Joshua Puts His Face On!

I sat down and painted Joshua's head this afternoon and the result was so neat that I thought I would show him off.

-

I have found the secret to painting a Black character and that's that you don't use any black paint! I used the following colors for his face:

-

-Red Iron Oxide

-Yellow Ochre

-Midnight Blue

-Dark Burnt Umber

-

I mixed up some of the Red and Yellow and then painted the face as I usually do with any character. Once that was done I came back with the Dark Umber to color in the darker areas around the eyes cheeks and chin. Once that was done I used a wash of the Blue for the beard. For the hair I mixed Blue into the Umber to make an almost Black but not Black color for the hair. Finally, I came back and painted in Red highlights on the lips, nose and cheeks.

-

When painting Flesh tones the important thing to remember is that the determining color of flesh, any kind of flesh, is the color of blood. Add a little Yellow Ochre to Red while taking into account the material you're painting on, in this case yellow-tinged Basswood, and you'll end up with a nice warm flesh color. I would never use white except in a case where I wanted a fish-belly looking color for someone who has never been in the sun. About the only cases I can think of for doing that would be the Farmer's Tan a cowboy has when he removes his hat or the creamy toned skin of a Saloon Hooker after she removed his bodice. But we'd better not go there, at least not yet!

-

I made the hat's hurricane strap from a piece of aluminum flashing.

-

A few more photos in the Gallery.