How To Draw - Creating Flesh Tones in Pastels

This is a quick tutorial on how to create a basic flesh tone using four colors:

* Brown
* Red
* Blue
* White

Originally this video was going to just be a private video for one of my good YouTube friends to help him learn how to make a general flesh tone, but then I figured no guts, no glory - I might as well put it up for all in case it helps someone else along the way. (So please forgive the lack of slick editing and the jumbled narration).

Keep in mind that everyone has their own style and preference when it comes to how they approach their art and personal techniques. As far as portraits and creating flesh tones, my preference happens to be that I prefer to make my own using a combination of colors rather than relying on a flesh colored pastel sticks. (So no offense to those that prefer the flesh colored pastels, it's just not my own personal thing).

The technique shown in this video is just for a very generic starting base to build off of. Everyone's skin tones are different based on nationality, lighting, reflections and so forth, so your mileage may vary considerably on these ingredients. Best method is a bit of trial and error, and training yourself to see beyond what you expect to be there, but rather what IS there. I have a couple cool little techniques that I will share later (if you want) on how to pick out different shades from a picture, I just simply ran out of time to show anything more than what I could squeeze into under 10 minutes.

Feel free to discuss your take on this in the comments as well as if you like the tutorial, what else you might like to have explained, what i could do differently to make it more informative and so on.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Art
• How
• To
• Draw
• Portraits
• Flesh
• Pastels
• Drawing
• Instructions
• Steps
• People
• Faces

[sweetz1491]

do all pastel pencils come in chalk or soft pastel?

[SmecksDotCom]

I actually am not entirely sure on all the specific pastel pencil options out there. The art store by me had only one choice and they were Derwent pastel pencils which seemed to do the trick fine.

[superkid006]

this is very good, i wanted to start useing pastels in my art, and im only 13, where would u recomend i get some actualy art supplies from, and do you use pastel sticks or pastel pencils, either or where do you perchuse your supplies?

[SmecksDotCom]

I'm with justinclev - I actually got all of my art supplies from Michael's ... there's also dickblick I would imagine... I use rembrandt soft pastel sticks(they are pricey, but worth every penny)... and Derwent pastel pencils (they were the only choice but work fine). Hope this helps!

[YrUlUKkiNAtM34]

loved the tut but i have a question, what if you have an extremely light skinned person like Christina aguilera(w/o tan) for instance what colors would you and could you use for a tone such as that?

[SmecksDotCom]

I use the same colors - but very lightly and mix them more with white. This is definitely another case where you have to build the tone slowly so you don't get caught with so much white that you can't recover.

I might still use a little "artistic license" so to speak to create interest in a piece as needed -- for example, if the picture was a bit washed out, then I'll take some liberties in adding a bit more color to portions of it to create a bit more contrast and interest. Did this help?

[pardar2x]

Thank you so much for sharing this with us, lots of good info.

[CloudsofBliss]

@mrcitydocs

she just said it is just a genertic of the face because she want to see the tones.

[beingme119]

what kind of red is that? it doesnt seem like the normal red red.

[arteconsolation78]

Very useful.nice eye

[dariod2007]

that was good. one of the better tutorial vids.

[dariod2007]

hot an heavy!

[dwyabam]

were you in a movie called Catfish?

[Lennon4ever1]

@sweetz1491 No, you can buy harder pastel sticks as well. Soft pastels break down faster but are easier to blend into the surface like when you want to blend the colors variations.

[gerasapusoko]

THANK YOU PROCEED WITH LITTLE INFORMATION.

[o8rufus]

Great video, can you give the name of the shades for the 4 colors you used specifically, i would like to try your method. I have serveral reds, blues, brown not sure which one you used. Thanks.

[jashingirl098]

This was very helpful, i just got my first set of pastels and this video helped alot i will never use flesh color pastel

[MrDdidit]

Very helpful ,the best yet thank you and please keep them coming