Paxton vs. cads and shadow help please!

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Hello,

I have been working on my 'babysitter' portrait, which was posted in the photo reference section a while ago. My computer has since crashed so I no longer have it on file, but what I'm concerned about here is the COLOR of my shadows (not likeness).

I have been having trouble getting a good shadow color using the Paxton palette. I'll post a portrait I did of my son using cads, I am happy with the color of shadows using cads.

From all I've read on this forum about the Paxton palette, I don't understand why it's not working for me. It seems to be 'easier' for most people, and I do like the skin tones I get using that palette, it's just those darn shadows that I can not get.

I'll post two photos, in the first one her skin tones, especially the shadow side of her face was too brown. With the Paxton palette I think the light side of my face has more chroma in it than I used to have when I was using cads and this is good. If this is the case, I need to have my shadow side even darker to get that difference in values. So, the first one I felt was too brown. Then I decided to paint my shadows more grey, but that made the babysitter look like she had a five o'clock shadow.

On the second photo I've pulled some of the lighter values over into the shadow, I'm only putting shadow where the deepest shadows are. But the color is icky. I've used a lot of burnt sienna mixed with viridian, I get a decent looking neutral but it doesn't look like skin tones in shadow to me when I put it on the canvas.

So, can somebody help me please. I just can't seem to get a shadow color correct. Can it be just a darker skin tone? Does it need to be a brown, or grey? I have cool light so I'm going for warm shadows here.

The only thing I can think of to do next is to repaint the face lighter and then I'm thinking I won't have to get the shadows so dark to get the difference in values.

I've been adding 'layers' as I go and I think the last layer may have washed out some of the shadow on the side of her nose, for example.

I have repainted this face probably 4 times now and I'm about to throw the whole thing out the window! I hope somebody can give me a clue about how I should be painting the shadows.

thank you,

Joan

P.S. The third image will be of my son using cads which at this point I think his skin tones look better than the babysitters!

[Chuck Yokota]

Hi Joan,

I don't know if anyone likes my skin colors but me, but I'll tell you what I do. I first mix up yellow ochre with a little light red to get a sort of brick red-orange, which is my basic source for skin color. For the shadows, I take part of this and add ultramarine blue and indian red to get a sort of purple grey. (I take another part of the original mixture and add white for the light skin color.) I cover every part of the face and other skin with either the light or shadow colors. At this point it looks weird. I use only these colors to blend in the halftones; suddenly it looks a lot better. I use these original pigments, their mixtures, plus burnt sienna to tweak in the variations in hue in different areas of the face. I add white for the highlights, and a black I make from burnt sienna and ultramarine to deepen the darkest shadows.

Obviously, I recommend you do not try this right out on your painting, but experiment on a sketch first to see if it works for you.

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Chuck,

Thank you very much for replying. I suspect no two people mix their colors the same way, but you have given me a lot of information and I will do some experimenting, as you suggest.

Originally Posted by Chuck Yokota

I first mix up yellow ochre with a little light red to get a sort of brick red-orange, which is my basic source for skin color.

Okay, this is how I get my basic skin color too.

Originally Posted by Chuck Yokota

For the shadows, I take part of this and add ultramarine blue and indian red to get a sort of purple grey. (I take another part of the original mixture and add white for the light skin color.)

I do something similar for the lit side of the face, I use ultramarine blue in the mix but only for the lit side. Hmm, I never added blue to the shadow side because I'm stuck on "warm" colors for the shadows. So that's where I'm getting in trouble, I'm using all kinds of things to get my shadows, but not blue. I will try that, though I'm confused about using what I thought was a cool color? Maybe I'm too hung up on what's a cool color and what's a warm color?

Originally Posted by Chuck Yokota

. . . a black I make from burnt sienna and ultramarine to deepen the darkest shadows.

Hmm, this sounds interesting. I will try this for my deep shadows, though there is that blue again in the warm shadows.

Thanks,

Joan

[Julie Deane]

Hi Joan -

Cool and warm are relative terms in a painting. You can have a cool or warm red, same for blue.

Personally, I like using non cad's for skin tones, but then I use whatever I feel I need for the shadows. Probably the best thing is to get books on the subject like Chris Sapers book on skin tones - she has some good mixes to use (although not cad-free, of course)- I also like "How to Paint Living Portraits" by Roberta Clark. Here are a few mixes for flesh tones and shadows she suggests as a starting point:

white, raw sienna, light red, cobalt blue - good all-around

white, ras sienna, Venetian red, cobalt blue - basic, a bit softer

white, yellow ochre, burnt sienna ultramarine blue - for medium - med. dark complexions

white, Naples yellow, light red, viridian luminous - good for children

There's others for darker complexions, but this will give you a start.

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Thank you Julie for your reply and those sample shadow colors. I will mix them up tomorrow and see what I get. It'll be educational to makes squares of each color.

I do have Chris' book and I realized half an hour ago that I need to pull it out again. Actually, it's open to the skin tone samples page and is lying next to my easel.

thanks again,

Joan

[Linda Brandon]

Joan, I'm not quite at the Paxton palette yet so I'm not sure I should respond to this, but remember that warm and cool are not only relative terms, they are comparative terms as well. If you go cooler in the lights your shadows will look warmer. Spend a day making flesh charts with your paints - experiment with your reds, yellows and a blue or green - and hang them somewhere where you can refer to them.

Stop worrying so much about the color. Concentrate instead on making that head look three dimensional - bring some parts forward, move some parts back.

[Joan Breckwoldt]

After spending the last couple of hours doing searches for 'shadows' on this forum I found a reference to Daniel Greene's video and his pre-mixed colors. And what do you know, I have that video, just never opened it (!) so I've taken off the plastic wrapping and I'll view this tape to see what Mr. Greene has to say about mixing shadow colors.

But . . . . for me the answer isn't a pre-mixed color, it's knowing what color is there in the shadows. I feel like I am missing something and I need some enlightenment on "how to see" shadows. I'm not sure this makes sense but I must have some kind of mental block against seeing shadow colors.

Anybody had any experience with mixing shadows with the Paxton palette and with a cad palette and would like to share their experiences? I would love to hear it, I can learn from everything at this point.

thanks,

Joan