Tone

The Concept of Tone

Some things, such as the sun, flames, electric lamps and computer monitors, give out light: they are light sources. Everything else we see is visible only because light is reflected from it into our eyes, and this includes not only mirrors and other shiny surfaces, but also the dull, matt surfaces of most artwork.

The concept of tone is, in essence, very simple: it is the property of surfaces which determines how light or dark they appear. This in turn is a measure of how much of the light falling on a matt surface is reflected by it. Of all the materials with which children are likely to work, matt black poster-paint reflects the least light and so has the darkest tone, ...