mixing flesh tones for portraits and figures in oil

Mix convincing flesh in oil: find the key middle tone, keep shadows warm and varied, and judge skin against nearby colours, using five painted examples.

7 min read

Flesh is hard to mix because there is no single skin colour to match. The middle flesh colour is the key to the whole colour scheme of a head, so a wrong note there spreads to everything else [1]. This guide gives you a working order for mixing it: find the dominant colour, set the middle tone, then build lights and shadows from it. It also covers how nearby colours change the way skin reads.

What you need

A palette laid out in the manner of a classic oil-painting manual: two whites, yellow ochre, light red, vermilion, rose madder, cobalt, emerald, oxide of chromium, raw and burnt umber, and ivory black [2]. You will not use all of these on every head.
The example records below reconstruct the mixes from a smaller modern set: titanium white, yellow ochre, raw sienna, cadmium red, rose madder, burnt umber and ultramarine. These are the records' suggested equivalents, not the painters' documented pigments; Caravaggio and Winterhalter would have used lead white and vermilion, for instance.
Spirits of turpentine and linseed oil [2].
A sable brush for the first outline and brushes of fair size for laying in masses [1] [3].
A palette knife for scraping off a layer that has gone wrong [1].
Charcoal and a piece of bread to clean the canvas after drawing [3].
A neutral grey, mixed on the palette, for breaking colours [4].

Step by step

Draw the head carefully in charcoal and place it well on the canvas. Blow or brush away all but the faintest lines, because heavy charcoal black destroys the freshness of colour [3] [5]. Work as cleanly as you can; flesh is a delicate subject [3].
Go over the lines with a thin mixture of raw umber and turpentine [5] [1].
Lay in the background thinly, in the colour and tone of the actual setting [1]. Use turpentine alone for this first painting. Too much oil darkens the colour and leaves a soapy surface after a few sessions, while turpentine dries dead and leaves the paint slightly absorbent for the layers that follow [2].
Before you mix, look for the predominating colour in the complexion. Find it, reproduce it faithfully, and only then think about what will set it off [4]. Do not assume that a complexion is only red and white [4].
Mix the middle flesh colour. If the skin is slightly toned with grey, do not overdo the grey at the start, or the purity of the colour suffers [1]. Expect your first mix to be too pink or too yellow on the white canvas [1].
Step away for a few minutes and come back with fresh eyes, then correct the false note. Repeat until the middle colour holds [1].
Paint the hair and any white note near the neck at about the same time, so you can judge the flesh against them [1].
Match the coloured shadows next, then the higher lights, then the broken passages [3]. Keep your lights close to the middle colour in hue. The examples below build them from white plus ochre or sienna with only a touch of red.
Soften the transitions in the face. The faces in the examples show almost no visible edges between light, halftone and shadow, and some lose the profile into the background entirely.
If the study is not right, scrape it off with the knife. A serious study is unlikely to be finished at the first attempt, and each day's work brings you closer to the sitter's tone and colour [1].

Shadows are not darker lights

The dark side of a form takes its colour partly from the objects around it, so it is changeful. A picture that gives the shadows merely darker shades of the lit side's colour is bad [6]. A hand held over white paper shows this: one side is lit, one is dark, and the paper carries a shadow [6].

The example records point the same way. Shadow mixes lean on burnt umber, often with rose madder and ultramarine, or with yellow ochre and white, instead of a darkened copy of the lit mix. In the Caravaggio, the shadows in the white fabric are warm cream or tan rather than a dark pigment added to white.

Judging flesh against its surroundings

Skin colour shifts with its neighbours, so check each mix against what sits beside it.

Rose-red, maroon and light crimson next to a rosy complexion make it look greener and lose freshness. Light green beside it improves both [7].
A very deep red blanches the complexion by contrast, and a very deep green weakens it. If the two must touch, put something between them, such as a grey-looking edging [7].
A coloured reflection falling on the face creates its opposite hue in the parts it touches. A rose reflection, for example, produces greenish tints [8].
To keep a face from looking monotonous or crude, break your colours with grey [4].
The dress and the background are part of the flesh mix. Chevreul says a portrait will have a very poor effect when neither the colour of the dress nor the background has been chosen well, and he directs portrait painters to the use of broken, greyed tones complementary to the flesh to bring it out [9].

Common mistakes

Accepting the first middle-flesh mix without looking at it again after a pause [1].
Greying the flesh too early, which dulls the purity of the colour [1].
Leaving heavy charcoal on the canvas, which dirties the colour. Mistaking dirt for tone is a method problem, not a style [3].
Adding too much oil in the first layer, which darkens the colour [2].
Making shadows from the lit colour plus black or a darker version of the same mix [6].
Placing a rose or crimson drapery directly against rosy skin without a mediating edge or neutral [7].
Treating every complexion as red and white, instead of finding its own predominating colour [4].

Study these paintings

maria-carolina-de-borb-dues-sic-lies-by-franz-xaver-winterhalter: Look at the three flesh mixes in the record. The highlights are white with yellow ochre and a touch of rose madder, the mid-tone is rose madder with yellow ochre and white, and the shadow side of the face drops to burnt umber, rose madder and ultramarine. The face is among the lightest values, and its edges are soft and blended, while the dress edges are sharper.

man-in-profile-by-henryk-siemiradzki: The lit planes of the face are white with raw sienna and cadmium red, and the warm mid-tone has more red in it. The shadow plane is burnt umber and ivory black. Squint and the face reads as one luminous shape against a much darker surround, with no outline on the profile.

adornment-fields-by-william-adolphe-bouguereau: The flesh is built from titanium white, yellow ochre and a small touch of cadmium red, with the shadows on cheeks and jaw in yellow ochre, burnt umber and white. The brightest face highlights use white with traces of yellow ochre and ultramarine. The record describes almost imperceptible edges on the face and no visible paint texture on the skin.

ecce-homo-by-caravaggio: The lightest flesh, on the torso and face, is white, raw sienna and a touch of burnt umber. The attendants' faces in shadow are warmer and browner, with a madder note. The record notes no pure greys here; the transitions move through warm, saturated tones, and the highlights on nose, cheekbones and shoulders are placed crisply against the blended underglow.

herman-wilhelm-bissen-danish-sculptor-by-wilhelm-marstrand: This is a flesh study in a cooler, greyer key. The lit cheek and forehead mix is yellow ochre, red ochre, white and a touch of ultramarine, and the highest planes lighten it with ochre, white and raw sienna. Compare it with the warmer mixes above to see how much grey the skin can carry. The edges are soft and feathered, and the face brushwork is more controlled than the background wash.

Sources

The Practice of Oil Painting (Solomon J. Solomon (1910)), PAINTING IN COLOUR FROM LIFE
The Practice of Oil Painting (Solomon J. Solomon (1910)), CHAPTER XV PAINTING IN COLOUR DIRECT FROM LIFE-
The Practice of Oil Painting (Solomon J. Solomon (1910)), STILL LIFE IN COLOUR
Laws of Contrast of Colour (M. E. Chevreul)
The Practice of Oil Painting (Solomon J. Solomon (1910)), MONOCHROME STUDY
The Elements of Drawing (John Ruskin)
Laws of Contrast of Colour (M. E. Chevreul)
Laws of Contrast of Colour (M. E. Chevreul)
Laws of Contrast of Colour (M. E. Chevreul)