Fourteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

Tone or value is regarded as a very important visual element in various forms of art training. In order to extend the tonal design concept, this paper aims to connect it to basic graphical models adapted from mathematics for ease of teaching and learning. Students benefit through understanding of basic parameters that govern the tonal design based on graphical analysis of simple mathematical charts as visual aids. In drawing and painting, the training commonly depends on indoor or outdoor perceptual exercises. Fine artists somehow develop their likings through their working environment, locations of residence, or their travel experience elsewhere. There are various lighting conditions related to basic tonal arrangements or mood of colors discussed briefly in various art training books but there is no concrete framework to discuss how different weathers or moods can be designed based on tonal arrangements. Similarly, in photography, the discussions are focused on various lighting conditions and how the equipment can be professionally finetuned to arrive to achieve a desired mood. Light histograms are discussed in measurement of light to understand various lighting conditions and moods (Freeman, 2006, pp. 26-33). In design, tonal importance is briefly discussed as one of the three attributes of color (Pipes, 2008, pp. 125-137). Tonal design was introduced very briefly as ‘key’ (relative lightness of an image), where low-key referred to darker images and high-key images referred to bright images. Hence, there is a need to have a robust training framework related to tonal design.