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Author: djstar, Contributing Editor
| I mixed a basic skin tone using a lot of Yellow Ocher and Cadmium Red with a touch of Cerulean. That was my deep tone. Then some white with Cadmium Red, Yellow Ocher and Umber for the lightest skin tones. All of these are used just to start. Then I think I put some Ultramarine Blue with a bit of Umber to start my darks. My first stroke was near the top of the hair and forehead. With a charge of Cadmium Red in the tone, I just looked at the value. I went darkening and changing temperatures in the cheeks, and put one or two glints of the light color on the light side. The comparisons of the values, not just one section, help show relationships better. STILL looks bad, huh? I don't mind because I paint with reading glasses on! I see the value patterns are working and the details work themselves out. If the model and my blurred image are way out of kilter, I have to change the underneath shapes. |  |
 | I just spot paint. I go from area to area comparing darks and color temperatures. The darks in the tunic are loaded with pure Ultramarine Blue because I have so much area to cover. I see it as a large dark shape with lighter areas and I fill in the darks with a lot of pure color because it will need some vibrancy on top of the dark brown. The blue highlights started with white, Ultramarine and Umber to gray it. I am still not in my lightest lights in the blue, because it is such a dark color. |
| These three pictures show how I work in middle values out to darks and lights. I took them with my digital camera in a studio light, so there is not much detail due to my shaky hand, but you can see pretty much what I work with in a squint. |
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| The first picture shows a lot of temperature, pink cheeks, green cleft in the chin, violet in the cheek cavity... all of these are experiments with underlying tones and values... VALUES first, color is really arbitrary. I was aware as I made choices that I would easily choose green to darken a color or Alizarin Crimson. It is pretty much a coin toss. Instinct and VALUE! first. In the middle picture you see not only had the background lightness influenced the dark of the hair, but spots where the eyes, nose and corner of the lips fall are defined. Equally developed, I show where light falls on his eyelid, rimming the crest of his nose and chin. I know this model well and have been known to overwork his nose and lips, so I really try to save those for the final pose. In the last picture you see the pure color choices more apparently. Alizarin for lips, green tones in the eye sockets. But all the time values stay pretty defined. |
 | I must say, I was feeling pretty good by the time I broke for this first picture. The lights on the uniform were strong and colorful. The feeling of weight and life under the clothing was also strong, but is more developed. | |
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