If there’s one thing I wish every coloured pencil artist would concentrate on a little more, it’s tonal values.

I’d actually go as far as saying that values are probably the most important part of creating a realistic coloured pencil drawing.

More important than all those lovely little hairs. More important than getting every tiny detail spot on. And yes… even more important than colour!

I know that might sound a bit bonkers when we’re talking about coloured pencils, but bear with me.

Get your values right – your darkest darks, lightest lights and everything in between – and you can create a drawing that looks three-dimensional and feels like it could pop right off the page.

What are tonal values?

Put simply, tonal value describes how light or dark something is.

Imagine a scale running from black to white, with lots of different shades in between. You could think of black as a value 1 and white as a value 10.

When you’re looking at a reference photograph, every area will sit somewhere along that scale.

Those differences in light and dark are what give your subject shape and form – and they’re one of the 3 Keys to Realism I come back to again and again.

Why are values more important than colour?

Here’s a slightly strange way to think about it.

You could draw a dog bright purple, but as long as the tonal values were correct, it could still look three-dimensional and realistic.

Obviously, if you’re drawing somebody’s beloved golden retriever, I probably wouldn’t recommend making it purple 😂

Colour matters when we’re trying to capture our subject accurately, but values are what create the form.

They tell our brain where the light is hitting, which areas are in shadow and which parts are coming towards us or moving away.

Don’t be frightened of going dark

This is probably one of the biggest things I see artists struggle with.

It can feel terrifying to make an area really dark, particularly when you’ve spent hours carefully building your layers.

But if the darkest part of your reference should be a value 1 and you’ve only taken it to a 3, everything else starts shifting lighter too.

Before you know it, you’ve lost that lovely contrast and your drawing looks flatter than the reference.

That’s why I like to establish some of my darkest darks fairly early on. They give me something to judge everything else against.

I talk about this in my Five Top Tips for Beginners Starting Their Coloured Pencil Journey too – getting those values in place before becoming distracted by all the tiny details can make such a difference.

Remember: white isn’t always white

The same applies at the other end of the scale.

You look at a white dog and your brain immediately announces:

“White dog. Get the white pencil.”

But when you really look, those supposedly white areas might contain greys, creams, blues, yellows, pinks and even some surprisingly dark shadows.

Your brain knows the animal is white, so it will constantly try to persuade you that you’re going too dark.

Ignore it.

Draw what you see, not what you think should be there.

Use a value finder

If you find it difficult to judge values, a grayscale value finder can be really useful.

You can place it over a printed reference photograph and compare different areas against a scale from black through to white.

Instead of thinking, “Hmm… that looks quite dark,” you can start recognising it as perhaps a value 2 or 3.

I don’t tend to print my references, so I use a similar digital viewfinder in Photoshop. Isolating a tiny section of the photograph stops the surrounding colours and values from confusing your eye and makes it much easier to see how light or dark something really is.

Don’t lighten areas just to add more detail

Another thing to watch is areas that naturally fall into shadow.

Imagine one side of a dog’s face is beautifully lit while the other is much darker. You might see lots of gorgeous detail in one eye and hardly any in the other.

It’s tempting to lighten that darker eye so you can add all the detail you know is there.

But if the eye is in shadow, let it be in shadow.

Our brains understand lighting incredibly well. Sometimes allowing detail to disappear into those darker areas actually makes your drawing look more realistic.

Try this simple grayscale trick

One of my favourite ways to check tonal values is incredibly simple.

Take a photograph of your drawing and, using the editing options on your phone, change the image to black and white/grayscale. Then do exactly the same with your reference photograph and compare the two side by side.

Removing the colour makes it much easier to ask:

Are my darkest areas dark enough?

Are my lighter areas light enough?

Have I got enough contrast?

You might suddenly spot an ear that needs darkening, a muzzle that needs more shadow or an area around the eye that could be lighter.

It’s such a simple exercise, but it can make an enormous difference – and the more you do it, the better your eye becomes at spotting values while you’re drawing.

Values before details

We do love detail in coloured pencil, don’t we?

A tiny hair here. A whisker there. Another little highlight…

But before you get carried away with all those lovely finishing touches, make sure the foundation underneath them is working.

Get your values down first.

Build your shadows, establish your lights and create your midtones. Then start adding those gorgeous little details.

Because you can have the most beautiful colours in the world and hundreds of perfectly drawn hairs, but if your values aren’t right, your drawing can still look flat.

So next time your brain is shouting…

“That’s WAY too dark!”

Have another look at your reference.

It might just be exactly as dark as it needs to be.