Painting guides
How to paint a skin tone, a face, leather or metal: step-by-step guides with the paints for each step and other brands' matches, used in recipes across the site.
Skin & Faces
Skin
- Cool Light SkinIntermediate · 5 stepsFair skin with cool shadows and a rosy flush: a violet-tinted wash in the recesses, a crimson glaze on the cheeks and lips, and pale, slightly grey highlights.
- Deep SkinIntermediate · 6 stepsRich, deep brown skin with warm highlights: dark recesses, a warm mid tone, and small, bright highlights that keep the depth.
- Pale / Unhealthy SkinBeginner · 5 stepsPallid, drained skin with bruised shadows: a pale grey-cream base, violet around the eyes and in the hollows, and cold highlights.
- Warm Light SkinBeginner · 4 stepsFair skin with a warm, peachy glow: one base, one wash and two lighter layers. A quick, forgiving start on faces and hands.
- Warm Medium SkinIntermediate · 5 stepsA warm mid tone: a ruddy base, a warm wash into the recesses, then layered highlights up to a pale peach on the brow, nose and cheekbones.
Face details
- EyesAdvanced · 4 stepsEyes that sit in the face: a dark socket, an off-white eye and a dark iris, with an optional catchlight. Paint them after the skin.
- StubbleBeginner · 3 stepsA few days' growth on the jaw and lip: thin grey glazes that build a soft shadow over the skin, with an optional rougher stipple.