Black & White Photo Studies by Matt Kohr

To my surprise, some of the most memorable assignments from art school were humble warm-ups and drills. In the spirit of this discipline, I’ve created a set of digital painting exercises called ‘Skill Drills’. Here I’ll walk you through series of homework assignments designed to simplify black & white photo studies.

Each of the 4 drills target your focus on specific aspects of photo studies. Instead of trying to make a general ‘copy’, you’ll be limiting yourself to stroke economy, narrow values, or other useful exercises. These drills ramp up in difficulty, building on one another as you improve your disciplined visual foundation.

Though these assignments are appropriate for any skill level, they work best when accompanied by the Basic Rendering series. These drills assume a basic understanding of painting in black and white.

01 Preparing the Study 02 Stroke Economy 03 Value Economy 04 Expanding Values 05 Adjustment Layers 06 Final Study

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