In thisseries I will be showing you how to make a quick study of an eye using oils. This is a great way to learn more about painting fleshtones and understand the forms that make up eyes.
MATERIALS:
Painting paper, panel or canvas
Brushes
Mineral spirits
Oils Colours
– Titanium White
– Ivory Black
– Burnt Umber
– Cadmium Red
– Cadmium Yellow
Process:
Begin by using thinned burnt umber to very loosely place the major parts of the eye; the brow, lids and iris etc. You can make corrects by wiping with mineral spirits at this stage.
Then you can mix up some simple darker flesh tones and brow colour using your whole palette. Try to aim for the right mix of red and yellow when determining the flesh colour.
Once the basic colours are in place you can add subtler variations of value and colour to build out the main forms around the eye. You will need to mix a much cooler and grey colour for the white of the eyes to make it different from the skin tone.
Finally, you can put in details like the eyelashes, and highlights with pure white.
The best way to begin refining the first pass is to add in highlights where necessary. It’s likely that the colours ended up a bit muted at the end of the f irst session so you can mix up some new fresh light tones to create these highlights.
Carry on this process as you move down the painting. You can also mix up darker halftones to increase the sense of roundness as forms transition out of the shadows.
Finally take some time to neaten up shapes (like the iris and pupil) that were not laid in completely accurately during the first pass.