Tonal Scale Chart

The Tonal Scale Chart starts from white and progresses to black in a series of equal tonal steps via a number of greys. These tonal gradations will be the reference point against which you will be able to position all the colour samples you have been saving once you have cut them out from your sample patch sheets. Cut out your squares carefully, making separate short cuts, so that you can keep the ‘frames’ that remain when you have cut out your squares. The purpose of making a tonal scale chart is twofold: the process of doing it
will teach you to assess colours by their tonal value regardless of the actual colour, and the chart itself will provide you with a useful reference, allowing you easy access to a range of colours all of which are sorted tonally, row by row. Being able to select colours of the same tone quickly and easily is a very useful tool in visual art. For example, in a painting, an area containing several colours of the same tone will read as one from a distance, with the different colours gradually revealing themselves as you approach the painting. An awareness of
the tonal relationships of colours is of paramount importance
in the effective use of colour.