How do you glaze skin tones?

[JJ Yang]

After reading numerious threads on glazing, I still don't understand how glazing is applied to figures within a painting. How did the "Old Masters" apply glazes to create skin tones? Did they layer colors like burnt umber, yellow ochre and cadmium red in succession? Or, do you glaze with burnt umber, let dry, then glaze with mixed skin tones? I've been having lots of trouble with skin tones, so any feedback is appreciated.

JJ

[Michael Georges]

Hello JJ and Welcome to the Forum.

I don't glaze flesh, so I can only speak to my experiences. Generally, I paint flesh opaquely. I do this because there is such a high quantity of opaques in my flesh mixtures. Glazing is best done with a transparent or semi-transparent paint.

Glazing is not about what medium you use - it is about what paint you use and how you apply it to the surface.

I have only once glazed into flesh. It was with Napthol Red Light, which is transparent. I glazed it over a child's fingers because they were still not quite red enough. The flesh painted underneath was opaque.

Hopefully someone who has glazed flesh successfully will be here to help soon.