It sounds so easy – skin what is the problem? But skin isn’t an easy subject to capture – even the best computer generated animations can’t get it right. The more you look at skin you realise the less you really know. In the world of the comic book skin is just one tone, usually white or orange/red maybe pink but real skin just isn’t like that. Real skin has very small changes in tone that if you don’t get right can throw the whole painting. Of course that is if you’ve trying to make a reasonable approximation to skin. If not then you don’t have this worry.

Over the centuries some of the best painters have also been the best painters at capturing skin – hence the difficulty in getting it just right. I’m not sure I’ve got this just right at the moment but we have to have goals to work towards.

Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk