Just to prove I can

[hblenkle]

I think you will find the exercise in skin tone very rewarding. You are doing great. What you learn will help you advance more.

[dcorc]

Originally Posted by joolee

oh my, those skin tones are to die for......

Take the original here into photoshop and sample it wherever you like but you will find there is no green in those skintones.

I know there are areas that look green - but sample them objectively, and you will find that they aren't!

Pretty well all the skintone colours are low-chroma oranges, or even-lower-chroma oranges!


Dave

[joolee]

Thanks Pater, Sandra & hblenkle .

Dave - sorting out skintones is certainly interesting. I hadn't really used green in skin tones before, although it has been recommended. To my eye, there is green tones in this one - at least on her left temple, where it appears to be almost as green as the background. I know I haven't got it right yet. What colours do you think I should be using here please?



Jools

[dcorc]

To my eye, there is green tones in this one - at least on her left temple, where it appears to be almost as green as the background.

But its not.

I've sampled all the "greenest" areas in photoshop here:



None of these are green, not even the top one.



They are various beiges (in other words, dirty earthy orange colours).

They look green, because they are lower-chroma than other lowish-chroma orange skintones.

However, if you paint them green, you are exaggerating the effect.

Take the original into a graphics program for yourself, and sample the skintones, and you will see they are a range of dull orange/brown colours.

Dave

[debra d.]

This is looking great Jools....I'd pretty much bet that he has used the color of her shirt, and the background color, added cad. yell light. and naples yell plus white and painted the entire portrait. I see his neutrals pushed to the cool green side in her face as well.
May just be my monitor, but the dots aren't quite the same. I do realize that the dots will appear different on the grey bkgd, taking that into consideration, I still see them different.

[dcorc]

May just be my monitor, but the dots aren't quite the same. I do realize that the dots will appear different on the grey bkgd, taking that into consideration, I still see them different.

But THAT'S my point!!

You see them different, but they are not.

Once the penny drops, that we are actually bad at accurately assessing colour - that the context the colour is seen in makes a difference to how it appears, then you're getting somewhere.

Objectively, those dots are low-chroma oranges/browns - and they are the same as the areas I'm pointing to in the image. Those are the colours you need to mix on your palette.

Dave

[joolee]

I haven't had the time to do your photoshop test, Dave, but its a good idea, so I shall have a go at that. I would love to ask the artist himself, but I tend to agree with Debra that he may have used the colours of the background and her shirt in his skin tones. But I'm no mixing expert and I know I haven't got the right skin tones yet, so I shall do your photoshop test and see where that takes me.

Jools

[beartist]

It is interesting to see your progress. I usually grid when working from photos and use my pencil to sight points when drawing from life. I find that if you get acquainted with your subject through drawing it yourself you have a much easier time when it comes to painting all the details..
We all have an easier time changing when we feel accepted!

How about trying a bit of raw umber and yellow ochre for those shadows? You might be surprised!

[hblenkle]

http://www.thecardermethod.com/clips.html#c04

The color checker demo shows how to visually check the color much like using photoshop, but without the computer. It won't tell you the mix of colors like photoshop though. Just a visual check as painting to see the mix is right. The other videos are very helpful also. One talks about lightening mixes and one talks about telling what color to add to the mix.

[greywolf-art]

Looking good julie, nice to see you working outside your comfort zone

I agree with dave, the 'green' in the temples is actually just an optical illusion, if you study colour theory you will find that colour perception is a very tricky subject and the colour you 'percieve' is not actually the colour that is there (I too use photoshop to sample colours and to demonstrate to my students the range of colours that exist in the human face, it can be a very revealing excercise !)

If green was used here then I suspect it would have been used as a neutralising colour rather than a colour on its own - eg a small touch of green mixed with one of the earth colours to create a more neutral greyish tone

Gridding, tracing or projecting I have no problem with if that makes life quicker and simpler, though none of these methods are as accurate as people might think - even projection! of the three though gridding is my least favourite as it encourages people to break their drawings into small chunks instead of trying to learm how to draw in long flowing lines (which to me is what makes a good drawing - the sureness of line that comes from using a single stroke instead of many smaller ones)

[debra d.]

I came across this in an old Artist's Magazine. In the article, it has the 14 colors Greene uses. I was able to duplicate all the skin tones with sap, cad red lg., yell. orchre, flake white.
I then mixed cad. red lg. cad yell. lg to make orange, then added in the compliment of Ultra. marine blue plus the flake wh. I could come close, but you could really see that a green was added in.

[greywolf-art]

That's a good point Greene makes about the background colours affecting the model, something I'm always trying to make my students aware of,

The clothing colours can make a difference too as these tend to get reflected in the face - usually even more so than the background!

[joolee]

I'm sorry I haven't kept up with this, folks. Thank you for the article Debra - makes a lot of sense to me! I have done more on this, but I haven't taken a photo. I'm chasing around like a March hare at the moment, but I'll see if I can do some more.
Jools

[The_Shmo]

You are doing an awesome job on this painting, Jools! I can't wait to see the finished project!

Dave - thanks for the trick about photoshop! I have an HORRIBLE time trying to distinguish what-color-is-this from photos and I think this trick will help me immensely If nothing else, it will give me an idea where to start! lol

[smiler]

This is looking fabulous.