painting a face with oils

[Andrew Clay]

hi guys,
i am going to transfer painting faces with oils. i used acrylics beforehand but found the not too work to well for me. i tried to paint a 1/16 face with the oils but didn't have much success as it just turned into a dark brown/yellow colour. what do i need to do to make this work. i got some abteilung 502 from mig. the colors are:
buff
shadow brown
wash brown
light rust brown
basic skin tone
lightskin tone
primer red

i am using daler-rowney 6,8and 4 size filberts.

andrew

 

[housecarl]

Here you go Andrew. http://www.tbfm.co.uk/index.php?opt...inting-a-face-in-oils&catid=42:tips&Itemid=24
Carl.

 

[baronband]

Hi Carl
i was just sitting flicking through the site when you put this link up for Andrew... thanks, i like it too!
John

 

[Andrew Clay]

thanks carl, i have bookmarked that. maybe my problem was that i was using too big of a brush and should go with a smaller one, such as s no. 1 round.

 

[Einion]

i am going to transfer painting faces with oils. i used acrylics beforehand but found the not too work to well for me.

How many have you tried?

For smaller scales in particular you might find oils a little more challenging to use, especially because you can't continue to paint and paint past a certain point because you have to stop and wait for the paint to dry overnight at least.

i am using daler-rowney 6,8and 4 size filberts.

Probably too big! Filberts are great brushes, but you might need two or three smaller brushes (rounds) to help with faces.

Just generally on colours when painting skin, be careful of using too much brown in shadow mixes for caucasians - check photos and look at yourself in the mirror. Shadows on skin aren't really brown, if you look at them closely you should be able to see they're basically a duller (slightly greyer) version of the colour they are in the light.

Einion

 

[Andrew Clay]

i did buy some smaller brushes other than the filbert brushes. i used vallejo, andrea and games workshop, but did not find them to suit me well. i will give them another go when i increase my skilles. so for the shadows, i should use a small amount of brown, with some red(?) and grey.

 

[Einion]

i did buy some smaller brushes other than the filbert brushes. i used vallejo, andrea and games workshop, but did not find them to suit me well.

The main thing to get used to is working wet over dry, it's the primary way of using acrylics and any similar paints.

After you've undercoated it's a process of slowly building up to the final colour in successive layers. Since they dry so quickly, and you can speed this up even more by giving it a quick blast with a hairdryer, you can apply layer after layer in quick succession.

so for the shadows, i should use a small amount of brown, with some red(?) and grey.

Yes, there are numerous other mixes but that's actually one very good way of mixing some darker skin colours. One of my favourite mixes for deep shadows is Burnt Umber with a little grey and a dot of Cad Red Light.

Einion

 

[steve j]

hi andrew
a good brush helps it doesn't have to be a well known name as long as as it's red sable or kolinsky sable dont take any notice of what catagory the art shop puts them in this is what you want and not a synthetic bristle

 

[Gellso]

I use fine brushes to apply dots of paint then use a flat brush and stab at the paint as i find it blends in gradually and more smooth than trying to push it around with a fine tip... 120mm is the minimum scale I use this technique on.