Just couldn't think of a better way to phrase the title

But you guys get the point. Can anyone suggest an article that tackles this subject of painting black Africans.. or olive skinned people as they call us Arabs and people of the Mediterranean basin. Or are there any paint sets pre-mixed specifically for this purpose?

Thanks in advance for any help
Hisham

Hi, Hisham! Which mediums do you like to use for your figure painting? Do you use enamels, acrylics, oils or weathering powders? YES, WEATHERING POWDERS! I happen to use ALL FOUR of these mediums, and I've had great results with using them together on the same subject- PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT YOU CANNOT MIX THE ACRYLICS WITH THE ENAMELS, BUT YOU CAN USE THEM TOGETHER. You can use weathering powders and dry-brushing on figures just as you would do with any other type of modeling project. I don't know what your level of experience may be in painting "people", but there are 9 basic steps to painting just the face alone- then there is the blending of shadows, highlighting and detailing, etc... Once you've painted a few faces using the same techniques as the "pros" do, you'll never want to paint your figures any other way.

As to recommendations, there are several different "Flesh Paint" sets to choose from, as well as individual colors for mixing your own flesh tones here and there to "personalize" your subject. LIFECOLOR makes a GREAT Acrylic Flesh Paint Set. Other companies like VALLEJO, TESTORS MODEL MASTER II (in both acrylic AND enamels), HUMBROL, and I think MIG PRODUCTIONS also has products for human skin tones. I generally use the LIFECOLOR and/or TESTORS MODEL MASTER II Enamels... Also bear in mind that people within the same ethnic groups may generally be SIMILAR in flesh-tones, BUT NO TWO HUMANS HAVE EXACTLY THE SAME SKIN COLORING... THAT'S PRECISELY WHY FIGURE-PAINTING CAN BE SO MUCH FUN!!!

An EXCELLENT REFERENCE BOOK discussing figure painting is Windrow & Greene Publishing "BILL HORAN'S MILITARY MODELLING MASTERCLASS". In this book, Mr.Horan discusses his various figure-painting techniques, INCLUDING the different skin tones of various ethnic groups. The book is COMPLETELY LOADED with beautiful color photos. I think that you may find this book to be the best in this facet of modelling in scale...

OSPREY also has several books in their very fine selection of books that are available, and I believe that there are several CD-Roms from other companies available, too.

I would be more than willing to discuss this train of thought with you- I've been painting figures using professional techniques for about 42 years- I'll be 61 soon, so I think that I can say that I have some experience with this subject... Let me know what you think...

Thanks for your reply, Dennis, I'll look up the books you mentioned.

And I'm sorry I forgot to say that I use Acrylics only.

Hisham

May be this is what you are looking for :
http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1310-ethnic-skintones

Thanks a lot, Raphael.. that link is really helpful with the different mixes for different skin tones.

Hisham

Hi, Hisham! No apology is needed! I only asked which mediums that you use so that I could assist you properly!

I also like to MIX my own flesh colors, using the "base" colors from the various "Flesh Paint Sets" from LIFECOLOR and other companies. Mostly, I use the MODEL MASTER II ENAMELS, as they are petroleum-based, which makes it easier to mix with the oil paints in tubes, such as GRUMBACHER, and WINSOR-NEWTON. I DO like the LIFECOLOR paints very much, too...

WOW!!! THAT'S AN EXCELLENT LINK!!!

Have a look at DR.Faust. Minipainter that does videos and tutorials.

DR.Faust

Life Color paints has a great Acrylic set CS 13, which gives the basic flesh tones. They all can be built up from from base shadow to highlights.