Black and White - Color Value and Differences

One way to practice paying attention to value is to make drawings and paintings in just black and white including mid-tone grays. It is a great exercise in learning how to see and understand value. It can be a great way to loosen up and play while strengthening your value memory.

An additional consideration is the actual black and white paint that you use. They aren't all the same and can have very different results! Titanium white is somewhat opaque and Zinc White is more transparent and great for mixing. It is good to know how using Carbon Black vs Mars Black vs Bone Black will impact your painting as well as what the Titanium vs Zinc White will do.

Here is Kevin Greeland from GOLDEN Paints demonstrating the three different GOLDEN blacks and two whites. It is very interesting to see how it impacts mixing with other colors as well as each other.