Light Flesh Tones

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Thanks Tim, I will follow your advice and see how that makes the overall look change.

[Richard Budig]

Enzie:

Something else to remember is that as colors (flesh tone, also) lighten, they lose color.

Take any color on your palette from weak to brilliant, or take all your brilliant colors and lighten them with white to a value of, say, two or three. You'll discover they almost all look the same -- washed out, pasty, and cool.

Your real "color" will be over there in the halftones, and even in the shadows. Lights will have a bit of color, too, but the lighter lights, and highlights will usually be "colorless," so to speak.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Hi Richard,

Thank you for your reply. Since I have posted this thread, my life has taken me in all directions and has left me with very little time to paint.

I am happy to say that 2005 has put me back in the studio and we shall see with all these wonderful suggestions how the next work will turn out.

Currently I am finishing a painting ala Gerome of a black fighter. The work in progress is on my web site.

[Jim Riley]

Originally Posted by Chris Saper

Dear Enzie,

The other thing you might consider is mixing your strong colors and then using the Grumbacher Thalo Yellow-Green on your palette to desaturate skin tones that are too warm. The TYG is a brilliant shocking green, which, when you first squeeze some out of the tube, makes you think, "This can't possbily be right!" It doesn't darken the original color the way, for exambple a Viridian or Thalo Green will.

I hope this is helpful.

Enzie,

I have never had the nerve to try the Thalo Yellow-Green but often use Cerulean Blue. It doesn't seem to "dirty" or change the color as much as other colors that I have used to modify the strength of a "bright " skin tone. (John Sanden mentioned this idea at one of his Portrait Seminars many years ago and I remember thinking that this useful tip made the trip and costs all worthwhile.)

Jim

[Chris Saper]

Ceruleun blue! I''m going to try it!

[Michele Rushworth]

Tony Ryder also often uses cerulean blue in skintones. Think maybe it's time I put some back out on my palette. too!

[Enzie Shahmiri]

I have never tried Cerulean Blue or Thalo Yellow Green and it would be interesting to experiment with it.

I have tried this approach with good results. Peggy Baumgaertner suggested to use Rembrandt

[Linda Brandon]

I also use Cerulean Blue in flesh tones, so I second Jim's endorsement. That, and Gamblin's Portland Gray Medium, are my two bluish "coolants".

[Michele Rushworth]

Gamblin's Ultramarine Violet, while dark, is a wonderful cooling influence on skintones, too. It's perfect for cool shadows when working with a warm light source. I've used it for shadow areas on portraits which were backlit by a late afternoon golden sun, or my current portrait, which is lit by very warm theatrical lights. Since it is a weak pigment I use it to cool light areas nicely, too.

[Richard Budig]

Here's a useful green for you. I make it from cerulean blue and a darker shade of Naples yellow. By fiddling with it, you can make some "high" yellow, or high green shdes, that (probably like Chris Saper's Thalo Yellow Green) will temper warm flesh tones quite nicely, and gently.

It is especially useful if you are doing a portrait that is mostly alizarin or rose madder on the one side, and Naples yellow on the other side (using them in combination to create a delicate flesh tone). By kicking your cerulean/Naples green over to one side or the other (blue or yellow) you can get some very delicate skin tone effects in the cool areas of the face/body, for example.

My point is, this curioius green may be like Chris's TYG. I've promised myself I'm going to try it.