Fair skin
See how layering techniques and color contrasts can create a realistic skin tone
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Have you ever had problems with blending
skin tones? Each beginner has to struggle
with this difficult and varied topic. But with
a little bit of practice you will see how easy
it is!
01 Choosing the first colors: If you look closely
to the color of your skin you will see a lot of
colors. The palette depends on the lighting but
you will mostly see reds, yellows, blues, and a
little bit of green in fair skin. Carefully choose your
water-soluble colored pencils and prepare your
paper for the next step!
02 Creating the first layer of color: For light
skin, the base color will be a yellowy one (more
like sepia). Add it carefully, because as you know,
this is not the only color we see and it’s not as
visible! You need to leave space for other layers
such as pink, white, or red.
03 Adding blues under the eyes: If you look
closely, you have some areas in your body with
quite different tones of colors, for example under
the eyes the blood vessels change the thinner
skin to more of a blue/green while your cheeks
are a little bit redder. Always pay attention to
those colors and ask yourself why they change.
04 Blending colors together: I blot the brush
to remove most of the water before blending and
use a light pressure to blend the colors. In this
step I add one layer of red and pink colors. For
tiny details you can dip a brush into clean water,
stroke the brush against the pencil, and brush
color onto dry paper.
692DARTIST MAGAZINE | ISSUE 136