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Skin Tones - Page 2 of 6
By  Stephanie Shimerdla
Color theory?! Isn't that the stuff they teach you in school? Who wants all that boring stuff?
Well, you do. If you want your painting skill to go up to the 'next level' then color theory is essential. I've read several books on it, and I'll condense the essentials of what I learned right here. Talk about convenient! Of course, if you're familiar with color theory, feel free to continue on to the next step. |
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That's the color wheel. (I can just hear some of you groaning already.)
Colors that lie across from each other on the wheel are called Complementary colors. Red and green, orange and blue, etc. Most people's skin color lies in the oranges. This skin on this gal will end up looking fairly pinkish, but the base color that I'm using for the skin is a light, desaturated orange. See? |
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So, this piece is made up of mostly oranges and blues. This is NOT on accident. Complimentary colors are called that for a reason. Colors that are next to each other on the wheel (Analogous colors) work well together, too. Red, orange, and yellow would create a beautiful, 'warm' piece.
Okay, so to get down to the nitty gritty...
When you are shading a color, it is not simply that same color mixed with black. Oh, no. It is made up of a darker version of that color, yes. But it is also made up of that color's complimentary color and blue. To 'brighten' it up, I also like to add a bit of the more saturated version of that color in there, too.
So, for this skin shade, the shading will be done with a color that is a mixture of a darker orange(brown), orange, blue, and... blue. Blue IS the complimentary color, but it's also the color that most shadows are comprised of, so we'll just add a bit more blue to this mixture than orange/brown. What color do we come up with? A kind of reddish purple. |
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Of course, your color that you use for shading will be different depending upon each skintone that you choose. But now you know how to find it.
Highlights are different depending upon the skintone, as well as several other factors. For the more 'pink' skintones, I use a light turquoise color for the highlights. When I'm painting a more tanned skintone, my highlights tend more toward the light yellows. It will also depend upon the light source that you're choosing, as well... but I promised to keep this short, so this is a good start. |
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FARP Article Guestbook
| Date | Name | Comment | | | 12 Dec 2006 |  Obi-quiet |  Loading...Honey, that is just about the best facial coloring tutorial I've ever come across, and I've seen quite a few in my time.
I've also never EVER come across a color theory that actually starts someone on the track of figuring out shades and tints (I've ALWAYS had issues with that and have never known how to fix it!). If you have a color theory tutorial, well, that would make me a very VERY happy aspiring artist.
Thank you so much! | |
| 27 Dec 2006 | Mer-girl | Loading... This is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO helpfull! Better than makin' em' pink, yellow, or orange (EWW!) | |
| 9 Jan 2007 | Irrevenant | Loading... Very cool tutorial, thank you.
One thing you might want to add to the tutorial is the reason blue is added to the colouring of shadows etc. (ie. because it's tinted by the blue light from the sky). It might help people understand/remember the fact better, as well as making it clear that blue tinting isn't appropriate for features illuminated by electric light or firelight. | |
| 18 Feb 2007 | Bella | Loading... for sea-babe above, ITS PHOTOSHOP IDIOT. thats what all those 'photoshop' references are from, and where all the screenshots are from. duh.
anyway, this is a fantastic tutorial! it explains stuff really well, and the colouring is amazing. | |
| 21 Mar 2007 | Anonymous | Loading... I've been two hours looking for a good portrait tut. This one was very good. Would like to see more from the author. | |
| 9 May 2007 |  Tiffanie L. Gray | Loading... A very good overview tutorial on the tones and colors for skin and hair.
Perhaps in your next one, you can add more about actual tools and techniques you use in photoshop to achieve such glorious, smooth results!
Beautiful picture. | |
| 2 Sep 2007 |  Sofie Lemontzis | Loading... Amazing tutorial and pic! I would like to see more tutorials from you, especially one about the technique you use for drawing hair in photoshop because I find that very tricky. | |
| 10 Dec 2007 | Quazzie | Loading... Many many thanks for taking the time to help those of us who still suck =-] | |
| 6 Dec 2008 | Chris | Loading... That is so beautiful. Beautiful picture also very real looking | |
| 6 Dec 2008 | Chris | Loading... agree w/ Irrelevant, that it would be more helpful to add that information. Still a good tutorial though : )  | |
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