PART 2! COLOR VARIATION! (Patreon)

1. not just one color

2. blending

3. skin tone

4. shadows

5. highlights

With your base skin color, you can also put additional colors that would make your portraits more realistic.

There's this thing called color zones, where the face is separated into 3 sections. And you put specific colors on each section.

NOTE!  I use this color zone just as a guide and also just showing this as a reminder that it's not always one flat color! the main point is to not just use base skin colors. Depending on your style, you can go crazy with the colors! 

ANOTHER NOTE! These variety of colors I put on the skin is very very very very VERY subtle! That's my preferred method though, it totally depends on your style! You can make it more saturated and more visible if you want a more stylized portrait! 

Super subtle but adding more colors that are not just the base skin color gives the portrait more life!

COLOR ZONES!

UPPER PART (FOREHEAD):

Usually includes yellows. There's not much muscles on that area in contrast to the other zones so the colors there are very subtle here.

Personally, I kinda like to use like more on a yellow-orange color because I prefer the warmer look!

I put it on the sides of the forehead, above the eyebrows and on the shadows under the hairline!

MIDDLE PART (CHEEKS!)

the reds, oranges, warm, blushes.

i think i read it somewhere that there's more oxygenated blood on this part, that's why there's more color on this part.

I use red orange on the sides of the nose bridge, the tip of the nose, and cheeks! I also added another color that's not usual on the color zone guide, I put yellow green around the eyes for.. no reason lol I just want patches of other colors on the face!

You can literally put any color you want on the face!! No one's stopping you, fren!!!!!!! 

LOWER PART! (CHIN, SIDES OF MOUTH, LOWER CHEEK):

blues!

on this part, there's mostly shadows and not as much blood as the cheeks part, so we should put cooler tones here.

I put it under the cheekbone, corners of the mouth and around the mouth! 

NOTES!

• You can also apply these to other parts of the body, like the hands! it's not just the base colors, there also should be more reds on the finger tips, kind of bluish and greens for the veins and palm
• i found these colors zones very helpful for traditional painting too!!!
• One more reason why it's okay to not use these colors all the time is because there are other factors that could affect these colors in the zones! These colors could be darker or lighter depending on the light source, the positioning of the head, the colors surrounding the subject that could reflect on the face. 
• Again! You have full control over the colors you want to put on the face! Make it more saturated. Add more different colors! 
• i also add a lot of blues, warm peach under the eyes as shadows, yellow greens on the face. it all depends on my background color and my color palette, like if there's a dominant color on my painting, i'll also put a touch of that color on the portrait, sometimes as shadows or as blush, to make it all cohesive.

That's all for this post! Next, I'll talk about skin tones!