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A Studio in your pocket

For the artist learning to see.

The classical methods of measurement, value, and proportion, taught in ateliers from Florence to Pasadena, laid quietly over any reference photo on your phone. Open. Observe. Draw.

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N°01 Plate · 2026
Artist Tools value study reducing a portrait to its tonal structure
value study, 5 tones
01 The Value Study

See the light before the line.

A great drawing is built on values, not lines. Squinting reduces the world to its essential tones: light, mid, shadow. Artist Tools does it instantly. Choose your value count. Reveal the structure underneath. Draw the shapes that make form sing.

Value study tool reducing a reference photo to clear tonal regions
  • i.

    Posterize to 2, 3, 5, or 7 values.

    The same range you'd block in for a value study, but live. Adjust on the fly to see what holds and what dissolves.

  • ii.

    Read the big shapes first.

    Detail disappears. Massing emerges. You see the read of the picture before you commit a single line to paper.

  • iii.

    Built for any reference.

    Your own photos, atelier casts, master paintings, the tomato on your kitchen counter. Import once, study forever.

02 The Toolkit

A complete studio, at hand.

Eight measuring and observation instruments, the same ones you'd find on a drawing board in any classical atelier, translated faithfully to your screen.

i.

Line

A straight edge at any angle. The basis of every measurement: proportion, alignment, and the run of a contour.

ii.

Plumb Line

The vertical that doesn't lie. Hang it through any landmark and check the alignment of every form below.

iii.

Box

Frame the subject. Test the proportional rectangle the figure inhabits before any line is committed.

iv.

Envelope

The straight-edged silhouette. Block the outer shape with angles before turning it into curves.

v.

Value Study

Posterize the reference into its essential tones. Read the picture before you draw it.

vi.

Simplify

Reduce the reference to fewer colors. Strip detail and see the underlying massing with a digital squint.

vii.

Black Mirror

The traditional Claude glass, digital. Compress the value range to study subtle relationships.

viii.

Flip & Invert

Mirror or invert your reference to reveal mistakes the eye no longer notices. The oldest trick in the studio.

04 Practitioners

Made for those who practice.

Whether you draw three hours a day or three hours a week, the same tools the masters used will strengthen the way you see.

  1. i. Figure drawing students learning proportion and anatomy. Atelier
  2. ii. Portrait artists checking alignments and value structure. Studio
  3. iii. Plein air painters simplifying complex scenes on the move. Field
  4. iv. Art students practicing classical observation the slow way. Academy
  5. v. Sketch artists training the eye, not just the hand. Sketchbook
  6. vi. Teachers demonstrating composition and value to students. Teaching
05 Begin

Open the studio.

Free to download. No account. Works offline. The first project is on us. See what your reference has been hiding.

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On a computer? Scan to download.

Use your phone's camera to open the App Store or Google Play directly.

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