Fairy Flesh

A flesh ladder from shadow to light

The face settles whether a figure comes across as alive or as a bare casting. It is for exactly this task that the palette is built: eight bottles follow one another so that a painter does not have to mix his own transitions. The line starts with the deepest tone Nocturna Shadow, goes on through Burned Flesh and Reddish Flesh into the middle part Base Flesh, Medium Flesh and Natural Flesh, and is closed by the two peak shades Fairy Flesh and Highlight Skin.

Where each bottle comes into its own

The dark end of the ladder belongs in the creases around the eyes, under the nose, into the chin and between the fingers. The middle three make the base area of the face, the neck and the hands. The light tones are then laid on thinly on the forehead, the cheekbones, the bridge of the nose and the knuckles, whether as a glaze or with a dry brush. The range is chosen so as to cover the light European skin of historical figures as well as the cooler tones shifted toward pink of elves and fairy-tale beings.

The binder is water-thinnable, holds on a primed surface and sets quickly between coats, so the work flows without waiting. Neighboring tones are always only a small step apart, which is the key to smooth transitions and to the wet technique, where two shades blend right on the figure. The paints can be laid on with a brush as well as with an airbrush once thinned.

The small things that decide

Flesh forgives mistakes less than equipment does, because the human face is one the eye knows by heart. A wet palette helps, on which the paint does not dry before you manage to spread it, and a brush with a long tip that holds a drop and releases it exactly where it is needed. The boundary between two tones is then evened out with a stroke of clean water.

The package holds paints only, and a figure and a brush are not part of it.