Art class-learning skin tone...

I don't think life drawing/painting ..or people is my area of strength.

But today nice to learn how to mix paint colour to achieve...real colour patches of skin tones. The entire art class was producing samples of various skin tones..the point was to mix colours to reach one's own skin tone. We each ended up with a sheet paper that looked like foundation makeup colour swatches.

So for some people ..from a painting colour mixing perspective, it's green, a crimson red, white, yellow and orange. Others with a whiter skin tone,,..might have more blue tone in the red/pinker part...

It was an excellent exercise...to understand different colours to make 1 particular type of skin tone for a painting.

I know my permanent skin tone has changed over the past 25 yrs. ..meaning my overall face skin has permanently become a tone darker.

Hey, skin tone is one of the most difficult tricks in painting. You'd never imagine it takes such combinations of colors to get the tone you need. It's not as simple as taking a little burnt sienna and adding white. What are some of the tips you were given, if you don't mind me asking?

to start with a tiny bit of hooker's green with alizarin crimson..then add lots of white. A pinkish

to get more real...add hanson yellow light, if person's skin tone is more warmer, add alizarin light orange. All small bits of colour..with lots of titanium white.

And in between if necessary to darken a skin tone...add hooker's green.

For those who don't know certain reds and greens...produce diminished neutrals..aka brown, beige, etc.

Those with white/florid skin, might have a touch of phathlo blue in the whole. Just tiny. Or maybe useful for veins in face.

I had to mix a palette of 10 different skin tone col9our patches before I finally reached the closest skin tone match to my own. I should run over to my foundation bottle and check on the match...

Not sure what I will do with this knowledge (except now appreciate the cosmetic firms expertise in skin foundation mixing..) since I don't do people..or maybe I should try???? Groan..I have this vineyard, mountain scenery that is pulling me forward.. So little time.

My face skin colour is in my opinion, different than my leg skin, than my back skin and my upper abdomnen skin..

This is fascinating Orchid. Thanks for posting. When do we get to see your new works?

Thanks Orchid. I need to take some classes and learn. Even if you don't use this exact knowledge, you are learning.

When I read this post, I thought about when I was learning to paint portraits from one of the best around here. (He has since passed on, but I learned a lot from him over the years I studied with him.) I wished I could remember what he taught me when I was working on the portrait of my husband. I knew I had written it down, but that was a long time ago. Who knows where I put things?

I've been trying to clean and organize my computer room today. I was going through some files and trying to throw stuff out. I swear if I looked for this piece of paper, I wouldn't have found it. I couldn't believe that it was in a folder of important papers I had buried in a file drawer and that I just happened to come across it today. So, it must have been meant for me to share this piece of knowledge I learned from Kenneth Hurwitz. Here is what I had written down during one of my lessons:

Portrait Technique

Underpainting of gray/blue
Use a wash of blue/black/white

(we always used a wash. Never painted on a blank canvas.)

Start flesh on wet underpainting

Flesh colors

cad. red light - yellow ochre - white
or
cad red light - naples yellow & white

Paint on flesh, then build up and soften shadows.

If suject has a lot of dark shadows, put them in first.

I haven't painted in about 6 or 7 years. I would never have remembered this.

Lousia,
I thought about taking a class in watercolor any differance their as far as scenery and portraits . I guess you would do more portraits in oil painting . I love watercolor so much . Maybe I will stick to digital camera class in April . LOL

Renee

Renee, Watercolor is a whole other thing. I never could get the hang of it. I worked in oils and dabbled now and then in pastels and charcoal. But, I love working in oils. I couldn't begin to tell you about watercolors.

Louisa, so do the same tips apply to using acrylics? The wash would probably dry before getting to the skin tone app, even with a retarding agent.
Watercolor is so different to oils/acrylics - light to dark.

My great respect to watercolour masters. I find the medium harder to control and more fickle. already I find acrylic drying abit too fast ..guess I have to work up the Muse at a faster beat.

Using an allover wash/underpainting on canvas is de rigeur ..for many reasons, including less intimidation by a blank white canvass.

So does, the yellow orche have a tiny bit of brown..to create more brown/light golden skin tones with mixing cadimium red light?

The yellow that was taught to us is a light lemon yellow, which is more a cold yellow (on the colour wheel). Yellow orche sounds like a diminished yellow...meaning it must have abit of dixodine (sp?) violet for orchre cast.

cad. red light - yellow ochre - white
or
cad red light - naples yellow & white

Hannelore, I don't have much to show right now. There is some stuff, I've had a long time..right now it's all sorts of exercises to master techniques. Including painting something only in black and white acrylic paint that incorporates several techniques we've learned.

I am a newbie..still. Unfortunately this course will end in few wks. which i find frustrating for any interest course where we live. A credit course is way too demanding and requires all sorts of prerequisites --including showing a decent portfolio of work. (Lucky meredith and gimster who have gone through this stage before...) And I have no interest to pay for private lessons..I would prefer group learning since other students just bring many different ideas and experiences to the table to learn from.

Gims, I don't know anything about acrylics. I never tried that particular medium. My love was oils. I painted for 20 years, but just don't have the time right now. I was fortunate enough to take lessons from 3 terrific artists and teachers. I learned something from each of them.

Orchid, I don't really remember about the yellow or why. Only that yellow ochre was the one he told us to use. It was a color we used a lot of in all sorts of paintings, not just portraits.

I have a brand new easel and paints that I got for Christmas last year. I haven't had the time to use them yet. I will paint again someday. Even though I painted for so long and sold my work and received a few ribbons over the years, I believe that I am a better writer than I ever was an artist.