undercoats important?

[godfather]

I paint in oils and undercoat in acrylics usually mixing three different colours but it occurs to me that this mixing might be wasted as the oil colour will be a different colour or change the original tone. So it is more effective to choose one colour I.E. sand then mix flesh with oil or have a "complex" undercoat? Related question: I would be interested in knowing what people use as undercoats and the effect these have on the colour of the final flesh. As an example to make a warm Mediterranean flesh what undercoats would one use etc.

 

[quang]

Hello Bruno,

To me, the undercoat has its importance as it will give a 'cast' (character) to the semi-transparent oils final coat. Having said that, it would not necessarily have to be complex. you can use the colour straight from the bottle providing it's chosen with care.

In the case of Mediterranean skin tones, I'd suggest a greenish tan such as Vallejo's Green Ochre. By the simple law of contrast, this relatively 'cool' undercoat will give the needed warmth to your final coat.

White will appear more 'white' when put against a black background than it would do against a grey one. Warm will 'appear' warmer when pitted against cool. Think coffee after ice cream!

HTH

Quang

 

[slaj]

Hi Bruno. IMHO if you paint in oils undercoating is fundamental. Oils being so transparent is a way to make the best of the underlaying paint. The underlaying paint, being acrylics or humbrols etc. gives you a chance to 'adjust' the final oil color. Play around with the undercoat under the same oil colour and you will notice varying effects. What I mean is change the undercoat under , say, a red oil colour and you wll notice the different effects. Hope this helps

Stephen Mallia

 

[KeithP]

To just build on Stephens comment on transparency..

You'll note that some oils are more transparent than others... Azo yellow is very transparent so you'll need an undercoat. Most Cadmiums have better coverage and are more opaque.

It is important to try to match the acrylic undercoat to the oil. If they are too far off, the shades and highs on the oil will be less effective. If they are really off, the oil base looks cruddy too.

I have seen others paint oil directly over the primer effectively. If the oil has good coverage like Cad Red or WN Bright Red, you can do it.

As always, experiment on a card to see what will work ahead of time. For me, that is at least half the fun of painting! :lol:

Keith

Sorry - just noted your question on flesh undercoats. For the most part, I use Liquitex Deep Portrait Pink. For a darker mediteranean undercoat, I add a bit of Liquitex Burnt Sienna to the DPP. As I usually use oil burnt sienna this works very well!
---KP

 

[Kisifer]

Since I paint with oils i always undercoat my figure. I use color close to the one i'm going to paint. I choose i color close to the oil one. I use humbrols for this job. As for the flesh i also use for undercoating humbrols flesh No. 63 i think. It always works for me, since i can make my oil mix according to the situation.

 

[megroot]

Since i painted acrylic under my oils as close to the colour i wanted in oils my painting is in my opion better. I have not to do thick layers of oil, what is the trick of painting in oils.
Yes. i must say undercoating is a must.

Marc