HUMAN FLESH TONES

Skin tones for painting figures

The skin tends to be the most closely watched area on a figure, and at the same time the place where rushed work shows fastest. The difference between an average and a convincing face is not made by one correctly chosen tone but by a smooth transition from the shadow in the eye socket and under the chin to the light on the forehead, on the cheekbones and on the bridge of the nose.

The set of six acrylics is put together precisely for this grading. The base and the sun-tanned tone serve as the starting surface, the beige-red suits the first highlight, and the purple-red, the wine red and the black-red create the shadows and the blood-flushed areas, that is the lips, the earlobes, the finger joints and the area around the nose.

The layering sequence

First lay down a continuous starting surface, and only then add the darker tone into the recesses and the lighter one on the raised places. Thin every layer thoroughly and rather repeat it than flood the modeling of the face with a heavy coat. You can soften the transitions with a damp brush drawn exactly along the boundary of the two tones.

The paints are thinned with water and mix freely with each other, so you can put together tones for another skin type or for the hands and the neck, which tend to be darker than the face. Even the finished head out with a matte layer, as a shine on skin looks out of place.

Paint the eyes only once the whole face is finished, and with the thinnest brush you have. Never make the white of the eye pure white, as at this size it looks unnatural; a very light gray or beige is better. Suggest the iris with a dot rather than drawing it, as the fine detail will be lost anyway.