Painting Beautiful Skin Tones With Color & Light in Oil, Pastel and Watercolor

by Saper, Chris

• ISBN13: 9781581801637
• ISBN10: 1581801637
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-08-01
• Publisher: North Light Books

Summary

Artists constantly tell us that they need guidance for rendering skin tones in their portraiture. This book helps them overcome this elusive challenge by providing a clear set of easy-to-follow principles for painting a variety of skin tones in three major mediums--oil, pastel and watercolor. The first chapter is rooted in the basics, showing artists how to recognize and use the five major elements of painting: drawing, value, color, composition and edges. From there, artists learn how to work with light, shadow and color to effectively capture the beautiful skin tones of various ethnic groups, including Caucasian, Asian, African-American and Hispanic. Next, artists discover how to execute the principles learned, using detailed instruction for color selection, mixing and application. Four mini-demos, three long demos and many examples illustrate the lessons. Artists will benefit from advice on shooting and choosing photographs to paint, how to edit their compositions and work past their limitations.Chris Saper's portraits are currently held in private and corporate collections throughout the US and Canada. Her award-winning work has been featured in several books, including the Best of Portrait Painting. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona.

Table of Contents

Introduction	8	(2)
The Five Elements of Painting	10	(12)
Drawing
Value
Color
Composition
Edges
The Colors of Light and Shadow	22	(22)
Making Friends with Kelvin: The Color and Temperature of Light
The End of Guesswork: The Color and Temperature of Shadow
Color Harmony for the Portrait Painter
Palette Selection and Key Considerations
The Local Color of Skin: A Question of Orange	44	(12)
The Determinants of Skin Color
Painting Different Skin Color Groups
Caucasian
Asian or Pacific Islander
Black/African American
Hispanic
Using Photographic References	56	(12)
Photographing Your Subject
Lighting Your Subject
Breaking the Chains of Photo Slavery
Constructing Sensible Composites
Organize Your Painting in Three Easy Stages	68	(22)
Caucasian Group, Oil
Black/African-American Group, Pastel
Asian Group, Watercolor
Hispanic Group, Pastel
Painting Demonstrations Step by Step	90	(29)
Pastel Portrait Skin Tone, Indian Subcontinent (Asian)
Oil Portrait Skin Tone, Hispanic
Watercolor Portrait Skin Tone, Caucasian
Conclusion	119	(1)
Appendix A: Recommended Resources	120	(1)
Appendix B: Kelvin Temperatures for Portrait Painters	121	(1)
Appendix C: Sample Color Charts	122	(4)
Index	126