The topic of this article was sparked by the plea of a reader: 'How on earth do I mix flesh colours?' I make you a promise: Unless commissioned to illustrate a medical textbook, you will never be called upon to paint human flesh.
Now, unless you are a vegan, or have never been in a kitchen, you already know the colours of flesh. You have seen the gray/white through pink to blood red of fish, fowl and red meats - all stripped of their skin. But even in a Life class, your models will be wearing their skins.
So, it is skin - not flesh - you will be painting. Does that make it sound less daunting? Well, be warned. A limp fillet of raw flesh, lying flat and featureless on a chopping board, is a doddle to paint. Skin, however, covers a shape with myriad curves and hollows. It reflects light where the underlying structure bulges into a forehead or juts into a nose.
Further, that light may be cool or warm, depending on its source. In the depressions of an eye socket or the inside of an elbow, delicate shadows reveal the shapes. On top of all that, the 'local' tone of your subjects' skin will vary immensely. And there is more: You will need to be aware of those areas where the blood flows close to the surface, casting a rosy glow over the ears, nose, neck and so on.
Enough of the frighteners. Here is the basic fact that will keep you on track: All of us are coloured in some variation of orange-brown.
To us painters, that means Burnt Sienna. From the translucent 'white' of a Nicole Kidman, through the 'yellow' of a Chinese, to the 'black' of a Melanesian, it is only a matter of adding White to lighten or Cobalt Blue to darken the basic Burnt Sienna. (I prefer Cobalt Blue in these mixtures because it is cooler and more opaque than Ultramarine. I never use Thalo Blue because I find it too strong for any skin tone I have ever seen.)
And there are two methods of tackling the challenge of painting people.
The first is alla prima, the direct laying down of paint in one application, without using glazing or scumbling techniques. It is chosen by a majority of painters because it seems simpler. But when a painter is inexperienced in rendering the figure, this method can all too often lead to a 'muddy' result as the shadow colours are blended - or over-blended - into the wet paint.
So, if you choose this method and are not supremely confident of your brushwork, I strongly recommend laying your shading on the nearly dry figure with glazes. A glaze is simply a small amount of transparent pigment carried in a glazing medium. Some examples of transparent pigment are Viridian Green, Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson, Raw Sienna and so on. Glaze mediums have entire recipe books to themselves but a reliable alternative is Windsor & Newton Liquin, modified with distilled turps. Experiment until you find the mix that suits your style. The thing to remember is not to dilute the medium so much that it becomes too weak to achieve a good adherence.
I have mentioned (nagged!) before that good figure painting relies on good figure drawing, so I will assume you have done your homework and have checked and rechecked proportions as you made the sketch for your painting. You will have done this in a thin mix of Raw Umber and turps, very easy to adjust as you go along. Now you can take a step that will be an invaluable help in keeping the three dimensional quality of your subject.
With a thin mix of Burnt Sienna - do not worry that it looks like a so-called 'Red' Indian at this point - loosely model the structure of your subject, shading the hollows and wiping out the main highlights. (I always use paper facial tissues, since a rag can too easily 'muddy' the colours.) Pay close attention to the direction of the light, as this is what defines the shape of what you are painting.
While this layer 'sets up' a little, you can make the mixtures that closely match the main colours of your subject's skin. In a Caucasian person, these will consist of White with Burnt Sienna, that mix with a little Yellow Ochre, the same with a very little Cobalt Blue, and with a bit of Cadmium Red. When these are all laid out on your palette, you can begin building the head or figure in quick strokes that follow the direction of its curves.
What gives your subject 'life' is the accurate placing of highlights, so these need careful observation. Do be aware that, with the exception of that tiny flash in the eye - where the convex cornea catches the light - highlights are never pure White. They are warm or cool, and so need a finely judged addition of the appropriate pigment. Control your eagerness and allow the painting at least two days before you add the glazes. This way, you will have lively shadows that rest lightly on your painted figure, as they do in real life.
The second method is one that took me some years to work out and perfect. It is the 'secret' of the luminous skin quality so often remarked on in my paintings, but applies only to oil painting. As so often in oil painting, it demands patience during the necessary waiting periods while each step dries. So it is a good idea to have at least three paintings always in progress.
As before, make your modelled sketch, but let it dry thoroughly. Then, (assuming the subject is Caucasian) cover the entire head or figure with an underpainting mixed from Yellow Ochre, Cobalt Blue and Alizarin Crimson, modified with White. Adjust this mixture until it matches the undertones of your subject's skin over bony areas, checking it against such places as her/his wrist, jaw, temples. Lay it thinly, so that the structure of your initial drawing shows faintly through. It will look horrible! But do not be faint-hearted. Put the work in the racks where you will not see it until at least three days have passed and it is dry to the touch.
Now the magic begins...
Make your 'local' colour mixes as we discussed above, without adding any medium. Moisten your brushes with medium, then wipe them dry. (Please do not stint yourself on brushes. Unlike watercolours, oil paint does not wash out of even sable brushes. You must use a fresh brush for each mixture if you want clean colour on the canvas, and this is vital when you are working with the subtle tones of skin.)
Work the brush into the colour mix so that it is evenly loaded. Then stroke it, gently as if you were caressing a new born baby, across the underpainting. This is called scumbling. One of its secrets is to hold the brush lightly as if it were made of thin glass, with fingers beneath the handle and thumb just resting on top.
The thinnest of layers build up slowly, allowing that underpainting to insinuate its presence almost imperceptibly, as you work towards the dense, brightest highlights. Let each scumbled layer dry before applying the next. If you find you have laid the colour too thickly at any point, just take a painting knife and scrape it away before trying again. This is the beauty of giving each layer time to dry, so that the underlying colours shine through.
The technique calls for exquisite restraint, but it will achieve a result you can get in no other way: The illusion of living skin laid over living flesh.© Dorothy Gauvin
Dorothy Gauvin is an internationally acclaimed Australian painter in oils who specialises in an epic theme of Australia's pioneers. See images of her 'Life-Story' portraits, an ABC of homemade tools for painters with arthritis, plus tips and advice for aspiring artists and collectors on her website at http://www.artgallerygauvin.com/
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