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Painting lips -- what colors/mixes

Discussion in 'Painting Techniques' started by SPrimeau, Jun 28, 2007.

  1. SPrimeau Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    I am having a tough time getting the right tone for lips on a bust that I am working on right now. I have gone over it a couple times but always seem to get it too pinkish or too red like lipstick, it is a dude that I am painting. I just want a natural color but have come to a roadblock in trying to get it. I am doing it with Vallejo. Any mixes you all use that work out well? Shoot anything at me I will give it a try. Thanks-
    Scott
  2. Stephen Ward Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    One idea.....

    I use Vallejos too, burnt cadmium red for the base, mixed with about 30 percent sunny skintone. I layer this with a few lighter shades, with a slight bit of light flesh added for the final highlight. It's a little pink but I think that it works well with a well-balanced face and doesn't detract too much from the look of the face of a soldier who has spent a lot of time out in the field. hope this helps.
  3. Sambaman Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-States
  4. Einion Well-Known Member

    Scott, one of the simplest elements of colour mixing is that we can adjust things if they're off a bit from what we want (nearly endlessly unfortunately!) but it's one of the hardest things to learn how to do. The physical mixing part is relatively easy - tricky with the small puddles we use - but learning to see what direction the colour has to go is the hard part. Often it's just adding one other colour that's usually enough, just need to figure out what to add.

    Assuming you don't want to mix again from scratch, if you've mixed up a lip colour and it looks too pinkish on the figure is the mix the right value (light/dark enough)? Is it a little too reddish in hue? A tiny touch of a medium or light green might give you what you want as this will darken and dull the colour a bit. If you think it just needs to be adjusted in hue then a touch of something toward yellow could do - try something similar to Yellow Ochre or Raw Sienna.

    If it's simply too vividly red then a little green might be just what the doctor ordered, perhaps with the mix lightened a little with a tiny touch of white or a light flesh mix if you have some on hand on the palette.

    Einion
  5. PJ Deluhery Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    For male lips, I usually just mix a little cadmium red medium into my flesh color.
  6. SPrimeau Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Thanks for the replies guys- I will use the hints in trying to finish the lips when I get time to get back to the bench and paint-
    Scott

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