Value Study vs Color Study

In art, value (or tone) refers to how light or dark a colour is. If you're learning to paint or draw, doing value studies is one of the best ways to improve. These small, loose sketches in greyscale help you understand where shadows fall and highlights appear—essential for capturing depth and form. Value Study is a simple, focused tool designed to help you see values more clearly in your reference images. Instead of just converting a photo to black and white, this app lets you break down tones step by step. Start with just black and white to map out the biggest shapes, then gradually add more values to refine your understanding. You can also highlight all areas of an image that share the same value, making it easier to see subtle shifts in tone. This is especially useful in complex references, like portraits, where different parts of the image might have the same level of shadow but look completely different in colour. Value Study isn’t here to replace traditional studies—it’s here to enhance them. Whether you're sketching, painting, or working digitally, this tool makes it easier to focus on the fundamentals of light, shadow, and form. Try it for free with all features enabled on sample images from Unsplash before deciding to unlock the full app with a low-cost yearly or lifetime purchase. All Value Study Pro upgrades count as lifetime purchase. Either option will unlock Value Study across iPhone, iPad and Mac. Annual: Auto-renews yearly. Lifetime: One-time payment, no fees. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Color Study is a tool for artists to simplify images, study color and value, and accurately match colors through paint mixing. Load any photo and reduce it to clear shapes and essential color information. Color Study generates a clear color map of your reference and provides guidance for mixing paints to match the colors you see, giving you a practical guide you can use at the easel or in study. Focus on the fundamentals that matter in drawing and painting. Made for artists Core tools: • Accurate color picker with magnification and pixel averaging options • Place and customize color markers directly on your reference • Inspect value, saturation, and color codes (RGB, HSV, HSL, CMYK, LAB) • Automatically extract key colors and accents in an image, and mark their locations • Compare colors to assess value, relative temperature, saturation, and perceptual difference • Customizable grid overlay for precise alignment Advanced tools: • Interactive value maps, shape simplification, temperature maps and notan controls • Paint-mixing guidance designed for opaque paints, with real-time feedback from photographed mixes • Export analysis views and color maps as images for reference or study • Advanced grid controls for precision alignment and subdivision • Generate simplified line drawings and contour maps to clarify structure, edges, and major shapes • Organize your work into projects with images, paint palettes, and artwork details • iCloud sync keeps your projects and palettes in sync across all your Apple devices Advanced tools available with subscription. Train your artistic eye Color Study is not a design tool or palette generator. It is a learning tool for painters, illustrators, and art students who want to analyze what they see and make better decisions in their artwork. Study master paintings, analyze your own photos, and deepen your understanding of value structure, color harmony, and visual design. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/