I collected these for a post on another forum, thought you guys might like a look too for inspiration in painting faces to a standard we don't usually see in the hobby:
Daniel Green
Burton Silverman
Everett Raymond Kinstler
John Howard Sanden
William Whitaker

Einion

Thanks Einion,
They are indeed painted with lifelike colors. There is alot of light in it. I think that is the benefit of the canvas where it is painted on...
I think we can never achieve that kind of light and shade on our figures.
Maybe if we can have the color mixes they used. Even then it is in my opinion not possible. I hope, ( thanks to your posting) that somebody is capable to do it.

Marc

Amazing portraits, coming from another age !

Excellent recourse photo's that last one is a blinder, there is no reason why we cant replicate that type of realism in our work it might take a while though

Good post Eionion. These two are my favourites, if I could paint like this..........

Roger

No reason we can't. How we stress lighting can vary a bit depending on scale (much less contrast needed on a 1/9 bust than on the face of a 1/32 figure) but the same kind of carefully-considered placement of values and colouration can be applied just as well to 3D surfaces as to a painting. Most modellers simply won't want to go to this much effort though, but we can at least go partway towards this from the simpler mixes we tend towards and the work will be the better for it.

Formulas can tend to be limiting - preventing someone from actually learning to mix - but skintones are so hard to see properly and then to mix there's a lot to be said for them.

The palette for each of these painters will be different but here are the basic mixes that John Howard Sanden uses:

Light 1
This is a clear, clean mixture that may be used for the lightest highlights on Caucasian skin. It can be mixed from the standard colours of white, Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Red Light

Light 2
This mixture may be considered a basic flesh tone for Caucasian skin, although of course is has to be altered to meet each particular situation. It is darker, warmer and greyer than Light 1. The mixture is made from white, Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Red light with Cerulean Blue added.

Light 3
A warm, pink colour that may be used for ruddy flesh areas, this mixture is also made of white, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red Light and Cerulean Blue.

Halftone 1
Originally called "cool halftone", this mixture is basically used to indicate receding planes in the head. It is a mixture of white, Yellow Ochre, Viridian and Cadmium Red Light.

Halftone 2
This warm, dark halftone... is a mixture of white, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red Light, Chromium Oxide Green and Cadmium Orange.

Dark 1
A basic shadow tone for Caucasian skin and a good basic flesh colour for dark-skinned subjects, this is a mixture of Burnt Sienna, white, Viridian and Cadmium Orange.

Dark 2
A darker tint than Dark 1, this is used for darkest accents in shadow areas. The mixture consists of Burnt Sienna, Viridian and Cadmium Orange.

As you can see, a fairly limited palette that yields a great variety of mixes.

He also uses these neutrals to "quickly reduce the intensity of and neutralise both the standard palette colours and the premixed ones."

Neutral 3
This mixture is a rather light, warm gray made of white, Yellow Ochre and Ivory Black. It would fall on a value scale from 1 (white) to 9 (black) at position 3.

Neutral 5
A value in the middle between black and white, this mixture is also made from white, Yellow Ochre and Ivory Black.

Neutral 7
A warm, dark grey at value 7 on the value scale, this mixture consists of white, Ivory Black and Raw Sienna - the only colour not on my standard palette.

One of Sanden's books gives the exact proportions of each paint in the mixtures but only if you're using the same paints as he is (Permalba White for example) will these be accurate so it's best to mix by eye; with the ingredients as a starting point it's not too difficult, especially if you have one of his books, like Portraits From Life In 29 Steps to hand as a guide. And it's good training to learn to do it nearly from scratch

Einion

Well,
I'm glad for explaining and the time for posting the answer.
Nothing wrong for trying something on my next figure.
Again, thank you.

Marc

Einion - Thanks for posting. Those are incredible. The last one (Whitaker) you can even see the skin pores. WOW!

Brad