The Instinctive Artist

 

Chapter 8

 

 

 

 

 

Applying the Skin Tones after you have painted the features as in the previous chapters.

 

 

Use a Mop Brush.

 

The reason for the mop brush is it holds a lot of paint and also a lot of water. It is also very useful to use when clean and wet to lift off excess water from washes.

 

You have mixed three grades of skin tone as a portrait is often based on the principle of light against dark, the eye is, the nose is and so is the mouth. This principle gives our subject depth.

 

Wet the face area with clean water, let the paper rest for one minute and then apply the lightest tone on the face as illustrated: leave an area on the nose white as discussed in Chapter 5.

 

Now we want to suggest areas of darker skin tone: these are usually at the sides of the forehand, and under the bottom lip (obviously this varies depending on the light source) and around the eyes.

 

Apply the second grade of skin tone as illustrated.

 

Let that dry for one minute and then add you darkest skin tone, under the bottom lip and on the neck area as illustrated.