How to Simplify Any Painting by Understanding Light and Dark Values

Have you ever looked at a reference photo and thought, How am I supposed to paint all of that?

Maybe it's a detailed animal portrait, a complicated floral arrangement, or a landscape filled with trees, shadows, and textures.

There's so much information to take in that you don't even know where to begin.

One of the most important things I've learned as an artist is that you don't have to figure out every detail before you start painting.

In fact, trying to paint everything you see is often what makes a painting feel stiff or overly complicated.

The secret is learning to simplify what you're looking at.

And one of the easiest ways to do that is by focusing on value—the relationship between light and dark.

Why Complicated Subjects Feel So Overwhelming

While teaching my Oh Deer tutorial inside Studio B Art Club, I told my members something that might have sounded a little strange.

Ignore the deer.

Now, obviously, we were painting a deer! But I wanted everyone to stop thinking about the subject as a collection of individual details.

When you look at a deer, your eye naturally notices the fur, the twists and points of the antlers, the eyes, the nose, and the ears.

And your brain immediately starts trying to figure out how to paint all of those things.

But when you focus on every detail at once, it's easy to become overwhelmed before you've even started.

Instead, I wanted my members to look at the deer in a completely different way.

Rather than seeing fur, antlers, and facial features, I wanted them to see shapes of light and dark.

Because once you begin recognizing those larger shapes, even a complicated subject becomes much more approachable.

What Is Value in Painting?

In art, value refers to how light or dark a color is.

Every color has a value, whether it's a bright yellow, a deep blue, or a soft pink.

Understanding value is important because it helps us create the illusion of form, depth, and dimension on a flat canvas.

Think about a simple sphere.

If you painted the entire sphere with one flat color, it would look like a circle.

But when you introduce lighter values where the light hits and darker values where the form turns away, the circle begins to look three-dimensional.

The same principle applies to more complicated subjects.

Whether you're painting a flower, a landscape, or an animal, the relationships between light and dark help establish the structure of your painting.

When your values are working, you can often communicate a subject with surprisingly little detail.

How I Simplified My Deer Painting

When I began painting our Oh Deer tutorial, I didn't start by carefully drawing every point of the antlers or trying to recreate the texture of the fur.

Instead, I asked myself three simple questions:

Where are the darks? Where are the lights? What's in between?

That's it.

Those questions helped me identify the larger shapes that would establish the foundation of the painting.

In our deer painting, I noticed several important value relationships.

The Light Shapes on the Face

Rather than thinking about how to paint a realistic deer face, I looked for the larger areas where light was hitting.

One of those areas formed a triangle of light down the face.

By identifying that shape, I could begin establishing the structure of the face without worrying about the smaller details.

The Light Along the Back

I also noticed a strip of light running along the deer's back.

That lighter area helped separate the deer from its surroundings and establish the direction of the light.

Instead of trying to paint individual hairs, I could simplify that entire area into a larger shape.

The Dark Shadows in the Ears and Neck

The darker values inside the ears and around the neck were equally important.

Those shadows helped establish depth and distinguish the different parts of the deer.

By placing those darker shapes in relationship to the lighter areas, the subject began to take form.

The Dark Marks Around the Eyes and Nose

Finally, I identified a few important dark accents around the eyes and nose.

These smaller marks helped establish the character of the deer without requiring me to carefully render every facial feature.

The goal wasn't to paint every detail. It was to identify the shapes that communicated the subject most effectively.

And once those shapes were established, I had a much stronger foundation for the rest of the painting.

Why Value Matters More Than Detail

One of the biggest misconceptions about painting is that adding more detail automatically makes a painting more realistic or recognizable.

But often, the most important information is found in the larger relationships between light and dark.

Imagine painting a flower.

You could spend hours carefully defining every petal, but if the entire flower has the same value, it may still look flat.

On the other hand, if you establish the darker areas between overlapping petals and the lighter areas catching the light, the flower can begin to feel dimensional before you've added much detail at all.

The same is true for landscapes.

You don't necessarily need to paint every leaf on a tree to make it recognizable.

Instead, you can establish the larger masses of light and shadow, then add a few carefully chosen details to suggest the texture.

Strong values create the structure. Details help bring that structure to life.

This is why I encourage artists to focus on the big picture before getting caught up in the smaller elements of a painting.

Five Ways to Simplify Your Reference Photo Before Painting

The next time you're working from a complicated reference photo, try these techniques to make the subject feel more manageable.

1. Stop Naming Everything You See

This might sound strange, but try to stop thinking about your subject in literal terms.

Instead of seeing a deer, look for shapes.

Instead of seeing a flower, look for areas of color and value.

Instead of seeing a tree, look for the larger masses of light and dark.

When you stop focusing on what something is, it becomes easier to observe what it actually looks like.

2. Identify Your Lightest and Darkest Areas

Before you begin painting, look for the lightest and darkest areas of your reference.

Where is the strongest highlight?

Where are the deepest shadows?

These areas can help you establish the overall value range of your painting.

Once you understand those relationships, you can begin filling in the mid-tones.

3. Look for Larger Shapes

Try grouping smaller details into larger, simplified shapes.

For example, instead of painting individual strands of fur, look for the overall shape of a shadow.

Instead of painting every petal, identify the larger mass of color that makes up the flower.

This approach helps you establish the structure of your subject without becoming overwhelmed.

4. Squint at Your Reference Photo

This is one of my favorite little tricks!

When you squint at your reference photo, many of the smaller details become less noticeable.

You're left with a simplified view of the larger shapes and value relationships.

This can make it much easier to identify what matters most in your composition.

You can also try viewing your reference photo in grayscale to better evaluate the light and dark relationships.

5. Save the Details for Later

Once your larger shapes and values are established, you can begin introducing smaller details.

But remember, you don't necessarily need to paint everything you see.

A few carefully chosen marks can often communicate much more than dozens of unnecessary details.

The goal is to create a painting that feels convincing and expressive, not to reproduce every piece of information in your reference photo.

The Subject Changes, but the Questions Stay the Same

One of the things I love most about teaching painting is helping artists recognize that the same foundational principles apply to almost every subject.

Whether we're painting a deer, a peony, a landscape, or a still life, I come back to many of the same questions.

Where are the darks?

Where are the lights?

What's in between?

Those questions help simplify even the most complicated subjects.

And the more you practice looking for those relationships, the more naturally you'll begin to recognize them.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed by everything in your reference photo, you'll start identifying the shapes and values that matter most.

The subject changes, but the questions don't.

That's how you begin developing the confidence to approach new subjects without needing someone to tell you exactly where to put every brushstroke.

Learning to See Like an Artist

I believe one of the most important skills you can develop as an artist is learning what to look for.

It's not just about learning how to hold a brush or mix a particular color.

It's about training your eye to recognize shapes, values, and relationships that help you translate what you see onto the canvas.

And that skill develops through practice.

The next time you sit down to paint something that feels complicated, don't immediately start worrying about the details.

Take a moment to study your reference.

Look for the larger shapes.

Identify the lights and darks.

And give yourself permission to simplify.

You don't have to figure out everything at once. You just need to know what to look for first.

Learn to Paint with Confidence in Studio B Art Club

If you'd like to see these techniques in action, my Oh Deer acrylic painting tutorial is available inside Studio B Art Club.

Throughout the lesson, I demonstrate how to simplify a detailed reference photo by identifying the larger shapes and value relationships before introducing smaller details.

Inside Art Club, you'll find a growing library of step-by-step acrylic painting tutorials designed to help you understand not just how to paint, but why certain artistic decisions work.

My goal is to help you develop the skills and confidence to approach new subjects, make your own creative decisions, and create paintings that feel uniquely your own.