When painting a face you can see som e
standard colors in the flesh tones. Usually. It's not that obvious and you
have to look very well, old man for instance they have more obvious these colors, women less, children less but always there is something to be seen. I'll show you more or less what are the basics of these three
zones of flesh colors in the face. What colors are used for this example? I start with making the three light
colors for the forehead. A more yellowish one so there is Ochre, White and a touch of Terra Rosa and I make a string with White. that's my color for the forehead now I make a light color for the cheeks. There is more Red in, Terra Rosa and White. also the white string. For the third I prepare first a gray one. Ivory Black and Titanium White, that makes the sort of
gray but I know this has a bluish character. The third one I start with
Titanium White a little bit of Terra Rosa and some of this gray. You see: I hardly use any black in the shadows but in the light zone for this demonstration I use this gray. Now what I need is a shadow. Transparen Oxide Red , Viridean Green, and a touch of Cadmium Red Deep to make it more reddish, warmer. Shadows are warm. That's maybe too much red so a
little bit of green extra and I can start with the portrait. Right, I just make a portrait out of imagination, more or less to explain what the three colors
in the face look like. I start with the shadow and here we go The chin. Half of this size are the eyes, From the eyebrow, the half and half is the end of the nose and this zone the area is divided in 3/3. Here were the eyes. the eye socket. I start already with some shadow, It's only a simple explanation. The shadow under the nose, a cast shadow
under the nose. This wrinkle here. Something of the mouth. A shadow here. And the ear of course. Well with this information I start
explaining the three colors. First on the forehead and I said there is some ochre to be seen. Why there is ochre? There is not so much blood over there. Here the temple Maybe a little bit more down. Now the red for the nose and the cheeks. and you see I just simply block in the whole area. I don't pay attention so much to a good
likeness because I do this from memory. Under the eyes On the cheeks there is more blood. Remember if you come from outside in wintertime, this two zones are really red because of the blood over there. Now. The third color is the grayish one, on the upper lip here. Let's forget the whole lip. The chin Here is more a combination of the three. That's the starting point for the three
basic colors on the face. The ear ears never can be too red I always say so why not do it like this. it's a very thin wash. First I do again the deep shadows
to get a sort of solid image and I start with the hair. If you need black don't paint black. I give the men black hair and black is Transparent Oxide Red
(or Burnt Sienna) and Utramarine Blue. It makes a beautiful black. if you add a touch of green it gets warmer. and you see it's a dark, dark hair. A dark
color. and no black. And I try to make the darks always transparent because it's easy to add on top more contrast. I'll tell you later:
Darks are easier to make darker and lights are easier to make lighter. So that's for the hair. Well let me do the same accents for the eyebrow more or less, I don't
hang around so much here. The receding plane towards the background is a shadow, a warm shadow. Going to the chin there is more gray. The shadow under his bottom lip. Always
there. Now the shadow side of his jaw. I make a warm one. Shadows are warm. And a dark for the eye socket. I forget about the details. You see the eye socket. Make it simple. Well anyway I want to show it very simple. Give the man a real eye so he can see. More or less here and more or less there. I soften it a little bit. It's very simple: Yellowish Reddish Grayish But there is also a volume, so let me come back first on the forehead. I think I need a little bit darker over there but still I want to explain that it's
here sometimes, not always, more ocherish. On the temple sometimes there is more Green. The turning away towards the shadow
part. The brow ridge. It's always the soft connection. The eyebrow here has some
gray. Well let me do first some lips. I make a mixture of these Reds Maybe a little bit higher. The connection here. The bottom lip usually is more bluish. So I add a touch of Ultramarine Blue here. So this is my first stage. Now I continue painting the red part of the face. For instance the nose. Noses, like ears usually are more red. Maybe that's too much he is not an alcoholic. The nostril wing, this wrinkle which is
always very visible. I always make it lighter and more red. There is more temperature. I don't make them often so dark. Now the connection of the rounding here, it is always important to make it a good connection. I mean this connection. It's always difficult to get these roundness on the right place. Once again here a little bit. Of course the chin has to be reshaped as
well. This little dimple. At the same time I start reshaping a
little bit all the forms. Blue, Transparent Oxide Red makes a rich
black. I keep painting now at random where I
think I need some accents for instance on the upper lip. Here always the upper lip turns inside the volume of the lip. so there are two things: the lip ends but the volume turns inside so there is almost always a sort
of shadow to be seen. Well the philtrum. Let me make this darker. Here also this lovely corner of the
mouth. It's always important to get these connections in the rounding on the right
place. A sharp shadow is not that difficult to paint but in the roundness
there is always a more soft connection. Soft transition from one tone to another and let me try to make the whole cheek a little bit more round. I will add the touch of green in this gray area. First I'll do something for the neck. maybe this is sort of okay. Continue with the temple. as I said, sometimes there is more green to be seen here. And I connect with the top of the
cheekbone and the cheek. I want more temperature so I go back to my color that I prepared for this gray but a touch darker. Maybe darker. A little bit of ochre of course. Some of this gray That's what I mean. It's the shadow of the beard, let's say the shadow of the beard. Here, towards the chin usually
it gets less colorful. More gray. Ah! there's too much red still on my brush. This is what I mean. Look there is more
gray. It is, once again, very schematic but just to explain what I mean. On the upper lip as well there is hardly any red to be seen. On the chin in the center of
the chin usually I mean here there is usually more color. Not that much. The wrinkle over there that's the end of this one. Usually it produces a shadow here. Let me extend this one and shadow there
for the bottom lip. On the nose there is a highlight course. And highlights are cool and this is a cool highlight: White and Crimson You know: lights are cool, shadows are warm,
deep shadows are hot. Well this can do for the highlight on his nose. Also this part of the zone under the eye socket catches some light. Also the cheekbone here. On the forehead also. You see? Now it's sort of coming. It looks maybe strange but you can see
what I mean. First I do some more indication of the eyes otherwise it
looks sort of ugly. but little by little I'm getting to the end of my explanation. The cast shadow of the upper eyelid. Usually a wrinkle over there. A deeper shadow on the other side so I add more Viridian Green to that mixture. Usually if the light comes from this side like here it does, this is the
darkest part often in the face. so that's a dark shadow. But still it's a warm, dark shadow. The bottom eyelid. Here maybe. The bottom eyelid itself sometimes is more reddish. Not too red otherwise it looks as if the
sitter was crying. But there is usually on this side of the bottom eyelid some more red and sometimes even more crimson. Towards at the tear duct. Not too much. As I said I don't want him to cry. I go back to the wrinkle because I need some more contrast over here. This wrinkle and this usually I'll them make less. Like I told you. A little red accent for the end of the nostril wing. Connect the shadow over there. Reshape the philtrum. There is once again more gray. Where the lip, the upper lip turns inside, there is soft connection and the separation between the two lips and I make out of Crimson and my dark shadow. I see people sometimes doing this with black or blue. NEVER DO THAT. It doesn't match, you don't believe the whole thing. Make it a warm separation. Like the nostril itself: make it warm.
Never use black or blue over there. It's killing. It doesn't do the job. There is some light on his upper eyelid here usually. You see little by little the
whole portrait comes alive and once again very schematic information that I give you. Usually you see all kinds of colors but this is the way I wanted to
show you. Because there is no need to really, really copy all the colors that you see. Sometimes you can make the colors that you think you see. The likeness does not depend on the exact color. The likeness comes out of the
relation of the tonal value. It has nothing to do with color. Of course you must have the good color and stupid colors don't do the job. This looks still a little bit funny and let me do some information on the ear. First the ear. Ears never can be too red, once again. So Crimson. Here shape of the ear, more or less. Going down the ear it is less red. So like this, the ear lob. When you start making it simple it's easy to paint. Don't see it too complicated. Usually people see far too many colors. Well I said I will reshape a little bit the forehead. To make it acceptable, there is maybe a touch of red here. so I mix them both. Here where the volume turns into the eye socket it's a round thing. There is more shadow. If the man doesn't wear a hat and his head catches some sun, he gets some sun tan over here. That connecting down. Some lighter accents for these wrinkles. If you see wrinkles only make one or two . That gives some information.
over there and like in the cool highlights here there is also some highlight on his hair. Or highlight, let's say lighter areas. I make a sort of Mauve. Crimson and Ultramarine Blue Some of these here. Also I didn't tell you that yet: Take care of these soft connections. hair is soft. Try to imitate the softness here. Here is a sharp, crisp edge and here hair is soft. Well I'll do one highlight on his lip. I see there is a light on his lip still missing. Usually it's here. Why not one there? White, Ivory Black and a touch of Ochre, let me make more. Let me give him a little bit more of
red on his cheek. Like this. And a soft connection. A grayish highlight on his upper lip. You know it's endless of Of course you know I want to make a nice show. So let me try to finish it a little bit
better. The start of the nose here, there is also a shadow on this part as well this A soft connection for the eyebrow. That's softer Here also a soft one although it's a cast shadow. I try to make it a little bit soft. Especially here One of these nice highlights here Crimson and Viridian Green. I want to warm it up. So in this very short demonstration, only 30 minutes of painting I showed you how to divide the colors in the face. Sometimes you see more yellowish here, Sometimes you see more red over here and sometimes more grayish. I really hope you enjoyed this video. please don't forget to like it. One of my next videos will be on troubleshooting how to come back on and already dry portrait and also I'll show you the Newspaper trick. See you later.
