I think you'd be pleasantly surprised at how easy and forgiving oils are to use Mick. Its a bit like having an "undo" button for those occasions where things don't work out quite the way you expected; just load a brush with your choice of solvent (I use Zest-It), then erase the mistake and try again

Just have to be satisfied with the end result.
Mick

Hi
I have just gone back to oils for skin tones ......managed to find which in my opinion is the best
spirit for thinning oil paint ....... much better than the household stuff I used many years ago
It makes the paint dry quicker .... without the gloss

Frank

https://www.artsupplies.co.uk/item-loxley-low-odour-white-spirit.htm

Graham,

Some simple recipes for caucasian faces: white + burnt sienna + a touch of viridian; naples yellow +cadmium red + a touch of viridian; and naples yellow + crimson red + a touch of viridian. The viridian helps cool the colour. I am using W&N Water Mixable Oil Pants.

Cheers
Chris

Thanks again guys for your input, appreciated

B&Q do something similar spirit which I purchased...

Tried to quote Frank H's post but didn't work

Decided to go with water soluble oils and get rid of the cheap oils I bought years ago. To set me off, I bought this set and have ordered another four tubes.

No doubt I will make a mess but at least I can wash it off if it goes wrong. I know that quite a few have said they use these water soluble so can I ask if you thin with water or using the special thinners? I am wondering if it can be thinned with plain water to use as a glaze?

Really looking forward to experimenting

Hi Graham,

I have used both water and thinners with them, but you can't use both together. I have found water is good, you don't get the gloss of the conventional oils, in fact they appear reasonably flat. Using them with thinners gives a very flat finish. The paint is quite thick out of the tube, and I use a palette knife with water to mix them into a thin consistency.
I put down a base of acrylic in a flesh colour, and then apply the water soluble oils thinned with water, and have found them easier to use than conventional oils, and acrylics. I hope you enjoy using them, and get the results you want.

Cheers
Chris

Thanks Chris

I use Winsor & Newton or Reeves oil paints, colours as mentioned in your initial post. I undercoat in Vallejo flesh, which helps absorb some of the oil and makes the final finish almost, but not quite, matt.

Mike

Graham, I have never used, 'Water-Soluble, oils. It would be interesting to see what you make of them. By the sounds of them, they seem to be good idea for clothing, with drying 'Flat'.

However, when it comes to the face. I will stick with normal oils. As I feel that the slightly more satin finish replicates the natural skin oil.

Mark.

Graham,
I used the "Verllinden way for many years and it worked O.K. for me for a long time. I have also been seated next to Mr Verlinden many times at the Mastercons and even have two heads painted by him and they look excellent. One is a normal head and the other an orc type head. I now use the Danilo formula from his book and at the moment I am sticking with that. His colours are:
Ivory Black, Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna, Naples Yellow, Titanium White, Rose Madder and Violet plus the eye colour,
Cobalt Blue for Blue eyes.
These are used straight out of the tubes.
This thread should give you plenty of stuff to try and play with and see what works for You.

I have always used W&N oils.
Cheers
John

Cheers John. One thing this thread proves, annoyingly for beginners, is that there are so many different ways of achieving the same thing i.e. fleshing a figure.

Head on this makes it near impossible for a beginner to understand. However, attack the problem fron the flanks and a beginner can see that you can just do it anyway you like so long as it looks right.

Lesson learned? Just chill and have a go, you will get there at some point. When you do, then is the time to start thinking about refining your technique not when you are first trying to master the technique

Just to show what can be achieved with just three oil colours.

Thanks for the tips guys, but what about painting african-american/african skin colour? Do you have any tips for me?

A good demonstration of the 3 primaries + white approach:

red + blue = violet (or purple for us normal people)

+ yellow

+white.

A wip would be great

Thanks

Just to add in this very interesting thread.....
For those who are using iPad etc. I have found two very interesting apps.
The first one is called color mixing (by Insight) and it is free. This is an extremely useful app .
It gives you the three basic colors R,G.B .
Below there is a diagram which shows you when you mix these colors together at different proportions what kind of color it comes out.
The interesting part is that it shows by number what % is each colour in the mixture.
With this application you can create your desired shade in iPad and then duplicate it in your palette by just following the percentages of each colour which you see in your screen.
Ok I am not that artistic person but virtually you can create ANY shade by mixing red, green and blue....
The second application is called color view finder and when you turn your iPad's camera to an object (e.g uniform, vehicle) it analyses the colours to its components.
I will follow this thread which is very useful to me.....
Fokion

I use the CD's from Fredericus Rex all the time,

http://www.shop2015.fredericus-rex....wie-ich-male-Vol--I-661.html&products_id=661&

http://www.shop2015.fredericus-rex....nic=How-I-paint-Vol--II.html&products_id=660&