# Art Reference: Value Study — See light and shadows

> See light and shadows (iPhone/iPad app by Gil Osborne.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/art-reference-value-study/id6802393157 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Gil Osborne](https://appshunter.io/developer/1135987694)
- Category: Graphics & Design, Photo & Video
- Price: Free
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 26.0 · 181 MB
- Languages: American English, French (France), German (Germany), Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified, China), European Spanish
- Released: 2026-09-09
- Data updated: 2026-09-13
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/art-reference-value-study/id6802393157/reviews.md

## What is Art Reference?

Art Reference: Value Study helps painters, illustrators, and traditional artists see any reference more clearly. Study values, simplify light and shadow, overlay grids, and paint side-by-side with your canvas.

A value (or tone) is how light or dark a color is. Learning to see values is one of the fastest ways to improve your drawing and painting. But it's hard to read shadows and highlights through all the color. This app makes it effortless.

SEE YOUR REFERENCE IN VALUES
Instantly convert any photo to grayscale, or a 7-value posterized scale. Flick between levels of detail, start in simple black and white, then build up value by value to train your eye.

CROP & FRAME TO YOUR CANVAS
Match your reference's composition and aspect ratio to your canvas before your first stroke.

GRIDLINES
Overlay grids to lay in your under-sketch with correct proportions.

CURATED COLLECTIONS
Don't have a reference ready? Start with dozens of hand-picked photos across Animals, Architecture, Botanical, Figure, Landscape, Portrait, Still Life, Skulls, and Master Studies from the great painters.

NO AI ART
Every starter reference is a real photograph or artwork, attributed to the original artist with a link to their portfolio. No AI-generated images. And your own artwork stays private in your personal iCloud, never shared online, never used to train AI models.

WORKS OFFLINE
No connection needed. Perfect for the studio, plein air, or anywhere you paint.

CLEAN, FOCUSED, NO ADS
Just the reference tools you need.


## Version history (last 1 release)

### 1.0 — 2026-09-09

No release notes.

## More apps by Gil Osborne

- [Alien Fitness](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/alien-fitness/id1433839472)
- [Indoor Bouldering](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/indoor-bouldering/id1535750808)
- [Using Spanish](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/using-spanish/id6476018482)
- [1000 Books Before 5](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/1000-books-before-5/id6749195393)
- [Art Reference: Easel Assistant](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/art-reference-easel-assistant/id6752580673)

All apps by Gil Osborne: https://appshunter.io/developer/1135987694

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-13.*