How to Paint Flesh Colours Using the Zorn Palette with Alex Tzavaras

welcome back everyone Alex Jabbar's here in this video I'm going to show you how to paint flesh colors using the Zorn palette while painting an ala prima portrait from life but before we get started I just wanted to say it's been a few months into my last video that's the cost in addition to the demo you're about to watch I've also been working on a full-length version filmed entirely in real time now all of my videos take me a long time to make because I put a lot of thought into explaining what I'm doing in a way that's easy to understand but this full-length version is taking me so long to make that I couldn't wait to finish the whole thing before releasing it so I've decided to make part 1 available on my new patreon channel if you'd like to see exactly how I painted the portrait demo you're about to watch in real time with a step-by-step commentary explaining in detail what I'm doing and why click on the link to my patreon below I think you're going to find it very valuable anyway let's get back to this demo the Zorn palette named after the 19th century Swedish painter and Azure is a limited palette consisting of just four colors titanium white yellow ochre cadmium red light and ivory black these four colors are essentially variations of the three primaries the yellow ocher is a cool grey yellow the cadmium red light is a strong saturated warm red and think of the black as a warm D saturated blue the Zorn palate can give you a surprisingly wide range of colors but what it's particularly convenient for is flesh colors making it a great palette for students to start portrait and figure painting with our model for today's demo is Arianne in profile lit with diffused north daylight for this demo I've decided I'm only going to partially cover the canvas with a colored ground so here I'm thinking about how I'm going to place the ground around the head the ground I'm using is ivory black mixed with turpentine to place the ground I'm using a large soft brush then wiping it back with some paper towel as I need it to be dry before I start painting on it here I'm starting to map out the features using lines to indicate the eyes and nose in relation to the top and bottom of the head I'm also placing a center line that runs vertically down from the bridge of the nose through to the middle of the mouth this is all the preliminary drawing that I'll do before going in with color so this first color I'm going to mix will be a general flesh tone for the main light areas made with titanium white yellow ochre cadmium red and a little ivory black to great down a mistake beginners often make is to start with a flesh tone that's too light and saturated like bright pink or orange this initial flesh color will probably need to be a little darker and certainly grayer and more neutral than you think also pay attention to how much paint I'm using another mistake people often make is not to use enough paint four colors to appear the way they're supposed to they need to be applied reasonably thickly this next color is for the shadows notice how I'm using all four colors I want you to think of the zone palette a bit like the ink in your color printer which uses cyan magenta yellow and black in different quantities to match any color you the shadows are warmer and darker than the original flesh color so to create this mixture on adding much more red and black if you've seen my other videos on color you will know that I work by matching the value and temperature relationships are my colors warmer or cooler lighter or darker compared with my previous mixtures with the Zorn palette this way of working is quite straightforward you warm colors up with red in yellow and cool them down with black and white with my new color I'm starting to map out the shadow shapes beginning with the side of her nose because Ariana's turned towards the light the shadows correspond to the side plains of her head here I'm using a line to indicate where the front plane of her head meets the side plane the corner of her head where the shadow meets the light notice how much I'm simplifying the shapes I'm squinting down and trying to ignore all the surface information the gradual value transitions or the color variation within each of the shapes in the same way that a sculptor will start by carving out the big planes of their subject before refining it I'm trying to establish the big planes of Aryans head using the two main value colors here I'm starting to mix my third main value the highlights this is much cooler and lighter than my original flesh tone so it's mainly titanium white yellow ochre just a little cadmium red so I now have a color for three of my main values the highlights the lights and the shadows I'll use these three main values to block in my subject here I'm using a palette knife to mix more of my main flesh color it takes a little longer than mixing with a brush but using a palette knife to mix colors is a great way of ensuring you use enough paint because the flesh tone is one of my main colors and I'm going to keep having to come back to it I don't want to run out you here I'm starting to mass in the side plane of her head with my shadow color I'll stick to just three colors continuing to correct and adjust the shapes until I get something that starts to look like Arianne this is like seeing someone you know in the distance you recognize them from far off just by seeing the large plains of their head without seeing the colors of their eyes or anything once I'm happy that I have enough of a lightness I'm ready to move on to the refining stages here I'm starting to think about the edges in between the shadows and the lights but be careful it's very easy to get caught up in detail and rush into the refining stages too soon I often find I run into trouble if I start refining before I finished the blocking so now that I'm happy with the Block in I'll start to mix a fourth main value color the mid-tones the mid-tones are a value in between the shadows and the lights and they are much cooler than the shadows so they contain greater quantities of yellow and black to go back to our analogy of a sculptor this fourth main value represents the next plane to be cut away to further refine or model the form like a sculptor I'll model the form by using my new color to add the value transitions in between the shadows and the lights here I'm mixing a warmer version of the mid-tone which I'm using for the edge in between the side of the nose and the front of the cheek as I start thinking about the variation in color I'm really careful not to lose control of the values I definitely do not want to add more values or I'll start over modeling and my form will lose its 3d appearance it's important to remember that even though we may see a wide variety of colors we must keep the values simple so each new color that I mix will belong to one of my main values here are mixing a warmer version of my original flesh color which needs to be a bit warmer so I'm adding more yellow and red you with the edges and the color variation added the modeling stage of this middle section of the portrait the area around the eyes and nose is almost done from here I could proceed to model the forehead or the area around the mouth and jaw but instead I think I'm going to finish this middle section off completely and start work on the eyes you this next color represents my fifth main value the dark accents so I now have five values the dark accents the shadows the mid-tones the lights and the highlights I will limit myself to these five values and any colors that I mix will be variations of them here I'm scratching out the corner of the eye with the back of my brush I like using the back of my brush for details because it makes it a lot easier to correct any mistakes before going in with paint here are mixing a color for the iris a cool gray made with ivory black yellow ochre and white you which I need to lighten with more white you with the four colors I have available I will be unable to match every color that I see exactly but by matching the value and temperature I can still achieve something realistic that looks like my subject with a greater choice of color on my palette perhaps with a few more brighter pigments I could add much more variation and make this a more colorful painting but for this to be successful and still appear realistic every color I put down even bright notes of pure color still need to have the right value and temperature and if there are any bright notes these need to be used sparingly and balanced out with neutrals and grays you here are mixing a background-color made of just black and white which I'm going to use to start carving our Arianne's profile notice how blue this new color appears when compared with the warmer earthier flesh tones I'm now mixing an even warmer version of the shadow value which I'm using for the shadow cast by the back of the nostril once the eyes have been resolved I'll move on to the nose starting from the back of the nostril lining it up down and across from the corner of the eye I've actually not made Arianne's nose big enough so here I'm scraping it back and I'm going to have another go I'll not often be able to get my drawing accurate on the first attempt learning to correct your mistakes as you go along is an essential part of the painting process and it's really important for gaining confidence with the eyes and nose finished our next going to work on the hair so here I'm starting to mix a dark-brown for the hair using black red and yellow ochre now I actually find this one of the drawbacks of using the Zorn palette although it's perfectly possible to create browns because they will almost always contain some yellow ochre and yellow ochre is an opaque color your browns won't have the transparency of other earth pigments like a transparent oxide or an umber I'm now using this dark brown color to mass in the hair I've diluted it with a little medium so there is some transparency but it still appears much flatter than it would had I used a transparent earth pigment you I'm now making a star on the hairline you'll see a lot of soft transitions along the hairline with cool edges where the skin fades into the hair and warmer edges wherever the hair casts a shadow onto the face I could have definitely spent a bit more time on the rest of the hair but as I have to finish this demo in one sitting I'm running out of time so next I'm going to work on the mouth but before I do anything else I need to clean my palate eventually after mixing more and more variations in color I've gotten to the stage where all my values the mids lights and shadows have started to get mixed together so in order to keep my colors clean I'm going to have to scrape this mud off and start mixing fresh colors here are mixing one of the warmest to most saturated colors in this whole painting the red of areand lips I'll use it to mass in the whole of Aryans mouth placing it carefully by seeing how it lines up with the eyes and nose here I'm mixing a new highlight color you and here I'm mixed color for the lower half of the face this will be cooler than my original flesh color I'll then work on the edges around the mouth looking for soft transitions and hard accents you and here are mixing a new color for the shadow under the jaw ready to start work on the jaw line if you've seen my other videos on color you'll know I'm a fan of limited palettes I remember when I started painting how hard it was to decide what colors to use particularly when you walk into an art shop and you see all the colors that there are to choose from I also remember how easy it is to end up with a complete mess on my palette after I put out too many colors without knowing what I was doing that's why I recommend starting off with a limited palette like this sorne palette in order to really get your head around principles like tonal values and color temperature before you start experimenting with a wider choice of colors and hopefully with this demo I've shown you how it's possible to achieve realistic results with only a few colors here I'm finishing this demo by adding a few last details to the mouth so there you have it I've tried to be really methodical for this one so I hope my explanation has been clear if you'd like to see the full-length version where I talk in more depth covering things like working out proportions painting features like the eyes or the types of brushes I use head on over to my new patreon channel where part one is available to watch now anyway I hope you enjoyed this video thank you for watching you

Channel: SIMPLIFY Drawing and Painting

Views: 660,794

Rating: 4.9588318 out of 5

Keywords: portrait painting, oil painting, how to paint portraits, skin colours, colour mixing, how to paint, zorn palette, oil painting tutorial, portrait painting tutorial, zorn palette skin tones, zorn palette oil painting, zorn palette painting, anders zorn, limited palette painting, limited palette oil painting, limited palette oil, flesh colours oil painting, flesh colours, skin tones oil paint

Id: Y7xbMGqLS30

Length: 20min 0sec (1200 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 23 2019