another skintone painting problem...

[yblavier]

I've been using the following mix for painting skintones: gold ochre, burnt sienna and titanium white.

Many people have suggested that I use pure burnt sienna for the shadows. I just find the result too orange.

Does anyone have suggestions on how to tone down the orange look?

Many thanks!

 

[Bad91Fellow]

If I want to make the face more gray, I use Van-Dyck-Brown, and less burnt sienna.
yours

 

[brian]

Much the same advice.A dab of raw umber will tone down the orangey tone you'll always get with burnt sienna
Brian

 

[bwildfong]

I have been using Mars Brown (Old Holland brand) for my deepest shadows - it takes the face away from the orange and more towards a cooler, almost brownish purple shadow tone. This seems to balance the Burnt Sienna (which I use as an initial base coat) better, to my eye at least.

Hope this helps,

Brian

 

[Einion]

Many people have suggested that I use pure burnt sienna for the shadows. I just find the result too orange.

Most of the time that would be dead on IMO - Burnt Sienna paint is generally the wrong hue for a start, as well as being far too saturated to use by itself to represent this kind of colour.

FWIW: Gold Ochre + Burnt Sienna would usually be far too yellow to be a good basis for caucasian skin, unless the Burnt Sienna were a particularly red example.

Does anyone have suggestions on how to tone down the orange look?

Ideally it would be best to mix the skintones in a completely different way. But if you want to stick with Burnt Sienna then the main thing to be fixed is probably best done using a little blue + white.

French Ultramarine/Ultramarine/Ultramarine Blue is probably the best thing to try first if you have it.

Einion

 

[yblavier]

Badfellow, brian and bwildfong: would you add those colors to the base mix (burnt sienna, gold ochre, tit. white)? Or would you add the color to the shadows mix or use it "stand-alone", e.g. wet-on-dry?

Einion, what do you use as a base mix, shadow colors,...etc? I would never have thought of adding blue. Have to try that.

Many thanks for the replies guys, I'm really learning a lot of stuff here... I still have a lot of questions, but I'll take it one step at a time.

Greetz,
Yves Blavier

 

[tonydawe]

Hi Yves,

If you can find a colour wheel in your local art supply store this will help you learn the theory of how to balance your colours and add contrasting and complimentary colours to create subtle shades and hews.

As others have said Burnt Sienna will always skew you towards orange, and gold oche will too.

Einion is correct. A small amount of light blue will neutralise the orange and will create a more neutral skin tone.

 

[Einion]

Einion, what do you use as a base mix, shadow colors,...etc? I would never have thought of adding blue. Have to try that.

The mixes I've used for years now have been based around those of John Howard Sanden; the basic midtone is Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red, Titanium White and a dot of Cerulean Blue (full list of his mixes in this recent post). The cerulean isn't vital - a tint of nearly any other blue, as well as black, work practically identically.

If you don't want to have to mess with mixing complements then a brighter red earth - e.g. English Red, Light Red, Red Oxide - can be used instead of the cad red. This mix needs a touch of extra colour for some areas and a little glazing here and there will usually do the trick; the colour is a little less vibrant overall than when using a true red so if you prefer a low-key result then this is well worth trying.

Einion

 

[Bad91Fellow]

I always add Van-Dyck-brown to the basemix. But be carefull! I would try a VERY small amount of the colour first, and then maybe add a little more. But I also have to say that this mix is most of the time only good for winter faces, not for a sunburned greek hoplite in the summer for example.
yours

 

[painter x]

I personaly use burnt siena, raw siena and white for my skintone mixtures. I suggest using less burt siena and more white with your base mixture. For your highlights take the same mixture but lighten with your gold ochre color or raw siena and white. Hope this helps.

 

[Al DeFeo]

I use Naples Yello Deep instead of Gold Ochre. Also, use a dot of violet to cool down the warm shades.

 

[yblavier]

oh, so many colors....

Tony, good tip on the color wheel. I'll look for one in my local art store. What colors would you use instead of burnt sienna and gold ochre?

Einion, you put a great deal of work in posting those mixes! And the results in the pictures really look amazing. I want to try them out, but I'll have to buy a whole bunch of new tubes of oil paint... But I guess that's what it takes to get my painting skills up.

Badfellow, as a matter of fact, I'm painting a spartan warrior (King Leonidas)...

Painter X, I'll certainly try that out.