Figure painters: advice sought

[Guest]

In photos of painted busts I often see a faint reddish tinge around cheeks for instance (rosy cheeks), which obviously brings the face to life. In my own painting I've attempted to replicate this but every time I do so it just looks as if the subject has been at his mum's make-up bag with wild abandon. How do I go about replicating this effect - I think it would bring my painting further on if I could master this...

[Guest]

Hi Simon.
Are you using oils or acrylics?.
I only paint with oils on acrylic base coats.

[Guest]

Hi Simon.
Are you using oils or acrylics?.
I only paint with oils on acrylic base coats.

I exclusively use acrylics but I'd like to give oils a go (I once tried to paint with them when I was a teen and in art college - it was like painting with mud...LOL)

[SimonT]

Don’t use raw red paint or you will get the make up effect

Instead create a very thin wash that is just barely tinted and build up the effect gradually to get the desired effect

On female faces the pink tinge is generally high up on the cheek bones and with blokes on lower cheeks

[Guest]

Don’t use raw red paint or you will get the make up effect

Instead create a very thin wash that is just barely tinted and build up the effect gradually to get the desired effect

On female faces the pink tinge is generally high up on the cheek bones and with blokes on lower cheeks

Excellent! Thank you Simon!

[Guest]

I tend to blend dark reds in with the base coat. A favourite colour of professionals is Carmine. I would say with any red added to the skin tones that a little goes a long way.

[Guest]

I tend to blend dark reds in with the base coat. A favourite colour of professionals is Carmine. I would say with any red added to the skin tones that a little goes a long way.

Thank you Peter... I'm still learning techniques...

[Guest]

Im an acrylic guy too and my red is crimson with base flesh but the two gents that responded above me are wise I would just try to find an old scrap head try several small test runs to find your color of liking. I have over red so to speak. And thin washed some flesh over it to tone it down.
Rick

[Jason Crausby]

For me... less is always more... the tiniest touch of red onto any flesh one will show up , so i tend to use very sparingly!
Jason.

[Guest]

For me... less is always more... the tiniest touch of red onto any flesh one will show up , so i tend to use very sparingly!
Jason.

Thank you Jason - that's exactly what I've been doing on my latest figure and it works very
nicely....