Help with figuring out a skin tone scheme? :D

[Stargorger]

Hi all

I'm finally taking a step to painting things bigger than 28/32mm scale. I love the look of the larger figures, and so my first attempt is going to be this figure from Hangar18.
http://www.hangar18miniatures.com/miniatures/70mm-80mm/nocturna-models/memories-of-the-void-seeds/

The thing is, I don't like the 'studio' painted colors that much. I feel like they are off from the more ethereal/fantastic effect in the original Royo artwork, which I love. So, for the skin primarily, I want to more closely mimic the concept art.
View attachment 59755


However: I'm also not a fan of white hair, in general, on miniatures. Heck, I'm not really a fan of 'white' haha. So, I decided to change her hair color to look like this artwork: a sort of desaturated, cool red.
View attachment 59754

Looking at this painting, though, I was realizing that to do that cool red for the hair (and probably the same lips as this painting as well) would require me using more cool tones in the skin, especially more violet/red/blue than is present in the Royo artwork.

So. I spent today trying out a couple different skin color schemes to see which looked 'closest' to my vision. The end result is I'm not happy with any of them lol. Here they are. I was hoping some kind and more-color-attuned painters than myself could offer advice on what colors to use to capture a good mixture of those two skin tone ranges: the luminosity and 'ethereal' quality of Royo's painting, while somehow incorporating the neccesary red/violet/blue tones neccesary to blend with the cool hair color.

If you have any suggestions, or if you think I could easily alter one of these color schemes I tried to better fit what I'm looking for, please let me know!

View attachment 59761
(Don't ask why I used this extra Malifaux model

View attachment 59760
(Forgive this one being slightly light-saturated. The tones are pretty close though, if a tad darker IRL)

View attachment 59759
(Only painted the breasts and thigh, didn't finish the stomach)

 

[mjs101]

Hi all

I'm finally taking a step to painting things bigger than 28/32mm scale. I love the look of the larger figures, and so my first attempt is going to be this figure from Hangar18.
http://www.hangar18miniatures.com/miniatures/70mm-80mm/nocturna-models/memories-of-the-void-seeds/

The thing is, I don't like the 'studio' painted colors that much. I feel like they are off from the more ethereal/fantastic effect in the original Royo artwork, which I love. So, for the skin primarily, I want to more closely mimic the concept art.
View attachment 59755


However: I'm also not a fan of white hair, in general, on miniatures. Heck, I'm not really a fan of 'white' haha. So, I decided to change her hair color to look like this artwork: a sort of desaturated, cool red.
View attachment 59754

Looking at this painting, though, I was realizing that to do that cool red for the hair (and probably the same lips as this painting as well) would require me using more cool tones in the skin, especially more violet/red/blue than is present in the Royo artwork.

So. I spent today trying out a couple different skin color schemes to see which looked 'closest' to my vision. The end result is I'm not happy with any of them lol. Here they are. I was hoping some kind and more-color-attuned painters than myself could offer advice on what colors to use to capture a good mixture of those two skin tone ranges: the luminosity and 'ethereal' quality of Royo's painting, while somehow incorporating the neccesary red/violet/blue tones neccesary to blend with the cool hair color.

If you have any suggestions, or if you think I could easily alter one of these color schemes I tried to better fit what I'm looking for, please let me know!



View attachment 59760
(Forgive this one being slightly light-saturated. The tones are pretty close though, if a tad darker IRL)

Take this with a grain o salt -- this is beyond my normal skill and targeted painting quality.

I'd either start and work up to ivory, or start with ivory and glaze this color in, and I'd use a very desaturated green or brown (maybe mix in medium gray to desaturate further.) The art has green-brown shadows.

 

[Stargorger]

Thanks MJS!

Yeah after posting this I realized ivory was the way to go: helps to add some yellow tones to the midrange, which I can then glaze with an off-white to help make 'ethereal' looking.

I did see the green-brown but I was afraid it would conflict too much with the red/blue of the hair. But I will test it out, thank you!

 

[KruleBear]

You might want to look at Reapers vampiric skin color. i want to say it was close to the colors you have when I painted up my last zombie before I gave it a black wash. And knowing Reaper it probably is part of a vampiric skin triad set of paints.

Also IIRC Royo has a couple paintings of women with a similar paint feel but with red hair. I don't think this is the one I was thinking of, but close...

View attachment 59780
You can also take the picture and load it in Reaper's power pallette and it will give you an idea of colors to start with. http://www.reapermini.com/powerpalette

 

[Stargorger]

Ooh awesome! Thanks!

Yeah that does indeed help. Ok so some more yellow/orange shadows, and a grayer violet for the darkest shadows. Nice.

I'll post some photos once I've finished a portion (started with the face) but with all the glazes it may take a bit >.<

 

[MAXXxxx]

might not help, but Nocturna has released a Malefic skin-paint set which is wonderful (both shades and how the paint behaves).
The skin above would be the greenish skin from the set (actually only the deepest shadow is green, the rest are muted browns).

 

[Stargorger]

I did see that, yeah. Looks cool, I just didn't want for another order to arrive before I started work, too excited haha >.<

 

[Daigo Cannon]

Dark sea green is great for pale/white skin shadows