Art lessons - learn about skin-coloring in portrait painting
colored - but we know they both have the same flesh; the same muscle and tissue structure underneath!We often use warm and cool tones when painting flesh. The artist's general rule is warm light - cool shadows
and cool light - warm shadows. This is an artificial rule often used by professionals to give vibrancy to a
painting. Note the cool bluish greys in the facial shadows below.GoyaOK, let's get specific for the anglo-saxon or white european. Forgetting the light source rose madder was the
color the masters used for the cheeks of their feminine subjects. Yellow ochre, the siennas and the umbers were
the base and ultramarine was usually the blue. The rest is just modulated tone. These were all mostly all
inexpensive pigments. Today rose madder is often repalced by a colorfast alternative. This same formula can be
applied to the darker skinned - but with the absence of most of the red hues - a little blue added to the highlights
will also assist.Blood is red. Hold your hand before a powerful light and what do you see? You see a deep glowing cadmium
red. A bruise is blue. It is the rupture of blood vessels that turn the captured un-oxygenated blood blue. Both
effects are beneath the epidermis which in pale skin is more transparent in the European than in the African.
Technically the red 'blush' of the cheeks or elsewhere is the red of oxygenated blood under a semi-transparent
layer of skin (epidermis). Very rarely does the artist have an opportunity to use this effect. I did once. I painted
a picture where the hand of the subject was directly in the way of the sun. I made the outline white, the
secondary outline a bright red and quietly darkened the center (much like a sunset). It created a powerful effect
and became the focal point of the painting. So much so I was enticed to forget about everything else. Dear oh
dear! One for me and not the client. I must admit the client liked it also and kept it - and I agreed! Professional
stupidity in many ways but at the time I needed the money.http://www.geocities.com/~jlhagan/lessons/skin_color.htm (2 of 4)1/13/2004 3:54:31 AM