and just thought I would go ahead and record this for those who are interested. I wrote

a blog a little while back about mixing flesh tones and included several still shots, but

thought I would go ahead and do a video to make it easier to see as well. A lot of times

I get asked, "How do you mix flesh tones?" There are several different ways of doing

that but, basically, I'm going to go ahead and show you how I start out. This isn't the

only way to start out, of course, but it's my particular way of mixing flesh tones. And

each portrait is different, each painting is different so that all depends as well.

The portrait I'm going to be working on today is an outdoor portrait which is a very high

keyed portrait which means the value range is very high. So, instead of going all the

way down to my darkest value, I'm actually using half the scale. Basically, three-quarters

of the scale I would say. Instead of using my darkest dark, I'm using more of a middle

dark value range, using those values up, so it all depends. If I was doing an indoor portrait

I'd obviously mix darker values as well and darker colors. To go ahead and get started

here, I'll show you what colors I have laid out here on my palette. These are all Winsor

Newton colors. What I have here is Raw Sienna, Gold Ochre, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Cadmium Yellow,

Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Scarlet, Cadmium Red and Cadmium Red Deep, and then Permanent Alizarin

Crimson, and then this color here, this sort of flourenscent green color is Cadmium Green

Pale. I have a Sap Green, a Prussian Green, I have Viridian, Manganese Blue Hue, and a

French Ultramarine Blue. And then down here for my white, I have Titanium White. The way

I organize my palette is based on temperature, so basically the warm colors are over here,

it moves from warm over to cool colors. But then also, within each of these different

color families I have a warm and cool version. Like a Raw Sienna is cooler than a Gold Ochre,

the Cadmium Yellow Pale is warmer than the Cadmium Yellow, the Cad Orange is warmer than

the Cad Scarlet and so forth. The reason they get cooler is because they are moving towards

the cooler side. So say I have a Cadmium Yellow Pale. The reason Cadmium Yellow is cooler

is because it has more red in it, so it gets cooler in that respect. And that's basically

how I lay out my palette. I don't use black on my palette, not to say that I don't use

black. Occasionally I will, but I use it for more of a blue, actually. If you mix an ivory

black with a little bit of white, you'll get a bluish tint. There's nothing wrong with

using black at all, John Singer Sargent used it very well and was able to incorporate it

into flesh tones, but he used it as more of a graying agent, as more of a bluish color.

But, anyway, let's start mixing colors here. Basically when I'm mixing colors, I'm using

some warm mixtures to start out with. I like to use a Gold Ochre and then sometimes I'll

mix the Gold Ochre with a Cad Scarlet and mix those two together. I'll add some white

to that and then basically I get a warm color to start out with which is fine because later

on I can add the cooler colors into it, particularity the complements. You get different values

here by adding different degrees of white. It's interesting to note that the more white

you add to a color, the cooler it actually makes that color. OK, that's Cad Scarlet and

I could do the same thing if I took Cad Red and mix those two together and add some of

that white in there and you get a slightly different version or variation because it

leans towards the red side, whereas the Cad Scarlet leans toward the orange side. It's

actually in between a Cad Orange and Cad Red. You can see the difference here if I lay them

side by side. This one definitely has more red in it. Anyhow, I'll move it back here

to keep it over in it's family. Now I'll go ahead and mix a lighter value as well. The

reason I put so much white on my palette here than any other color is because I go through

a lot of white when I mix flesh tones. Talking about palettes, this palette is actually just

a piece of glass that I've laid over top a piece of foam board. And basically what is

does is it provides me with, I prefer to start out on a white canvas, there are some artists

that work on a toned canvas, which means you put a light wash like a burnt umber or some

sort of an earth tone on there. Some people tone their canvas grey. It all depends on

how you work, but the way I like to work is on a blank white canvas. So by putting a white

piece of foam board underneath, it just gives me, allows me to judge colors a little bit

easier. And I've done this for so many years, I'm just used to working on a white palette.

Joe Bowler, an artist from Hilton Head, South Carolina, a fantastic portrait painter, got

me started using a glass palette back when I was in college, and I've been using one

ever since. Actually, this whole color scheme here, the way that I set up my palette, is

basically Joe Bowler's palette as well, give or take a few colors. You don't necessarily

need all these colors. As an artist, a lot of these are convenience colors, meaning that

you don't have to mix every one in order to paint. When it comes to working with color,

you really only need the three primary colors, a very limited palette You could do it with

a yellow, a red, and a blue, and then white as well, and mix a huge variety of colors

that way. But for me, I just like to use the extra colors. It just makes it easier for

me. And that's pretty much the reason why I have so many colors here. Another thing

that I'll mention here is that the palette knife that I'm using is a larger palette knife.

It has a larger trowel shaped handle which makes it easier. There are some that come

with a straight handle, but when you mix paint you end up with a big glob of paint near the

handle, so it makes sense to me to use a trowel handle. It's a good size for mixing a lot

of paint. So, let me go ahead and mix some more paint. I've got some warm colors to start

out with and then I'll introduce some of these cooler colors, too. I'll do a blue, a French

Ultramarine Blue, which is a beautiful blue and doesn't take a whole lot to change the

color when you use that French Ultramarine. We'll go with a darker value here. When I

talk about Value, I won't go into detail now, but value refers to different degrees of dark

and light that are measured on a scale from black to white. So every color has a value

that is automatically assigned to it whether we realize it or not. As an artist, it's very

important to realize that so you can work with color more effectively. Value sets the

stage on which color performs. In other words, color can't survive without value, everyone

of these colors I'm mixing has a value, whether its a lighter value or a darker value, but

it's going to fall somewhere on the value scale from black to white, somewhere in there.

The reason I use the black and white scale is just for the fact that it's easier to measure.

Sometimes color can trick you, especially when using reds.A lot of times when I'm judging

values, I notice, for myself, that reds sometimes play a trick on your eyes. Sometimes I think

they're lighter than they actually are. If you take a photo, or a black and white photo,

or convert your photo to black and white, you'll notice you get the true value relationships.

A lot of times that is what I'll actually do when I'm working on a portrait. If I come

across an area that I'm having a difficult time determining whether the values are too

light or too dark because I'm working in very subtle skin tones, very subtle values, I'll

take a picture and convert it to black and white on the computer or on the camera and

take a look at it just to see what the actual value is compared to the other values in the

painting. Anyhow, back to my demonstration here,. I tend to go off on rabbit trails quite

often. Also to let you know, my children just got home from school not too long ago and

they may barge in. If so, you'll know the reasoning behind it, but hopefully they won't.

So what I'm going to do is mix some French Ultramarine and what I want to do is mix a

little bit of Viridian as well. Viridian is a very cool green. The reason it's so cool

is because here you can see the Sap Green contains a lot of yellow in it. It leans toward

the warmer side. The further up you go, you get to Viridian which has a lot more blue

in it. Because there is so much blue in it, it leans more, it's a lot cooler in comparison

to say a Sap Green. It takes a little more Viridian though. It doesn't have the same

tinting strength as French Ultramarine. When I say tinting strength, I'm talking about

the ability to change, the ability to tint a color very quickly, meaning it takes more

paint, more Viridian to get the same value when you mix it to white than it would if

you mixed the French Ultramarine Blue with white. Let's get a little more of this white

over here. When I start out, I like to get a bunch of different values of warm and cooler

colors just so it makes it easier. It's less time consuming later on. It takes a little

time in the beginning, but you actually save time later on because I don't have to go back

and mix all these things and I can just start dipping into each one of them. The reason

I do the different values is because I'm trying to get similar values over here with the warmer

colors and get the similar values with the cooler colors as well. Then when the time

comes, which I'll show you in just a few minutes, when I do want to mix a couple of these colors

together, instead of changing the value every single time before I add it to one of these

values, I can add a similar value, almost the same value and just change the color without

changing the values, which is very important. If I wanted to add more of a bluish, more

of a blue to this color down here, just to kind of neutralize, kind of make more of a

grey color for skin tones instead of adding this dark blue. If I added this darker blue

into this, or even added straight Ultramarine Blue into this color here, I'm not only changing

the color but changing the value, which you don't want to do. When I'm painting portraits,

I like to find which value I need first of all, and once I determine the value, I can

then mix the color to match that value. I just find it easier to do that as well. I'm

going to take a little bit of this Ultramarine Blue and this is that Permanent Alizarin Crimson.

I use the Permanent Alizarin Crimson. I used to use just the regular Alizarin Crimson but

I guess they found out that it wasn't quite as permanent. So now they have some a Permanent

Alizarin Crimson. It's a little more expensive, but I'd rather use a paint that is going to

last, especially when it comes to a commissioned portrait, because you are creating an heirloom

that will be passed down from one generation to another and you want it to be able to last.

So what I've done here is make two different versions of this purple color. I have more

of a cool version, which has more Ultramarine Blue, and I have more of a warm version which

has more Permanent Alizarin Crimson in it. Now I can take those and I have to get some

more white here, but I can take those and add more white in them as well. Color is a

very intuitive thing. Every artist sees color differently and every artist mixes color differently

but it's an intuitive reaction. Whenever I'm painting and put a color down on the canvas,

I'm always reacting to it, whether it's too cool, too warm, whether the value is not right,

or just in general whether or not I get a feeling of whether or not it works. And if

I don't think it works, I'll go ahead and put down another color or I'll adjust the

color somewhat and it's that back and forth reacting to color that is very important.

It's not a set method every single time for each painting because every painting is different

and requires different color combinations. And, actually, color itself, when it comes

to mixing flesh tones, there is no one particular color that is going to make up flesh tones

or give you the illusion of skin color. When it comes to color, one of the keys to painting

flesh tones is the combination of colors- how you mix warm and cool colors together

and how you get, what I call, grays which are different mixtures of complimentary colors

in different degrees which I'll show you here in a minute. But you can't just have something

like this color for flesh tones because this is just way too warm. And you can't have something

that is too cool. If all the flesh tones are too cool, it will tend to look lifeless, and

doesn't have any life in it, so you have to strike a balance between the two. A lot of

times when I'm painting a portrait, the end game of a portrait is really somewhat difficult.

It's more than somewhat difficult. I'd say that it's one of the most difficult parts

of the portrait.That is one of the most difficult stages for me because it's at that last stage

that I'm trying to balance that color, trying to get enough warm and enough cool and enough

grays in there to balance each other out so that it gives the illusion of life inside

that skin, just like when we see flesh tones in real life there is a mixture of warm and

cool colors. When I talk about grays, grays happen when the form turns. Say you have a

light coming down on a subject and it goes around where the light meets the shadow. In

between there, that's usually where grays occur. For an indoor portrait, it's definitely

more of a grayish color. For an outdoor portrait, it's actually more of a color change as well.

You might go from a warm color directly to it's compliment and then switch over to more

of a warmer color so that it goes warm, cool, then warms up again as the bounced light is

being reflected back into that shadow. But the way I mix grays, once I get a basic mixture

like this, is by taking these cool colors and warm colors and mixing them together.

So over here we had the Gold Ochre and Cad Red. So that leans more towards the red side.

So if I took a little bit of this Viridian and I mix that together, I'm going to get

something that ends up what I call graying down. It becomes more of a grayish color.

See how that works? And that gray is very important because I can take it and and introduce

it into the flesh tones and it helps to balance out all this warm color that is going on.