ART- Painting Observation: Multiple Colors on One Surface

As I study opaque painting by doing thumbnail color studies I’ve come to learn a few helpful things that I hadn’t realized.

As I’ve written before, I’ve tried painting a few portraits and have failed.  One of the reasons the paintings have come out so badly was because of the way the skin would turn out in the paintings.

I would choose a local color in a light area and vary it slightly depending on what plane of the face I was painting. But for some reason, doing this made the skin seem unnatural.  I wasn’t sure why until now.

I’ve come to the conclusion that, even if you’re painting one plane with one value, the local colors within that value may still vary.  In skin especially. Since skin is translucent, how much or little blood or blemishes are in an area change the local color of said area.

In other words, you DON’T use only ONE local color in the area you’re painting, but rather a few.  As long as the local colors match the value of the area, varying the local colors makes the area seem natural.

This same principle can also be seen in other surfaces as well.  Noticing when it happens can make the difference between making something look natural and making something seem unnatural.

Of course, it isn’t an absolute principle and there are local colors that are completely without variation. Still, being aware that it can happen, helps.

Above I painted two color studies. One of Deathstroke: The Terminator and the other is The Doctor.  My study of The Doctor isn’t a very good likeness, but it was difficult to do so when I limited the size of my brush to one size.  The point was to study the colors not to get a likeness.  Still, it kinda bugs me.