Painting Beautiful Skin Tones with Color & Light [Hardcover]

A generation ago, books on portrait painting focused almost exclusively on Caucasians. James Horton was one of the first popular writers to explore the full range of color differences in his How To Paint Skin Tones (LJ 3/15/96). Saper here presents a similar volume that does not markedly improve on Horton's. Like Horton, Saper, whose portraits are held in private and corporate collections, sets out principles for painting a full variety of skin tones in several media, including oil, pastel, and watercolor. Both authors give advice on shooting and choosing photographs as references. Libraries that already have Horton's volume on the shelves can pass on this. For those that don't, Saper's book is an essential purchase.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

You can paint realistic skin tones that glow with life!

Learning how to capture such quality has never been easier. Inside you'll find guidelines for rendering accurate skin tones in a variety of media, including watercolor, oil and pastel.

You'll begin with a review of the five essential painting elements (drawing, value, color, composition and edges), then learn how light and color influence the appearance of skin tones. Artist Chris Saper provides the advice and examples that make every lesson and technique easy to understand--immediately improving the quality of your work. You'll discover how to:

• Paint the four major skin color groups (Caucasian, African American, Asian and Hispanic)
• Refine these colors into dozens of possible variations within each group
• Select your palette and mix hues for clean, beautiful colors
• Determine the color and temperature of light that falls on your subject
• Paint direct and indirect sunlight, artificial light and highlights of light
• Master the four elements that determine color in shadow
• Use photographic references when you can't paint directly from life

You'll also find seven step-by-step demonstrations and an appendix of sample color charts for each major skin type under a range of lighting variations. It's all you need to bring your portraits to life!

Chris Saper's portraits are currently held in private and corporate collections throughout the US and Canada. Her award-winning work has been featured in several books, including The Best of Portrait Painting. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona.