UA7024 - Dark Native Tone

Dark Native Tone in the trio of flesh shades

With flesh the Lifecolor acrylic range always contains a small group of shades that go together: a base, a lighter tone and a darker tone. Dark Native Tone is the dark one. Its task is not to cover an area but to create depth where a face or a hand is meant to recede.

Typical use

• the eye sockets, the space under the brows and the corners of the eyes
• the neck in the shadow of the head and the space under the collar
• the folds of the skin, wrinkles and the shadow under the lower lip
• the spaces between the fingers and the creases of the palms on hands

Measure decides

A dark tone is applied in small amounts. Take little paint on the brush, wipe the excess off and place the paint into the shadow rather than painting it on there. Build the depth by repetition, not by the strength of one coat. Coming back from a face that is too dark is extra work. Keep the edges of the shadow soft, because a sharp edge on flesh immediately gives away that it is paint and not a shadow.

A figure beside a machine

In a diorama with vehicles a figure almost always stands beside dark, dulled metal. So as not to merge with it, flesh has to have a range of highlights and shadows of its own, and a dark tone is its lower limit. Without it a face in the narrow space between an engine and a cargo bed sinks into a uniform dark mass and the scene loses its main point.

Who it is for

For painters of figures and busts and for makers of dioramas where people are part of a scene with machinery.

Use in a ventilated area, close the container carefully and store out of the reach of children.