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  • #986352
    Cat0075
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        Been working on a painting of my daughter when she was little, she still is very blonde.. Has anyone ever painted a pale blonde? What colors did you use? Any idea, help would be appeciated.. Cat

        Cat

        #1083383
        rroberts
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            There are a lot of variables, such as time of day, overall light and reflected colors from surrounding objects.

            Perhaps you could post a photo of your daughter, or a photo that you might be working from?

            Also tell us a bit about the colors you have available.

            cheers!

            -- Robert
            #1083386
            beachluvr
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                I generally use yellow ochre and white…..sometimes a little cad orange mixed in. some dioxyzine purple for the shadows.

                Paint On, Friends
                Kay
                www.kaycrain.com

                "The Secret O' Life Is Enjoying The Passage Of Time.".........James Taylor

                "The bottom line is, painting, at its richest, is done best with no purpose whatsoever aside from pleasing the person making the art.".... Charles Sovek

                #1083390
                Cat0075
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                    Hi here is the picture below I hope… as for paint colors.. have just about all basic ones Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Umber, Indian Red, Indigo, Ivory Black, Titanium White,Green, Cad.Yellow, Yellow Ochre,Indian Yellow, Naples Yellow, .. Pruissan,Cerulean Blue,Cobalt Blue,French Ultramarine,Dioxide Purple, cad Red.. etc,, tried using ochre, white, cad yellow, came out to dark.. as you can see shes very pale.. Love all the ideas. Cat
                    [ATTACH]355973[/ATTACH]

                    [ATTACH]355974[/ATTACH]

                    Cat

                    #1083389
                    Don Ketchek
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                        Perhaps a touch of ochre and then LOTS of white for the lightest areas.

                        Don

                        #1083387
                        beachluvr
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                            Cat,
                            It’s almost white. If you squint at the picture, your darkest darks are where her part is and underneath under her ears.espec. her right ear.Lightest lights are only a shade darker than her white turtleneck.
                            Start with an underpainting. For the purposes here, I didn’t let this dry but you might want to let it dry a little.

                            ..I would use a little burnt umber and possibly ultramarine mixed together for that for the very darkest parts……and then diluted with medium(stand oil or turps-like a wash) for an underpainting all over.Plus A couple of streakes of cad orange. SEE PIC 2.
                            Then for the midtones, I’d use the umber, a bit of doxy purple and a touch of
                            cad orange and white.
                            For the rest of her hair, SEE PIC 3…I ONLY DID RIGHT SIDE.
                            MOSTLY white with
                            TINY touches of yellow ochre, doxy purple, and teeny tiny bit of cad yellow.
                            Play around on paper first. I always underpaint. Gives it much more depth.
                            When you paint the blondest part over, use quick , light brush strokes so you have ‘strands’ of dark showing through underneath.
                            Important points….Underpaint darker and remember hair is many different colors. You cant just use a homogonized , thoroughly mixed blob of white and yellow ochre.
                            David Darrow just helped me with something so maybe I’m “paying it forward here.” ;D
                            Hope this helped.
                            Kay CRain

                            Paint On, Friends
                            Kay
                            www.kaycrain.com

                            "The Secret O' Life Is Enjoying The Passage Of Time.".........James Taylor

                            "The bottom line is, painting, at its richest, is done best with no purpose whatsoever aside from pleasing the person making the art.".... Charles Sovek

                            #1083382
                            gunzorro
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                                I’ve been playing with blonde hair too this week. I don’t know about the orange and purple recommendations, but the darker underpainting is a good idea for your subject. It isn’t the “blonde” areas that will show the hair (those are essentially no color), it will be the shaded areas under and between the light hair.
                                The colors I am working with for these middle/dark tones are blends of white, Unbleached Titanium, Mars Yellow, Raw Sienna, Red Umber and Burnt Umber (Vasari’s is nearly a normal Raw Umber). In yours, I can see a need for some Ultramarine Blue in the deepest shadow areas near the neck and shoulders.
                                Do some tests in a painting sketch and work it out before committing to the real canvas. Jim

                                #1083384
                                rroberts
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                                    Perhaps a touch of ochre and then LOTS of white for the lightest areas.

                                    Not really.
                                    Let’s take another look at the photo of the girl.
                                    She’s what I think of as “tow-head” – that kind of bright, almost white blond that reflects surrounding colors.

                                    Because there is so much blue in the photo background and in her clothing, the hair has predominantly cool, bluish colors. Take a look …

                                    The only warm colors are very subtle – you can see them near the child’s left ear (on your right), and along the edges of the part in her hair.

                                    So how do you judge what you need for your painting?

                                    1. Evaluate the colors you’ve already used for the background.
                                    2. Make a light gray, then add enough of the background colors to give you a range. I would start with Raw Umber, but you can certainly experiment a bit.
                                    3. Use those colors to make the hair. You’ve already got the warm tones in place, so utilize them.
                                    4. Make sure that lightest values in hair and clothing match pretty closely.

                                    I would also suggest a bit more warm/cool contrast in the little girl’s clothing, socks and shoes. Again, utilize colors from the background. Be careful about those hair edges – you don’t want a cut-out appearance.

                                    You’re doing fine so far.
                                    If the painting is based on a photo, study the hair and clothing closely.

                                    I hope this helps.

                                    -- Robert
                                    #1083394
                                    drdarrow
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                                        There are two rules I try to follow:
                                        1. Don’t use a client’s photo when possible,
                                        2. Don’t have any ideas in your head about “what color something should be.”

                                        Blonde hair looks the way it does because it has pigmentation somewhat unique to the owner of that hair which has properties about it that reflect a portion of the spectrum and absorbs others, and the color of the light hitting it will affect its appearance, too.

                                        First thing to do is get a correct photo. My eyes told me at a glance that the photo was too light and too blue.

                                        In the corrected version, I would be using umber,white, raw sienna and cerulean blue in varying mixtures, and rarely all together for some of that hair. Of course, the flesh tones would mix with it where the hair is thinner. And I would would concentrate on the shapes of the different values, avoiding painting all but a few long streaks

                                        I am working on a blonde’s portrait at the moment, but used very different colors in it than I just suggested here.

                                        David R. Darrow
                                        Host of Dave the Painting Guy Paintcast™
                                        Painter and Illustrator: Darrow Art with an Artist's Tech Blog and a laugh-at-scammers blog: Scam and Eggs

                                        #1083381
                                        Larry Seiler
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                                            I suggest turning the photo reference AND the painting upside down…then forget the area is hair. Just let yourself see the shape and judge the colors for what they are.

                                            A painting is nothing more than one spot of color put down next to another until there are no more spots. The viewer sees the whole and the marks you paint suggest hair.

                                            Try to not make it more complicated then that…except to control your treatment of edges. Soften them to go back into space so that the subject feels totally enveloped in an actual environment…

                                            Larry Seiler- Signature Member IPAP; Signature Member American Impressionist Society AIS
                                            Main website! https://larryseiler-artist.com/

                                            #1083385
                                            rroberts
                                            Default

                                                Don’t have any ideas in your head about “what color something should be.”[/quote]

                                                True.

                                                First thing to do is get a correct photo. My eyes told me at a glance that the photo was too light and too blue.

                                                I’m assuming here that Cat0075 has the acutal photo in hand, and that we’re seeing variations because of a scan.

                                                That said, the principal is the same : Look at the actual colors

                                                I may be mistaken, but I had the impression that Cat0075 is not making a painting of the photo of her daughter (the one we’re analyzing), but that the photo is an example of her daughter’s hair type. If that’s the case, there’s no point nailing down the specific colors from the photo. Instead, it’s a matter of nailing down the type of hair, characteristics of how it reflects color, and translating that in terms of the painting of the little girl standing in the corner.

                                                -- Robert
                                                #1083391
                                                Cat0075
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                                                    Yes, the photo your looking at is her hair color. then and now, only difference is she has a hint of strawberry blonde along the back crown area , son is a auburn with hair half way down back…
                                                    im combining several pictures to do the one above… yes, still need to highlight the socks, work out some more detail. Love all the ideas..
                                                    Will work on it next few weeks, see how it all works out.. at this point im still learning. self taught over the years last year and half just oils…
                                                    ha what a diff from acylics, watercolors..
                                                    going to print off all the suggestions and play with it first on panel till i get the hair right..
                                                    before applying to the larger canvas..
                                                    yes i just scanned the photo, has some glare to it.. as you know school pictures all seem to have same backgrounds or use to..
                                                    Cat

                                                    Cat

                                                    #1083392
                                                    Cat0075
                                                    Default

                                                        Ok have been reworking dd blonde hair haa, now she looks more like a cottontop..about ready to use canvas as a hair study..or trash it.. after than before I think cat

                                                        Cat

                                                        #1083388

                                                        Ok have been reworking dd blonde hair haa, now she looks more like a cottontop..about ready to use canvas as a hair study..or trash it.. after than before I think cat

                                                        Hi Cat
                                                        You have already been given a lot of overwhelming advice and I would hate to overload you.
                                                        But this is what I would try. It seems to me that you are assuming that the hair colour is yellow and in the later attempt, white. I think you would have some success if you used cadmium orange – moving more to the red side of the colour wheel. Then add black until the orange is very dark indeed. This will reduce the intensity of the colour. Now increase the value of the colour by adding grey or white.
                                                        If you set out the colours on your palette ranging from light to dark you will find that most of the colours in her hair are within that range.
                                                        Start with the darkest area of the portrait first – working up to the highlights.
                                                        And as many people have already said, dont make assumptions about the hair colour. Only paint what you see. Squint, turn the ref upside down and use a mirror. LOL. It all helps get outside the boundaries.
                                                        Hope this helps. :)
                                                        Regards
                                                        Graham

                                                        "Use what talents you have - for the forest would be very quiet if no birds sang - except those that sing the best." (Henry Van Dyke)

                                                        Feel free to visit my website: www.bluewindfisher.com

                                                        #1083393
                                                        Cat0075
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                                                            Will give it a try bluewinder, going to use poster board, and do samples, mixing each exactly.. think this is my biggest problem..
                                                            so use to tole painting 20 yrs, then watercolors, oil mixing will help me.. even have a great color mixing recipe book.. but , doesnt really help that much on her hair color.. .. but will give anything a try. now..
                                                            My camera tends to wash color out when I take picture inside which I did today of after.. mistake but yes I think its to pale now looking at it..
                                                            also have 2×2 counter top chip colors on back have painted them with pure white …. Once i get mixing on poster board plan to do one on each back with recipe in order,,,
                                                            have over 500 of them on a chain..
                                                            hint some lowes, home depots give the chip samples away still so if you want to make any.. check there first.. Cat

                                                            Cat

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