Painting Portraits: Mixing Warm & Cool Colors for Skin Tone

Throughout this lesson, Brian will show you his preferred paints and tools for mixing colors for portraiture, how to set up a palette that you can use daily, and his professional methods for approaching color combinations that work for warm and cool skin colors. Watch how taking a bit of time at the beginning of each session to pre-mix paint piles is a key to setting yourself up for success—all before the brush even touches the canvas! This method will allow you to achieve subtle shifts from warm to cool colors and darker to lighter colors, achieving a seamless continuity of form in your work. You’ll also learn how to identify temperature changes that will bring striking realism to your work.

Interested in more information about mixing skin tones? Check out this article from our friends at Craftsy: An Easy Method for Mixing Skin Tones with Acrylic Paint