The Palest Skin Still Needs Red
White with a touch of red is not pale skin. The red stays in, and the white stays in check.
Most painters who struggle to mix pale skin tones do the same thing. They put out a lot of white, add just a touch of red, and stop there. It's very pale, so it should be perfect for pale skin, right?
Well, hold that pile up next to her cheek. It's pale, but it's not skin. It looks like plaster.
Pale skin is not white paint with a little color in it. Even the palest skin still needs red, and it needs a lot less white than you think.
I made a video about this. In it I mix pale skin in three parts against a real face, and I keep that first pile of white and red beside it the whole time.
How I mix pale skin tones in three parts
Here is the plan. I mix pale skin in three parts: the base, the light side and the shadow side.
I check each part against the face I'm painting. And I keep that first pile, the white with a touch of red, right next to it. That pile is the mistake, and I judge every new mix beside it.
At the end of the video all three go up next to her face, beside that first pile. You can judge for yourself which of them reads as skin.
The base: the same mix I use for every skin
For pale skin, I start with the same mix I use for every skin: yellow ochre and vermilion red.
And yes, even for the palest skin, the red stays in. A fair sitter does not change where I start. The skin mix comes first. The white comes later, and it is kept in check.
I put out the yellow ochre and the vermilion red and mix them together. You get a strong orange. It is far too strong for a face at this point. That is fine. The next step takes care of it.
Calming the orange
Next I add the unbleached titanium. It calms that orange down.
Then just a touch of burnt umber. Pale skin needs only a little of it, so on a fair face I keep it to a touch.
Then I hold the base up next to her cheek, right beside the first pile. It's darker than her skin. But look at the difference between the two. The first pile is pale and it's plaster. The base is too dark, but it is not plaster.
So that's the base. It's still too dark for her face, and that's fine. One part down, two to go.
The light side, where pale skin goes wrong
Now the light side. This is where pale skin goes wrong.
To make it lighter, you need white. But the more white you add, the flatter the color gets. Add too much, and you're back to plaster.
So the question is not whether to use white. You have to. The question is which white, and how much of it.
Well, for the light side, I use lead white. It makes the skin lighter, and it lets it keep more of its color. That is the whole job of this part: lighter, without losing the skin you just mixed in the base.
Adding the lead white, a little at a time
I take just a little lead white on the knife. It's always easier to add more white than to take it back out.
So I add a little, mix, look, and only then add more. Every time I add white I'm moving toward that first pile, so I go slowly.
A little more, and I mix it until it's one even color.
Then I hold it up next to the light side of her face. It's light, and it still has its color.
So the base is right, and the light side is right. One part left, the shadow side. And for that, the red comes back.
The shadow side: the red comes back
For the shadow side, I go darker and warmer, not colder.
So into the base goes Indian red. Then just a touch of what I call army green: yellow ochre with a little ivory black. It calms the red down, so the shadow stays quiet. And if it still needs to go darker, a little more burnt umber.
I mix the army green first, on the side of the palette. Yellow ochre, and a little ivory black on the tip of the knife.
Then the Indian red goes into the base, and it goes darker and warmer. After that, just a touch of the army green, to calm it down.
So the order is simple. The Indian red takes the base darker and warmer. The army green calms the red. Burnt umber only comes in if the shadow still needs to go darker.
All of them beside the first pile
So now we have all three: the base, the light side and the shadow side. I hold the shadow up next to her face, and then I look at all of them beside that first pile.
The white with a touch of red, then the base, the light side and the shadow side. Only one of them looks like plaster. It's the one that was supposed to be perfect for pale skin.
That's pale skin in three parts. The base is yellow ochre and vermilion red. The light side gets lead white. The shadow side gets Indian red with a touch of army green.
So even the palest skin still needs red. Pale skin is not white paint. It's the same skin mix, with the white kept in check.
What to do with this
Try it at the easel today. Mix a pile of white with a touch of red, then mix a base of yellow ochre and vermilion red, calmed with unbleached titanium and a touch of burnt umber. Put both next to the skin you're painting and look at which one reads as skin. Then lighten the base with lead white, a little at a time, and stop before it goes flat.
I hope this helped. Tell me in the comments under the video: what's harder for you to mix, pale skin or dark skin? The next episode is how this same mix becomes every skin tone. And you're welcome to subscribe to the channel.
Visit the Color Mixing Book Library. The recipes behind my own portraits and the old masters' faces, written down recipe by recipe. See the library
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