How to Make Human Skin from 5 Primary Colors | Satisfying Color Mixing, by Art Yumi on YouTube. 7 min 22 s.
- Video length
- 7 min 22 s
- Time to do it
- 10 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 7
What you need
Steps
Squeeze a small blob of titanium white onto your palette. White is the base for every skin tone, so keep it apart from the other colors.
Add a tiny amount of yellow to the white and mix. Yellow warms the white and gives it the first hint of flesh. Go slowly, a little goes far.
Mix in a small amount of red until the white turns a soft peachy pink. Red gives skin its warmth, so add less than you think you need.
Touch the tip of your brush into blue and stir it through the mix. This cools the tone and makes it look natural rather than sugary.
Test the color on scrap paper and let it dry. Acrylic paint looks darker when wet, so judge the tone from the dry patch.
Lighten the mix with white for pale skin, or deepen it with more red and yellow plus a touch of blue for darker skin. Build it up in thin layers.
Mix a second, darker batch for shadows and a lighter one for highlights. Keep all three on the palette so the painting stays consistent.
Tips and common mistakes
Add blue a speck at a time, because too much turns skin grey or green.
Write down your ratios so you can mix the same tone again later.
Keep white on a separate corner of the palette so the mix does not creep lighter.
Let a test patch dry before you commit to a large area.
Questions
What colors do I need to make skin color?
Red, yellow, blue and white are enough. White makes the base, yellow and red bring warmth, and a touch of blue stops it looking too pink.
Why does my skin tone look grey or green?
You added too much blue or mixed it into a dirty palette. Start a fresh blob of white and add the blue with the very tip of the brush.
Can I use the same mix for shadows?
Not directly. Make a separate darker batch with more red, yellow and blue, then blend the two on the canvas.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
