Base skin tone confusion

G

Graham

Guest
Hello all.

Well I have decided to try a full colour portrait using Com-Art opaques.

I am having some trouble deciding which base skin tone to choose from the reference and how many different skin tones to mix. There seems to be a lot to my eye.

Here is the reference, Louis, my brothers boy. A proper little bruiser!
louisSmall.jpg

The printed reference I have seems to show a lot more variations than this digital image.

Any advice or pointers on this would be most gratefully received.

Thanks for your time. :)
 
Hello all.

Well I have decided to try a full colour portrait using Com-Art opaques.

I am having some trouble deciding which base skin tone to choose from the reference and how many different skin tones to mix. There seems to be a lot to my eye.

Here is the reference, Louis, my brothers boy. A proper little bruiser!
View attachment 35229

The printed reference I have seems to show a lot more variations than this digital image.

Any advice or pointers on this would be most gratefully received.

Thanks for your time. :)
Hi graham, i was just trying to mix skin tones myself last week, there is a video from mitch called mixing flesh tones on his youtube channel might help you a bit
 
Hi graham, i was just trying to mix skin tones myself last week, there is a video from mitch called mixing flesh tones on his youtube channel might help you a bit

Hi Matty, thanks for the reply. Yes, I have watched all of Mitch's videos a LOT :)

My problem seems to be how to choose which one to start with, I understand that it's generally the lightest one but there are several that appear to be the same tonal value when viewed as a b/w image but they all have varying hues.

Maybe I should just pick one and get on with it :laugh:

Thanks again.
 
Hi Matty, thanks for the reply. Yes, I have watched all of Mitch's videos a LOT :)

My problem seems to be how to choose which one to start with, I understand that it's generally the lightest one but there are several that appear to be the same tonal value when viewed as a b/w image but they all have varying hues.

Maybe I should just pick one and get on with it :laugh:

Thanks again.

If you mix what you find to be the lightest colour, the darkest colour and and something in between you simply simply blend these where appropriate as you go but it's probably easier using transparent than opaque although Mitch started one of his portraits with opaques and finished off with transparent.
 
Hi Matty, thanks for the reply. Yes, I have watched all of Mitch's videos a LOT :)

My problem seems to be how to choose which one to start with, I understand that it's generally the lightest one but there are several that appear to be the same tonal value when viewed as a b/w image but they all have varying hues.

Maybe I should just pick one and get on with it :laugh:

Thanks again.

I had problems with that aswel, when i mixed my darkest it ended up grey and muddy, but as MB stated get your three main ones and work it from there, you could start light to dark or the other way round just what ever you find easiest, i like to get the likes of the nostrils and in around the ears etc done and work from there
 
With most paintings, I prefer starting with matched opaques going from light to dark, then any final tone shifting is done with transparent paints. Opaques are much more forgiving when it comes to making mistakes.
 
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