Value Study: art reference

Analyse light and shadow

Free · In-App Purchases

If you’re learning to draw or paint, understanding value—how light or dark something appears—is one of the most important art fundamentals. Good shading, realistic form, and confident drawing all begin with value. Value Study is an artist’s reference tool that helps you learn how to draw, improve your shading, and understand light and shadow through clearer value studies. Instead of a simple greyscale filter (or squinting!), the app breaks any reference photo into clean tonal steps so you can focus on shapes, structure, and depth without getting overwhelmed by detail or colour. Start with pure black and white to block in the biggest shapes (Notans are one of the classic exercises when learning to draw) then gradually add more values to refine your study. You can also highlight every area that shares the same value, making subtle shifts in shadow and highlight much easier to see. This is especially useful for portrait drawing where small tonal differences matter. The new Grid feature is built for the Grid Method: divide your reference into manageable sections so you can place shapes and proportions with confidence. It’s a helpful way to build accuracy, improve your block-ins, and understand composition while drawing or painting. Value Study is designed to sit quietly alongside your drawing or painting process. It helps you make sense of your reference—spotting shapes, tones, and proportions more easily—whether you’re working traditionally or in apps like Procreate and Fresco. It’s a small, focused tool made by an indie developer who is always keen to help make the app better for all artists. Whether you’re a complete beginner learning how to draw or an experienced artist refining your fundamentals, Value Study helps you see your reference more clearly so you can draw it more confidently. Try it for free with fully unlocked sample images from Unsplash. When you're ready, upgrade with a yearly or lifetime purchase across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Annual: Renews yearly Lifetime: One-time purchase Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

  • This app has not received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.

Just a small update today to ensure MacOS is updated with all the latest features from iOS version. As always please email me (shane@valuestudy.app) with any issues, questions or feedback.

The developer, Diem Limited, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

  • Data Not Linked to You

    The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

    • Usage Data
    • Diagnostics

Privacy practices may vary based, for example, on the features you use or your age. Learn More

The developer indicated that this app supports the following accessibility features. Learn More

  • Supported Features

    • Dark Interface

  • Provider
    • Diem Limited
  • Size
    • 19.2 MB
  • Category
    • Graphics & Design
  • Compatibility
    Requires iOS 16.6 or later.
    • iPhone
      Requires iOS 16.6 or later.
    • iPad
      Requires iPadOS 16.6 or later.
    • Mac
      Requires macOS 13.5 or later.
    • Apple Vision
      Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
  • Languages
    English and 11 more
    • English, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish
  • Age Rating
    4+
  • In-App Purchases
    Yes
    • Amazing supporter 29,99 €
    • Generous boost 9,99 €
    • Appreciation 2,99 €
    • Value Study Pro 1,99 €
    • Value Study Pro (Lifetime) 6,99 €
  • Copyright
    • © 2020 Diem Ltd