A practical guide from Sketchso
Watercolor Portrait Tutorial: Skin Mixes, Glazing Order and Saving Highlights
A watercolour portrait has two jobs that pull against each other: an accurate likeness, which wants control, and fresh transparent colour, which punishes overworking. The way through is to do all the controlled thinking before the paint goes down. This guide covers a skin palette, the order of washes and what to protect.
Get the drawing right before painting
Watercolour cannot hide a misplaced eye under more paint. Fix proportions in pencil, on the painting paper or on a separate sheet you transfer from. Keep the final lines as light as you can still see, and avoid drawing around highlights you mean to leave white, because graphite under a pale wash stays visible.
Before painting, mark on a separate copy of the reference where the lightest lights are: the highlight in each eye, the light on the nose tip and forehead, perhaps a rim of light along the cheek. Those areas stay paper white for the whole painting.
A limited palette for skin
Skin is easier with three or four pigments than with a box of thirty, because limited mixtures harmonise. A widely taught set is a red, an earthy yellow and a blue: for example quinacridone rose (PV19) or a light red iron oxide (PR101), yellow ochre (PY43) and ultramarine (PB29). Burnt sienna (PBr7) is a convenient pre-mixed warm.
Mix the light skin tone from red and yellow diluted to a pale tea. Shadows on skin are cooler as well as darker, so add a touch of blue to the same mix rather than using a darker brown. Warm accents, a stronger mix of red, belong in the places where blood is close to the surface: cheeks, nose, ears and lips.
| Area | Mix | Consistency |
|---|---|---|
| First overall wash | Yellow ochre + a little rose or light red | Pale tea |
| Warm accents (cheeks, nose, ears) | Rose or light red + a little yellow ochre | Milk |
| Cool shadows | Skin mix + a little ultramarine | Milk |
| Deepest shadows (nostrils, lip line, eye corners) | Burnt sienna + ultramarine | Cream |
| Hair (brown) | Burnt sienna + ultramarine, varied | Milk to cream |
Adjust the ratio to your subject’s skin. Test every mix on a scrap of the same paper and let it dry, since watercolour dries lighter.
Glaze from light to dark
Lay a single pale wash over all the skin except the highlights. Let it dry completely. Then paint the shadow shapes as one connected shape where possible, in the cooler mix. Dry again. Each layer is transparent, so the colours mix optically on the paper, and the skin keeps a glow that a single heavy layer never has.
Three or four layers is usually enough. More, and the colour turns flat and muddy. If you need to soften an edge, run a clean damp brush along it while the paint is still wet.
Protect highlights with masking fluid or careful painting
Masking fluid is a liquid latex you paint onto dry paper; it forms a film that resists the paint and peels off afterwards to reveal white paper. It is useful for small, sharp highlights such as catchlights in the eyes or single strands of light hair. Apply it with an old or synthetic brush, let it dry completely, and remove it gently once the paint is dry. Test on scrap paper first, because some papers tear.
For larger soft highlights, such as light across a forehead, masking leaves edges that are too hard. Paint around those areas instead, softening the boundary with a damp brush.
Eyes, mouth and hair last
Paint the eyes once the surrounding skin is done, so you can judge their value against it. Keep the whites of the eyes tinted and in shadow under the upper lid; pure white eyes look startled. The darkest marks in the face are usually the pupils, the line between the lips and the nostrils.
Paint hair as a few large wet shapes with variation inside them, dropping in a second colour while the first is still wet. Leave the highlight bands as paper or very pale. Add a few individual strands only at the very end, with a nearly dry brush.
Questions before you start
What colours do I need for skin in watercolour?
Three or four are enough: a red such as quinacridone rose or light red, yellow ochre and ultramarine, plus burnt sienna if you like. Mix lighter tones warm and shadows slightly cooler.
How do I keep the eye highlights white?
Mask them with a dot of masking fluid before you start, or paint carefully around them. Adding white paint at the end rarely looks right.
Why do my portraits look muddy?
Too many layers, too many pigments in each mix, or painting into a wash that had started to dry. Use a limited palette and let each layer dry fully.