Home › Forums › The Learning Center › Color Theory and Mixing › Mixing Skin Tones
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August 6, 2023 at 12:24 pm #1521919
This arises from a post I just made in the Acrylic forum, but I decided it is a good topic for this forum. What colors do you mix for skin? As often as not, I start with Burnt Sienna and Titanium White, and adjust with red and/or yellow from there. But, I feel that my skin tones are often chalky. So, I’m curious what other people do. I admire artists who work lots of subtle hues into their skin tones but I’m never brave enough to do it, and I never see the hues in real life or in photo references.
--David
August 12, 2023 at 10:31 am #1522509I’m surprised you got no answers here yet – this is the kind of question which would elicit many replies and discussion years ago.
Your starting with Burnt Sienna and white, then adjusting with red & yellow – will work for higher chroma skintones.
“Too chalky” probably means too much white too greyed. Shadows on skin are often a surprisingly rich reddish color – you got that right in your profile thumbnail pic.
My usual mix (best/easiest) is Yellow Ochre + Alizarin Crimson + plus white as needed. With this, you’re working along the yellow-red axis so you can easily adjust from yellower to more red/rosy based on your proportions. There are alternative choices for the ‘yellow’ and ‘red’. Then if necessary, black to darken, greyen, or push mixes towards subtle blues.
There are many many ways to mix skin tones, hope others will answer here. I’ve found pre-mixing color/value strings to make life a lot easier.
August 12, 2023 at 1:53 pm #1522538Patrick:
Yes, this forum has become mostly dormant compared to when I started on Wetcanvas about ten or eleven years ago, which is a pity because it was such an active forum and I learned so much here.
Your approach to skin color is interesting and I’m going to try it tonight. What medium(s) do you paint with, acrylic if I recall correctly? That’s what I use.
I hope others will post on this thread.
Good to hear from you.
--David
August 12, 2023 at 4:01 pm #1522550David – I paint in acrylics and oils. I don’t paint portraits often, but when I do I find it works out better with oils, so that’s my preference.
August 12, 2023 at 6:46 pm #1522558Patrick:
I played around with mixes tonight and compared your “formula” with my go to. I like yours better because it gives me much more variety of results. It seems to give me more possibilities especially with getting some bluer leaning hues. I also substituted Quinacridone Magenta for the alizarin crimson and that worked well, too. For darker skin I was able to get much more interesting colors than I do with the Burnt Sienna. So, thank you! Now to try this with a portrait.
--David
August 20, 2023 at 11:20 pm #1523407I’ll add: for tradtional coloration, the most-obvious portrait palette is Yellow Ochre, light red, Ivory Black, white, aka the Zorn palette. There are many youtube videos extolling the virtues of this palette.
August 21, 2023 at 6:16 am #1523456What would you suggest for light red in acrylics, Cadmium Red Light?
--David
August 21, 2023 at 8:25 am #1523467Iron Oxide Red (PR101). Available in most artist acrylics, but only a few student ranges (Galleria is far too weak). Liquitex Basics is PR101 with some PY42, but is good.
August 22, 2023 at 12:08 am #1523527The Zorn palette originally used Vermillion for the red, nowadays it’s Cad Red Light. I referred to this as light red – I should’ve called it bright red or orange-red to not confuse it with the PR101 red oxide pigment called Light Red – which is a very different color (a red-brown).
If you don’t have real Cad Red Light, the next closest will be Pyrrole Red Light PR255. It tints a bit towards magenta, but not as much as other organic reds like Naphthols and Quins – which some might consider unnatural for portraits. But try whatever red(s) you have.
August 24, 2023 at 4:32 pm #1523914I tried a palette for skin colors that I read about somewhere, and it seemed to work. The underlying premise is that the skin color of most people is pretty much the same, with subtle tweaks of color to skew it toward the individual in question. It will even work for people of dark skin color.
White
Terra Rosa. (Venetian Red, or the like)
Yellow Ochre
Ivory Black
Sometime, try matching the color of the skin on your own forearm, by mixing only these 4 colors. When you can smear a bit of your mixed color directly on your arm, and can’t detect where the paint leaves off, and your real skin begins, you are on your way to achieving natural-appearing skin colors.
Now, for cheeks, nose, ears, lips, etc. there often needs to be further colors added, but they are very few. One of the important ones is Cadmium Red Light. It is very close to Vermilion, and once mixed with those other colors of paint, you would not know whether you used Vermilion, or Cad Red Light.
Often, a lighter color such as Naples Yellow can be used, but Naples Yellow bounces all over the place in its hue from manufacturer to manufacturer. The Odd Nerdrum followers seem to appreciate some sort of Green in their skin colors, but I’m not sure just which one, nor would I know just where it would be appropriate.
Like you, I can’t convince myself to actually “see” all those Greens, and Blues, and Purples, and other odd colors that some artists claim they can “see” when painting a portrait.
This is a portrait I did of an 11 year old girl, who was a friend of my granddaughter’s.
I’m not the best portrait painter, but I usually manage to achieve a decent likeness, provided that I totally eliminate the “drawing-with-lines” step.
wfmartin. My Blog "Creative Realism"...
https://williamfmartin.blogspot.comAugust 25, 2023 at 7:13 am #1523978Bill:
Terra Rose and Venetian Red are not available in acrylics, at least I’ve not seen them. Are they similar to Red Oxide? I’ve seen your posts on painting portraits without lines and have had some success with a similar approach, but my work is not in the same class as yours.
--David
August 25, 2023 at 2:32 pm #1524031I did a little research. Venetian Red, Terra Rosa and Red Oxide are all made with PR 101. So are they the same color?
--David
August 25, 2023 at 2:46 pm #1524032Well, if they are not the same color, they would be acceptably close enough to use in this group of colors.
Gosh, I’ve seen some standard paint colors that bounce all over the place in hue and value, depending upon the brand. So, when I suggest “Venetian Red”, or “Terra Rosa,” the actual hue is not as important as the fact that you select what is often known as a “earth Red”. But, yes, if it is important to you, I believe they are each quite similar to the other.
wfmartin. My Blog "Creative Realism"...
https://williamfmartin.blogspot.comAugust 26, 2023 at 2:16 am #1524078PR101 can produce quite a wide range of hues. It’s normally Light Red or Terra Rosa which is more yellowish, Venetian Red is more reddish and then Indian Red is more bluish.
From Golden’s website:
August 26, 2023 at 2:18 am #1524079BTW: I love Red Iron Oxides (PR101). Cheap, super opaque, super lightfast and the perfect base for skin colours.
(You can also get special transparent versions which are also useful, but these tend to be more expensive)
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