BAH!

[Bartholomew]

I am so frustrated.
I tried using everything under the sun for a nice skin tone. First I tried the Lifetones flesh set which was touted as so great. The virgin flesh was too white. The pale flesh was too yellow. The bronze flesh was too red.

Then I tried Testors tan skin, it looked the best so far but still a tad yellowish. Then I used tamiya flesh and it way too orangish red, like one of those spray on tans.

Someone help me out!

[Danno]

Human flesh is the toughest thing to do when painting a statue. The best advice I can offer is to learn the color wheel and understand how complimentary colors work and take some time to look at skin on your body (or that of others). When I use Freestyle Pale Flesh, it is generally a custom mix that tends to be a bit more yellow but toned back (I add a touch of rich brown, magenta and a tiny bit of lime green to a 2 oz. bottle to get a color that I like). First I basecoat the flesh areas in Burnt Sienna, a dark red-brown type color, Freestyle tends to have more of a brick red tone in the Burnt Sienna which works well.

Now I use this as a base to "warm" up the overall appearance of the flesh. Flesh colors tend to have a slight transparency to them and the burnt sienna with change the shadow tones (note, if you simply spray the flesh color over grey primer, the flesh will look more gaunt and dead). Slowly build up your pale flesh mix color over the burnt sienna until you get a nice even cover. Now, before you begin any shading, you can start to adjust the tone by adding colors like blue, green, magenta, red, white, orange and brown and paint the skin areas in sections. For example, lets take the face. The areas like the ears, nose, cheeks, 3rd eye (area between the eyebrows), and chin may have a more "rosy" appearance the neck, under the eyes, forehead may tend to be more pale, etc.... just in this alone, you may have three very different but blended flesh colors that help break up the face skin tones but add a touch of life and breath.

Flesh, in general can be different on each and every figure that you paint. It all depends on what you are after and the effect you are trying to bring out.

[boondocksaint]

yup danno said it all..

what figure are you trying to paint?

i work with the regular mix white raw sienna burnt sienna and adjust it according to the character

females though ive been using lifetones pale flesh shade with natural flesh then for highlights mix white and pale .....

[High Lord Apocalypse]

since you have lifetones, have you tried mixing in natural flesh with some bronze flesh?

[Bartholomew]

Originally Posted by Tony D

since you have lifetones, have you tried mixing in natural flesh with some bronze flesh?

Thanks everyone!
For some reason my set of flesh tones came with bass belly white, virgin flesh, pale flesh, and bronze flesh. But no natural flesh. I did combine the pale flesh with a bronze flesh and it looks alright, just a tad reddish still.

Danno, that's exactly what I've been doing with my paint. Now there are so many layers...

Boony, I'm trying to paint some flesh on a female conversion I'm doing.

[Danno]

Originally Posted by Bartholomew

Danno, that's exactly what I've been doing with my paint. Now there are so many layers...

As long as you are building slowly and spraying very thin, this method will help provide you with great results. Very soft smooth transitions and multiple layers help provide depth and life.

Now...to reduce the reddish look from your flesh, add a touch of lime green to your flesh tone to knock it back. Just use a little bit and continue to slowly adjust the color until you get it where you want. A small bit of Pthalo Blue can be used as well and cool the skin tone done (but not too much or the skin starts looking dead.)

[Bartholomew]

Originally Posted by Danno

As long as you are building slowly and spraying very thin, this method will help provide you with great results. Very soft smooth transitions and multiple layers help provide depth and life.

Now...to reduce the reddish look from your flesh, add a touch of lime green to your flesh tone to knock it back. Just use a little bit and continue to slowly adjust the color until you get it where you want. A small bit of Pthalo Blue can be used as well and cool the skin tone done (but not too much or the skin starts looking dead.)

thanks danno, i'll keep at it.

[High Lord Apocalypse]

let us know how it turns out.

a lot of paints that lifetones has is not written on their website. i got a few only because danno told me their names or else i wouldn't even know they had em.

also, lifetones constantly makes new mixes. in kitbuilders #57(which is awesome, you gotta get it, there is a wealth of information about flesh tones, and our man danno does the faux bronzing and flames tutorial) dan j mentioned another one called flesh.

[DanPerezStudios]

Danno is da man when it comes to painting--his advice is always great...