue paint from the tube would appear like this:

For example, a shade chart based on a cobalt blue paint from the tube would appear like this:

For example, a tone chart based on a cobalt blue paint from the tube would appear like this:

Or if an artist wants to create a more comprehensive colour sample chart, they can combine these three into one, and these would be the artist's value charts. These charts can be created for all the important colours that an artist uses, as you can see below:

Or if an artist wants to create a more comprehensive colour sample chart, they can combine these three into one.

purple colour value chart

red colour value chart

orange colour value chart

yellow colour value chart

green colour value chart