Week 10: Colour in Skin

A 30 minute conté crayon portrait drawing focused on the colours in skin and how it reacts to light. In this image this is done through yellow, red, and blue. There is not much in between the two layers of skin at the neck, which is why the light has shown through substantially more in that area than in others. This is equally true of the hair, where some individual strands have caught the light, but overall the outline is thicker than it is for the face.

The outline of light on the head, by contrast, is thin. This is because there is much more here for the light to pass through. The blue between the nose and cheek is another indicator of this, showing a lack of light. The red at the bottom of the nose is a contrast to this, showing where just red light has passed through the skin. This depiction of light and how it reacts with the skin is very indicative of some of the properties of skin.

The rest of the skin is brown as the image is backlit, and so there is not much tonal variation in the brown, as it is more to depict the lack of light in those areas.