Figure Painting: Learn to Paint Hands, Legs, Backs & the Human Torso in Oil

1. Introduction: Hello, and welcome to this course. I'm truly happy to have you here. In this course, we will focus on painting individual parts of the human body. Studying each area separately is one of the best ways to build confidence before tackling complete figures and portraits. Together, we will learn how to paint a hand, a leg, a breast, and a back, paying close attention to anatomy, values, edges, and skin tones. Each study will introduce techniques that you can apply to all of your future figure painting. For these projects, I will be painting on oil painting paper, although you can also work on canvas if you prefer. I will be using my usual five colour palette and my regular synthetic brushes. If you like more information about the materials I use, I invite you to watch the material section of my fundamentals of oil painting class here on Skillshare. Let's get started right now. 2. Getting started with the hand: In this video, we are going to see how to paint a hand. That is a subject that scares many artists because it's actually a little bit complex. There are some joints. There are a little a lot of little folds. There are many details, many different touches of colors sometimes, and kind of it's a little bit intricate. And so we are going to see how to simplify that and how to be able to create a realistic hand very easily, and step by step, we'll do that. And so for this video, I'm going to use my traditional materials. I will be working on a 20 by 30 centimetres paper and use a grid to make sure my hand is drawn with the right propulsion. So let's get started, and let's practice together. 3. Painting the palm of the hand: Let's start with a quick color analysis. This will be fairly fast because, well, even though I have placed several arrows, it is often the same colors that appear in the different areas. In truth, we are really working with three main tones. There are the lighter areas where we will see a fairly light beige, the medium tone areas where the beige becomes slightly darker and shifts toward brown. And finally, the darkest areas where we will primarily use brown. So we'll mix some colors on the palette, but it will be a fairly quick process, since, as you can see, we don't need a large number of colors. However, to ensure smooth transitions between the different tones, we will create several intermediate shades. So don't hesitate to mix these colors together, both on the palette and while painting in the end, especially when you realize along the way that you need additional tones. Let's get started and mix the skin tones for this end. What we can observe is that these slightly beige colors tend to lean toward orange. Most importantly, they are fairly light tons. So what I do is start with a large amount of white, which I mainly mix with yellow and red. But I also add a touch of Ultramarine Blue and Burtonbr because that helps tone down the intensity and prevents the mix from turning into a bright orange like the fruit. This way, we end up with a beige color that has an orange base. And from this color, I can easily create an even lighter tone by adding a large amount of white. And then we can go ahead and make some additional mixes. So far, I have created two tones that are relatively large. Now we can create some darker ones. We still use the same limited base of five colors. Of course. The only difference is that I will reduce the amount of white. This way, I would get a mix that is darker than the rest, but even then it's not extremely dark, more of a mid tone. Now I realized that the transition between these two colors might be too abrupt. It would be better to have an in between shade. So that's what I am going to try creating now again using the same color just with a slightly higher proportion of white than in the last mix. So with these four tons, we already have a good base to start painting on skin colors. Now I am going to create one last color that leans more towards brown. So here, I'm clearly going to reduce the amount of white and increase the amount of the other colors, especially burn timber to get something more brownish. Now, it might seem like a fairly dark color, and that is true, but we also have to keep in mind that once I apply this color, it will blend with all the surrounding tones, and as a result, it will also become slightly lighter as it mixes with the others. And if I realize it is not quite right, I can always adjust the color along the way. So here is the drawing of the hand I made on my paper. I kept it fairly simple. What matters most is having a good outline and marking the main Cris lines of the hand and the finger folds. We are going to start applying the colors now. I'm really sorry, but the first minute of the tutorial video is blurry. You can still roughly make out the colors I'm using. But unfortunately, the video is out of focus for this first minute. Don't worry, v. It clears up afterwards. So I am beginning to apply the different colors. I try to identify the areas where we will have various skin tones and we'll actually be working on this hand section by section. That means we will begin with the upper part of the end, then move on to the middle area, then the lower part, and then the fingers and so on. I really like this way of progressing because if we try to paint the entire end at once, applying colors across the whole palm, I fear we would feel a bit lost, and it might also be discouraging. Would probably think there is too much to do. I am getting nowhere. I can't see any progress. But when we work area by area, we can fully complete one section, see it evolve, see it come together right before our eyes, and then move on to the next. So I thought that this approach would seem better to me. It helps us keep it helps us get there more easily and keeps the motivation high throughout the painting process without getting discouraged by not seeing any progress on the hand and feeling a bit lost in all these small areas of colors. The first step with this hand is to make sure the colors are applied correctly. So I look at the upper area of the hand and ask myself, in this zone, where could I place my divisions? And I notice that on the right side, it is quite dark, while on the left side, it is really quite light. In the middle around the second finger from the right, there is a slightly dark band, and just next to it, a lighter band. So I applied my color this way to define larger areas and simplify the structure of my hand a bit. Now that my zones are blocked in or painted, I can start blending the colors. So I try to make sure they merge well into each other. For that, I don't hesitate to add lots of small brush strokes. And whenever I notice that too much paint is building up on my brush, I remove the excess paint on a tissue. This way, I get a nice blend with color mixing well together on the paper. And each time I move to a slightly different tone, I also make sure to wipe off any excess paint from my brush. For example, when I worked with the light color and then switched to the slightly dark one, I make sure to remove the built up paint on my brush first. And now I can tell that we have a very solid base, a great surface to begin working on. So now we will be able to dive into more detail and start making this hand look more realistic. Now that we have a solid base with colors well blended into each other, we are going to start adding details and texture. For now, the details I am adding aren't precise. There are just small patches, little zones of color that we can see within the different areas we painted earlier. Earlier, we simplified each section by identifying the dominant tone. But if you look closely at the skin, you will notice lots of tiny pigments, small spots that are either slightly darker or slightly lighter. And that is what I am observing now. Adding those already helps to make the skin look more realistic. So I load my brush with a slightly different color, a bit darker or lighter depending on what I see in the reference, and then I apply it in irregular touches. I make sure it blends nicely into the underlying color. That's how I start building realistic skin texture. You will also notice that I don't hesitate to mix new shades on my palette to create intermediate tones. For example, I just took the darkest color and blended it with a medium beige. That gives me a slightly deeper tone that stands out a bit more in the painting. So I apply these irregular touches. We are still not at the stage of adding very fine, very precise details like the fin lines and tiny elements we see on hand. That part will come later as the final touch, the cherry on top. Right now, the goal is to create texture, and that texture comes from adding small zones of color. For example, near the edge of the hand, where the fingers start, I can see lighter patches, so I add them. And this is how we progress and build up a realistic skin texture on this hand. M The elements I am adding now are even smaller and finer, still part of the texture. And once that is done, we will have the final details, the line of the hand. These hand lines and finishing touches are important because they complete the texture work and clearly show that it is a hand. But it's not the most important part. If you only have the lines without a solid base color, you won't be able to create volume or make the hand look realistic. And now that the texture is pretty well developed, I can move on to these final lines. And for that, I will use the sword brush, the very thin brush to paint them. These lines are scattered all over the hand, and they are quite irregular. Sometimes they are short, sometimes they are longer, and in varying colors, so you have to be mindful of that. So I apply them using just the tip of my brush so they barely blend into the base layer and really stand out. And I work on these lines very carefully. What will be also important to head are some lighter touches next to certain lines because these lighter accents, they will help those lines to pop and to create a three dimensional effect. This way, the line looks like it is slightly carved into the end, giving the impression of depth and volume compared to the surrounding skin. So that's I will add at the This will be the final touch for these lines. Once I will have applied all the main lines that are pretty dark, I will work next to them and had these lighter elements, still using this word brush. So that's what I'm going to do now. You can see I am taking a little bit of white on my palette, mixing it to get something lighter, and then I can have these final lighter elements next to them. I haven't worked on the largest line that you can see in the lower section of the hand. The reason I haven't painted it yet is because that line sits right between the area we are currently painting and the area just below it. Since parts of that line will extend into the lower area, I think it is better to wait before painting it. Wait until we have completed the work on the bottom section on this area I am starting now. Once that part is well developed, I will be able to paint the line that sits between the two areas. This way, I can had small lines and finer details that connect nicely across both zones. To do that properly, I need to paint from both sides of the hand first. And you will notice that the progression across the areas of this hand follow the same process we use for any element we paint. We start with the larger shapes, painting the big areas first. Then we blend everything together and work on the texture by adding small irregular zones. And finally, we finish by adding the fine details. But if we want those small details to really stand out, we first need to build a strong base with the right colors. The base is more important than the details themselves, because if the base isn't right, if we don't create nice areas of colors, well, the details won't matter at all. For this area of the hand, I try to follow the same logic of progression, starting by applying my colors first. Here we can notice that there are some darker areas again on the right side of the hand. Also in the central part, I have marked two slightly larger zones with the dark color because we can see that the hand folds at this point, and due to that fold, the tones appear a bit darker. So once again, I apply the color and then I aim to blend everything smoothly so I can get a clean base with all the shades nicely merged. This way, I will be able to work on this area more precisely afterward. And I trust to continue with this right hand side and stop at this point because the zone is fairly large enough, and there is already quite a bit to focus on, especially since from the lower section onward, things start getting a bit more complex. So I thought it was best to stay within this less complicated area, which also happens to have a fairly similar tones to the upper section. When we move on to the lower area, we'll see much darker tones overall. Now that I have done the blending, I can start working a bit on the texture of these different areas. For that, I switch to a slightly finer brush which allows me to add smaller touch touches. I begin working through the area, starting on the right side where it is darker. And using this brush, I take a slightly dark brown and apply few and small irregular touches here and there. And as I move toward the left, I try to blend things more softly so the colors become slighter. There is a sort of gradient where the tons gradually lighten as you go left. And it is a little bit the same in the central zones, which are a bit darker, which are a bit dark. You will notice that along the edge of these areas, it is fairly dark, but as you move away from the crease, it gets lighter and blends more with the surrounding skin tones. And it is similar for the lower crease I am about to paint. You can see that on the right hand side, it is quite dark, but then as you move away from it toward the left, it becomes lighter again. And what really helps that crease stand out is the addition of slightly lighter touches along the right side. Those lighter accents help give a sense of volume, and that volume effect will be enhanced even more later later on when we add the actual hand lines with precise and darker strokes, which will really reinforce the sense of depth in these different creases area. Now I can start working on these lines with precision. For example, I begin with that central line I mentioned earlier, the one that crosses between two areas, and I work on it using small and irregular strokes. It is as if there is a tangle of many short lines overlapping and blending to form what looks like one larger crease. It is not just one long continuous line. It is actually the accumulation of many small lines layered together that gives that impression of a deeper crease. Another important thing to note is that the value of the line isn't uniform all the way through. You will notice it is quite dark on the right, but as you move toward the left, it becomes lighter. So it is important to make sure that transition is visible. If you painted the whole line using the same shade of brown, it wouldn't look believable or realistic. And I am now going to work on all the visible lines in this area of the hand. Sos are quite long. So I paint them carefully, and again, pay close attention. The value of the line changes along its length. On the left, for example, with this one, it is fairly dark, and as you move to the right, it gradually lightens. These darker strokes along the hand lines help to create even more volume. And what I will do also is to reinforce that sense of depth by slightly brightening the touches right next to the dark lines. Those lighter highlights will help enhance the relief effect. 4. Painting the rest of palm of the hand part : Let's now move on to the rest of the hand, the entire lower section. At this point, since we are already well into the rhythm of painting this hand, I figure we could go ahead and paint the whole remaining area in one go and work across this large section. I am also saying this because across this area, the values are generally darker and quite close to each other. I felt that if we tried to break this section down, we would end up with just a small bit on the right and a large part on the left. So we might as well paint both at once. Since it is a large area and I don't want to get lost in it, I want to establish good reference points right away. So I start by blocking in the darkest elements. For example, the edge on the right and the big cries on the left. That entire section was quite dark, and as we move leftward, we can see that the tones gradually get lighter, so I have adjusted my colors accordingly. There is also a slightly darker central zone toward the top, which I can go ahead and paint now. And as always, the goal is to begin with a solid application of color, identifying the main color zones across the hand. This way, we can progress through the area step by step and really watch the painting come together before our eyes. Here, you can see that I am using a medium sized brush. It lets me apply a good amount of paint while I still remain fairly precise on my color application. And now, between these darker areas, I can start adding ltotons even though in this part of the hand, the ltotons won't be as bright as they were in the upper section. You can see that this area captures much less light, and as a result, even the litosones appear a bit darker. The exception is the left side of the hand, which is clearly well lit, but aside from that, most areas here won't be very bright. Now that the colors are well applied in this area, I can move on to blending, making sure that all these tons merge smoothly. When we are dealing with several different colors like this, the goal is, of course, to keep each color more or less in its place. That is to say, making sure the dark areas stay dark and the lighter areas remain light. So I will apply multiple brush strokes here, always making sure to wipe off any paint that builds up on the brush so the blending is as clean and effective as possible. The blending is done, so now we can start working more precisely on the area. That means working on the texture as we have done before, but also refining the zones themselves because although we have blocked in the main color areas, there are still many smaller zones within them that need better definition. So using this slightly finer brush, I will try to define those areas. And I will start by marking some of the folds we can see in this more illuminated part of the hand. I am working them in lightly with the fine brush, and where we find them later, of course, this is just like the first pass. At the same time, I can also start applying a few darker touches. It is easy to get lost in a section like this where there are so many small areas and tiny folds. So I have decided to work on one element at a time. Right now, I am using darker tones, and I notice in this area that there are some deeper shadows, so I add them. Then I also realized that the base color here could be improved a bit, so I adjust it. And as I move downward, I can see that in the shadowed area, some elements are going to be even darker. So that's the next thing I'm going to add, add these darker elements right now. And by adding one element at a time, one, then another, then another that seems obvious, I am gradually building reference points. And with each new reference, it becomes much easier to place the next details by comparing them with what I have already added. You've probably noticed that I am currently focusing mainly on the darker elements in this area. And the reason is simple, it helps me work more efficiently and saves a bit of time, too, because if I had chosen to constantly alternate between light and dark colors when adding these small touches, I would end up wasting quite a bit of time. That is because every time I switch colors from dark to light, I would need to clean my brush or switch brushes, and that inevitably slows things down. It's not really necessary to waste that time. So I tried to stay efficient in my process, and here I started by working on and adding all the small areas that were a bit darker. Now that I feel that I've made good progress on that, I'm going to do the same work the same and work on all the little areas that will be lighter. This way, it saves time and also prevents the colors from becoming muddy. That is, if I keep switching colors on my palette with the same brush or even another, my light colors will start to get darker and my dark colors will get lighter. And then I will lose some of the precision in the color mixes I originally intended. So, now with these lighter colors, I also realized that the light elements in this area didn't really stand out enough. Even though the area is generally darker, there are still some lighter parts, and I felt that they weren't visible enough, especially on the right side. After giving it more thought, I realized that this right hand area is actually quite light. So to make it stand out more, I apply touches that are much lighter than they are supposed to be. And by blending with the colors already in place, they will darken slightly and end up closer to the shade I want. And I did this using this fairly fine brush to maintain precision. And now that the zones are more clearly defined, we have gone from larger areas to smaller, more precise one in this section of the hand. Well, now that they are clearly defined, I can start working on the texture by adding small touches here and there. For example, in the lower part of the hand, where it is dark, you can see that the edge is even darker with quite a few visible brown color patches. So I will add those in using small strokes just like we have been doing so far. I also notice that a bit higher up, there are areas that are slightly darker than the color base I applied in here. So these need to stand out, too. And this is how I will proceed. I will scan the whole area and ask myself, whether certain parts need to stand out more by being en darker or lighter, whether there are small text or details of folds that should be added here or there. And I will keep working this way. And once the area feels finished to me, I can move on to the next one and so on. And this is how I will progress on this entire low area of the hand. U this area of the hand is starting to be quite well worked. But before I move on to precise detailing and working on the lines of the hand, my goal is to refine everything we have done so far. Those areas where we have added lighter or darker touches. The aim is to enhance them a bit more by adding some skin texture and introducing more pigment variation, just like we did on the upper part of the hand. And once that is done, we'll be able to truly finalize the work and move on to the precision phase by adding all the many lines that are present and that really define the hand, all those folds that you can see throughout the area. Now we are going to start working on this area of the hand with real precision and mark all those fine little lines we can see. For example, on that fold in the hand, you can notice that along the edge, it is a bit darker. And so I begin by working with a base brown tone, and on top of that, I had some slightly darker touches. That's what makes the fold appear realistic because if we were to simply draw the line, it wouldn't work. What was essential earlier was establishing the shadow first and then layering the small detail lines on top. One wouldn't work without the other. If we added the little line, it will feel like something was missing. But if we only had drawn the line, it would look it wouldn't look realistic either. Here in the middle, we have a long line that runs across a large portion of the palm. You will notice that just like before, this long line is actually made up of many small lines that overlap and intersect. That is what gives us this long and natural looking crease. And across all these lines, you have to pay close attention to value shifts. I mean, of all the lines that we draw in this area, because even along the same line, the brown won't always be the same shade. And naturally, not all the lines will use the same brown either. Some will be lighter, other darker. For example, on the lower part of the pond, there are areas that are extremely dark and we need to work those carefully. So the next few minutes are going to involve patients and keen observation. You will need to study all the different lines, place them accurately, and notice how the value shift, avoiding the mistake of using the same color across the different areas. My method to make sure I don't miss any is to stay on the lookout, almost like a predator, scanning for the tiniest line I can have. As soon as I see one, I place it right away to make sure nothing is forgotten. And then after a while, I will reach a point where I can step back and think, Okay, I have added quite a few details on line in this area. Now, if I compare it to my reference photo, where does it still feel lacking? Where does it not look quite realistic yet? What elements seem to be missing? And then I will make those final adjustments. Painting a hand is difficult. Let's be honest about it. There are complex forms, joints, recessed area, raised volumes, a lot of texture and fine details. So it is not an easy subject, and sometimes it is hard to get it right on the first try. But that is exactly why it is such a valuable exercise. When you accept the challenge, you stop judging yourself solely by the result. You grow because you learn to observe more careful manage your contrast, to refine your brushwork. And even if the result isn't perfect, everything you learn here will help you later on, whether you are painting faces, bodies or objects. You will become more attentive, better at blending, more precise in your transitions and detailed work. And with practice, painting a hand becomes less intimidating. What once felt impossible becomes simply technical, and that is when real progress happens. Now, the folds in this hand are truly fascinating. They are not just decorative lines that we draw for effect. They are natural creases form by movement, age, and tension in the hand, and they serve a real purpose. They create volume. They indicate areas of flexion and tell the story of the hand. Painting a fold isn't just about drawing a dark line across the surface. It is about understanding that this fold has edges that may be darker, a central line that can be more defined, and that is made up of a tangle of smaller lines in certain areas that come together to form a larger crease running across the hand. And most importantly, folds respond to light. Sometimes they interrupt to shadows. Sometimes they are highlighted by a sharper light. It is by carefully painting these last details that we can create a hand that truly looks realistic. These folds, much like the wrinkles on the face, bring life and authenticity to your work. That's why, in my opinion, they are absolutely essential, and it is important to take the time to make them good. The work on the lines of the hand is almost complete. Now I am going to refine it by adding small lighter touches between each of these elements to help them stand out a bit more and to enhance the sense of volume created by all these folds and wrinkles in the hand. And after that, we'll be done with this area and ready to start working on the fingers. 5. Painting the fingers: Let's now move on to working on the foam. And even though we might feel like we have tackled the hardest part with the palm, it doesn't mean we can relax or put in less effort here. The foam deserves just as much care and precision. So now I am going to start by blocking in the different color zones we can see on the foam. You will notice that overall, this lower part is fairly dark. That's what I have just done, especially on both edges of the foam where the tones are slightly darker. As we did with the hand, we begin with a simple color application. We try to stay fairly precise, of course, but for now, we are defining broad blocks of colors. We'll refine the texture and details later. Next, if you look at the upper part just above the fold, you can see an area that is even darker than one we applied before, and it is the same on the left hedge. The whole border is a bit darker, too. So that's what I am focusing on now and applying to the painting. And as I apply the color, I also try to create a smooth blending. Sometimes in areas like this, I combine both steps into one. While I apply the color, I make sure it blends naturally into the surrounding areas. So now we can move on to the next step, which is to work more on the texture and start defining the smaller areas with more precision. I begin by looking for the slightly darker spot. You will notice that along the entire left edge and the lower part of the fum, there are a few darker areas, and I am adding those now with a slightly fineer brush, trying to create some irregular texture and making sure it blends well into the rest to get a realistic result. We will also define the right edge of the foam, where there is a darker area and a clearly marked line. And if you look at the upper part of the foam, you will notice several lighter touches, some subtle highlights that really stand out. So I am adding those as well to improve the texture and make the fob more lifelike. It is true that this stage is all about lots of small touches, but it is important to remember, it is the combination and layering of all these little marks that will ultimately gives us a result that looks realistic. And right in the center of the palm, we also see the knuckle joint marked by a subtle crease, just like with the folds in the palm, this isn't a single line. It is a collection of small lines overlapping and running alongside each other that form the articulation. Using the sword brush, I can now come in and define the details of all these little crease we find on the farm. And overall, that is going to be it for this finger. I am just adding a few final details, and then we'll be ready to move on to the index finger. So let's get started with painting the index finger. The approach would be exactly the same. First applying the base colors, then blending and softening the transition between them, working on the texture, and finally, adding the smaller lines and details. The difference between the index and the foam is that instead of a single joint in the middle of the foam, the index has two joints we'll need to work on, and that's great. It means even more practice and more elements to help you improve. So I am starting with a solid application of my base color. You will notice that the right side of the finger is very much in shadow, especially in the upper part where the tones are quite dark. And as always, we carefully observe the color tones and pay close attention to the differences in value between areas. That is what ensures we get the best possible result, one that feels realistic and true to what we are aiming for. What you need to understand is that when aiming for realistic painting, it's not geometric perfection that creates the illusion of reality. It is actually all the small irregularities. A human finger isn't smooth, symmetrical or perfectly outline. It is full of micro variations, slightly darker areas, softer reflection. Faults that aren't quite straight, shadows that fade in and out. And it is when you dare to include those subtle differences that your result starts to look convincing. If everything is too clean, too symmetrical, too uniform, it looks fake. But when you add slightly irregular details, gentle transitions between values, suddenly, the image comes to life. Realism truly lies in imperfection, but an imperfection that is controlled and intentional. And painting five fingers might seem a bit repetitive, but in reality, it should be seen as a golden opportunity because the more you repeat, the more you improve, the first finger helps you understand the method. The second one goes a bit faster. By the third, you start anticipating the shading better, and with the fourth, you begin to feel more confident. And the fifth, well, it is often way better than the first. And this is how progress happens in painting through intelligent repetition. Each finger is a new attempt, a new experience. Don't see it as a constraint, but rather as a series of small victories. Every step forward builds something new. And when you look at the finished hand, you won't just see the completed hand. You will also see the path you have taken and no doubt the progress you have also made along the way. So I am continuing here using this fairly fine brush to mark those little irregularities. The goal isn't to paint every tiny detail as if we were writing the DNA on the finger, but rather to emphasize the small irregularities, the subtle shifts in value and color that give the finger a three dimensional cylindrical appearance instead of something flat on the page. And we have now almost completed this finger together, and the remaining three will be painted off camera since the process is exactly the same. And I am confident that now that you have seen how the first two fingers were done, you will have no trouble painting the rest on your own. And now, well, I'm moving on to this clearly defined crease on the finger, and there is a slightly darker area on the upper side while the lower part is lighter and takes the form of a visible line. And to help that fold stand out even more, I am adding a few lighter touches just next to it. Oh. The work on the finger is almost done. In just a few seconds, you will see the three fingers appear on screen. They can serve as a reference for you to finalize them on your own. And once that is done, we'll meet again to work on the final remaining area, the wrist. 6. Painting the wrist: For the rest, we start with a fairly simple application of our base colors. You can see that the entire right side is quite dark as well as part of the left side. And in between, we have light to tone. So there is a kind of soft gradient running from right to left. And that's what I am doing here. Since this part is relatively simple, compared to everything we have already done while painting the hand, I have decided to speed up the video a bit for this initial stage. That said, take your time. Don't rush and make sure your color application is clean and accurate. After that, we'll take a closer look at how to paint the small folds and fine body hair. We can see on the wrist. Now that we have applied or base colors, I'm not going to start with the texture just yet. Instead, I am going to begin by working on the folds we see around the wrist. That is because the texture and all the darker elements will really be built around those lines. These folds are usually a bit darker and the areas surrounding them tend to be lighter or even much lighter in some areas. So that's what I am starting with. I begin by painting these lines and then around them, I will use a slightly use fine brush to add some texture. At this point, we can start placing small and irregular light touches here and there. But overall, this wrist area is not as complex as the end itself. So we have already added a few of those lines, and we'll had more as we go. The final step will be to add the small hairs we can see in this zone. And as I mentioned, around the foes, we often notice, slightly lighter areas, and that is exactly what I am now trying to add. And now with the sword brush, I can finalize the work on the lines. You can see that there are some additional ones that are a bit finer than the main folds I marked earlier. So I am adding those in now, just a few small lines here and there. This also helps refine the texture and gives the wrist a more realistic appearance. And overall, though, that should be enough for the lines in this area. Oh now we can move on to painting the hairs visible in this area. You will notice that these hairs don't all have the same value. Some are lighter than others, and some are also thicker. That is important to keep in mind, because if you only paint one type, only dark hairs or only thick ones, you will end up with something that doesn't look right. When I paint them, I use the swath brush because it allows me to draw fine lines, thin lines, and also vary the thickness of each stroke. I can make some hairs thinner than others, and depending on how much pressure I apply, I can also control the darkness of each line. If I am gentle and barely touch the surface, I will get light lines, which works perfectly for certain areas. One more key point when painting here, always pay attention to the direction and flow. If you ignore that, it will instantly look off or unnatural. So before painting, I take a good look at where the heirs are position. I am not aiming for millimetric accuracy, but I do check the general direction, their thickness, and value, whether they are lighter or darker. And once that is done, we are ready for the final step, painting the background, which will be a simple white. For this background painting, there isn't much specific advice to give. It's going to be quite straightforward, and I start by carefully painting around the edges using a fine brush and I try to barely touch the hand just enough so that the white paint blends very gently with the edge of the hand. Once that is done, I will switch to a flat brush to cover the rest of the background and spread the paint evenly. And what I am doing here is essentially creating a kind of protective barrier around the hand. And so that brings this hand painting tutorial to a close. I hope it was helpful for you and that you enjoy it. And well, congratulations for making it all the way to the end. And I will see you very soon for next tutorial. 7. Painting the back : Today's video, we are going to focus on a part of the body that is painted on its own, the back. And it's a subject that I thought was very interesting to work on. So that's why I decided to create a specific video about it. The back has a lot of muscles, and these muscles are quite big, especially with a subject that is very muscular. And so that creates some volume, and to be able to create some volume, we will have to make a great work on the colors and on the value, which makes this color this subject very interesting to work on. Plus, the subject has a very dark skin, so it's great to practice how to mix the browns and these kind of brands that are very dark. And also, with this brown, what we can notice is that the contrast between the light colors, the light values and the darker values isn't big. There's no such a big difference between these different browns. And therefore, we will have to work very subtly to make sure that we are able to create some volume with the back of this man. Also, what will be interesting is to work on the shoulder the shoulder has many joints, which makes it interesting to work on to create, again, some volume. And the harm is also very muscular, so we'll be able to see how to deal with that. And what will be also interesting will be the work on the hand because the hand is very small, so we will see how to deal with a small hand, like in this case, it is small because it's just a small part of the paint. Whereas on this course on this course on the human body, there is a video that is completely dedicated to the hand, and this time, it is on a bigger format 20 by 30 centimeters. Whereas here, the hand is very small, less than 2 centimeters. So I think it will be very interesting to see also how to deal with such a small hand. So this is a very interesting subject. And to paint it, I would be using an old painting paper, and the size of it will be 20 by 30 centimeters. I will use my traditional materials and make a grid or use the projector to make sure that my drawing is in the right proportions. So that's it for the introduction. Now, let's get started and paint this man together. This is the colors I have picked out to mix for the back, and they consist mainly of a right range of browns. If we look at the first brown I have selected, which you can see at the top, it seems that it's leaning a little bit towards the orange brown, but only very slightly. These browns are very much dark and in general, they tend to lean a little bit toward the purple tone, I would say. They are fairly neutral brown, so we will need to mix them carefully. And when I say they lean toward purple, it's more to help describe the tone because it's actually quite hard to tell exactly which directions the color lean. In the highlight areas, though, it seems that the lighter zone, we get the impression of seeing a sort of grayish brown. So we'll be mixing that as well. We'll see how to mix all these colors together. Right now, let's take a look at how to mix them. So here is my five color pad then, let's get started mixing these colors to create our brown. As I mentioned earlier, it seems to lean slightly toward the purple brown. So that's what I am going to try to create. I'm starting with a purple base using blue and red, and then I am adding a large amount of burnt timber. This will be my base for the darkest areas. I'm going to add just a small touch of yellow because it's the opposite color of purple and it will help turn down the intensity of violet of the purple a bit. But it's really the burn temper that gives this mix a slightly purple brown tone. And now by adding a bit more ultramarine blue, I am able to shift the purple to be a little less reddish, and it also helps darken the color. That is important because in areas like the fold in the middle of the back, there are elements that are really very dark. So these color should work pretty nicely for that. And from this color, I can easily create a lighter version by adding some white as I have done right here. Now I am going to make some lighter purple browns, leaning more toward purple because it is true that in certain areas like around the end, we can see these tones. They are soft purple that leans slightly toward brown. I hadn't necessarily thought to extract these colors during the initial analysis. But if you look closely at the end, you can clearly see these kinds of tones, lighter and more purplish. So that's what I have just mixed, and I'm going to create an even lighter variation of it. Now, like I said before, there are some orange some areas that seems to be a little more orange brown color. So I'm creating a good orange base, then adding some burn timber and a bit of Ultramarine Blue to tone down the intensity of orange. This gives us a brown that is dark, but still somewhat too different from the ones we created earlier. At first, I felt it needed to lean a little bit more toward purple. So that's why I'm adding a little bit of blue and purple and red to it to make it a little bit more purple. I don't want to color gap between the color, this new one I am mixing and the ones I created before, that is too different. So that's why I re added a little bit of purple to it. Now I can create another variation of it a little bit lighter. And finally, we have some area that are extremely dark where we have some pure black in the heart of the core shadow. So that's what I am creating here, mixing some burn tember with ultramarine blue. And with these colors on the palette, we have a really good basis to get started. Here is my drawing done on my pating paper, created using a projector, where I mark the main shadow areas. Now, when it comes to the back, you can see that it is a bit complex because there are multiple multiple volumes. We will talk more about that a bit later. What I am starting with is applying very dark elements that will serve as reference points. This will help me visualize the different areas of the back more easily. I am beginning by marking the darkest elements. At first, you saw that I use pure black, but as I move on to the other areas, there will be still quite dark elements, even though not quite as dark as this fold in the back, which is truly black. And so I'm using these other colors on my palette. So the first thing I do is focusing on identifying the darkest parts in this area of the back. This way, it will then be easier to paint the rest of the zones because I will know that between these dark areas, there are lighter markings that are positioned precisely between them. This makes it much easier to gradually add in all the elements of the back. Under the hand here, there is also this darker marking. And on the side of the hand, we also have the deep shadow. So I am adding that too, and I am working step by step, adding all the shadow areas across the back to build a strong set of reference points. Okay. So the subject we are painting today is really an exciting one, and I really encourage you to observe it very carefully and to practice painting it yourself as well, because it will teach you a lot. So we are painting a back, but not just any back. It is a very muscular back with huge volume and definition. It is sculpted, powerful, and this type of subject is exactly what helps us improve when it comes to representing the human body. Why is that? Because painting a muscular back is one of the best exercises for understanding how light and shadow shape a volume. Here, every muscle, every curve, every fold of the skin, catches the light in a different way. If you look closely, you will see that there is no flat and smooth surface. Instead, there is a whole range of subtle transitions, subtle shifts from light to dark. And this is really fantastic playground for the painter's eye. And what makes this subject even richer is the work on very dark colors, deep browns and blacks. It forces us to use a varied colored palette. You might think that dark skin is simply painted with dark browns, but that would be a mistake. As we saw in our color study, there is a full range of subtle shades, very deep, dark browns, but also slightly purple browns, warmer and more orange brown. So we have this whole mix of colors, which is essential here. And it is important to have a wide range of browns on your just like we have today. If you stick to a single flat brown, your back will have no depth. It will look flat. So don't hesitate to mix your browns to create intermediate values. Painting this back is also an excellent exercise in patients. To really create the sense of volume, you will need to work carefully on areas that may seem minor but are actually essential for the overall coherence of the piece. Every little shadow every small highlights will contribute to building the body in space. So take your time to observe this bag carefully, understand the structure, see how the light sculpts it. This is a demanding subject, but it is an incredibly valuable exercise. I am sure that once you have practiced it, you will have made great progress in the way you paint the human body in volume, and it will also enrich your understanding of how to create depth and dimension in the figure. At this point, I would say that I have now built up enough reference points in the darker areas, and I can start painting in between them. So here in the lower part of the back around the lumbar area, we had some fairly dark sections that I painted with those large sweeping arcs. They were dark but still not as dark as we have in the central fold of the back, that deep central crease. So that's what I applied there. And now between those dark elements, I am adding light browns. And it's really these very subtle sheds that we can observe in this area that will help us create a sense of volume. So now for this lower area, it's looking pretty good. I'm trying to blend the colors I am applying here to create some subtle transitions between the different elements. Now we are going to focus on the area over on the left side. There is a white band here with elements in various shades of brown. So I'm going to start by applying this brown. It looks like a good choice. I can also lighten it a bit if needed. And here I can pretty much paint the entire area on the upper part of this area with this brand for now, since we are still in the basic color blocking stage. I think this brand will make a good base for the area. Later on, we'll have some lighter highlights here and there and some slightly darker elements as well to help create even more depth in this area. As we move further down into the lower part of the area, I think I can use this even lighter brown for this section. So that's why I'm doing now. And even though we are just applying the base colors at this point, I am still trying to be careful about the different values I am placing here because when we start working on the skin texture later, we will be adding small lighter touches in the darker areas and slightly darker touches in the lighter areas and so on. But for now, I want to be pretty fairly precise already. I am also paying close attention to the outline here because as we have seen, this man has a very muscular back. The muscles are really well defined along the sides, and you can see these curved shapes that really help to define the structure of the muscles. With some small brush strokes here and there, like this with my brush, I can try to improve the blending a bit between these different areas, and then we'll move on to working on the skin texture on the back. So here I have a nice blend between the different areas. It looks pretty good to me. Now, what I am going to do is use this smaller brush and start working on the texture. For example, in the lower area here, I noticed that there were some slightly lighter spots, so I am adding those in now. Same thing in the middle area. I see a few lighter touches I can add as well. In fact, when you are working on the back, it's a bit like the work we did in the Late Tutorial, if you have seen that one before. Here, we are not aiming to paint extremely precise details. It's not like painting a hand or painting a portrait where you would need to add very fine, clearly defined details like little lines for the eyelids. Tiny airs to define the eyebrows, et cetera, all those very sharp details. We don't really have that we don't really have that here on the back. What we see instead is texture skin, meaning the skin isn't perfectly smooth or one flat color. In each area, for example, in the lighter areas, you will often see some small darker spots, little dots or irregular marks that you can and you can do the same in the darker areas. In the darker parts, you will usually see some small lighter mars. You don't need to add very many of these, especially when you are working on a small scale like we are here. On a small canvas, just a few light, irregular marks here and there are enough to create a really convincing skin texture. Now, if you look at this left side here, you can see that I have just added a fema brushstrokes after the color application, and now that section feels much better defined. But for now, it is still a bit hard to fully recognize that this is a back. But once I have placed all the different elements side by side, the whole thing will come together nicely, and you will clearly be able to see that it is the back of this person. And now I can go ahead and do the same thing on the overside of the back. On the right side, there is an area that is a bit lighter, actually much lighter than the central fold, and that really helps the lower back muscles to stand out clearly. And as you have probably noticed, I very slightly blended the lighter area into the dark central line along that we can see. And it's a very subtle blend, barely noticeable, but it is there and it makes a difference because all these elements are connected together. Now I am continuing and I noticed that just above those darker areas I apply earlier on the right side, there are also some visible highlights. So I am adding those now as well. And it's really this alternation between lighter tones and darker tones that allows me to create depth to build up these folds and creases formed by the muscle. And that's what helps me create a real sense of volume in this area. I am working on applying the colors on the back, and I am deliberately using a fine brush for this. This allows me to be much more precise in how I place the colors. That is something fundamental for this type of subject, especially when working on a small format like this. It is very tempting to want to go fast, to block in large areas quickly, and tell yourself you will come back later for the details. But in reality, what will truly create the sense of volume in this bag, what will give it depth and the sense of relief is not the details you will have later. What is really the most important is the first stage, the careful, deliberate work on applying the color. That is why I am really taking my time here. I pay close attention to every little transition to how the colors evolve from one area to another. I carefully observe how the light catches certain muscles, how the shadows settle nicely into the hollows, and how the mid tones help to tie everything together in a fluid way. So at this stage, my goal is not to rush into adding tiny texture marks or very fine details. You could almost say that those don't matter yet. What really matters is laying down the large areas of color properly, getting the right value relationships, the right transitions. If this base is built well, the details will naturally fall into place on top and enhance the effect. But if this base layer is sloppy, even the best details that you could add later won't be able to save the paint. So it's really important to take your time, to be patient, to observe everything carefully as you go, and to place your colors thoughtfully, making sure to stretch the color smoothly as you apply it. It's really this patient and meticulous work on applying the colors that will, in fact, make up 80% of the realism of your painting. And now that my colors are looking pretty well applied, I can start working on blending between the areas. You can see here I am using small brush strokes with this very fine brush because it allows me to get a very precise blend. I'm also using a fine brush for this blending because the colors area here are quite small and I want to be precise. I took my time to carefully apply the colors in just the right places, and I want to make sure that those colors areas stay well defined. To do that, I am using small brush strokes here and there, left and right up and down to gently blend the transitions. And every time I move from one color zone to another, for example, if I am working in a very dark area and then I switch to a lighter area, I always clean the paint off my brush first. This way, I don't accidentally deposit lighter paint into my dark zone. Also, as I am blending, paint naturally builds up on the brush. So to ensure I keep a clean, smooth blend between the colors, I regularly wipe off any excess paint that has built up. And now that I have achieved a good blend, I would move on to working on the texture just like I did earlier. That means adding some small areas that are slightly darker and some that are slightly lighter. And here we are really refining our colors areas even more. Sometimes you will see that just adding one small darker touch in the right spot can make a big difference and enhance the sense of volume. And that is exactly what I am aiming to do here by adding small darker marks or small lighter marks here and there to gradually improve the overall volume. Now that we have worked forfly on the back area, we can move on to the shoulder area. This is also a very interesting area to paint because once again, it is a very muscular zone with plenty of relief, curves, and especially small folds that will be really interesting to observe and render and paint. What you need to understand is that even though the shoulder may appear visually smaller than the back, the work we are going to do here is exactly the same. We'll once again aim to lay down our colors carefully to closely observe how they are distributed across the area, how the light catches certain ray spots, and how the shadows settle into the hollows. And we won't rush. We'll take the time to carefully applying the main color masses. To carefully observe the transitions between light and dark areas. And just like with the back, what will truly give volume to our shoulder is not the details we'll add later on. It is this base layer, a precise application of color, well blended transitions, and well placed mid tones. So here again, I will proceed in the same way. I will first apply my base colors, paying close attention to their values and tones. Then I will refine the blending between the different areas. And finally, I will add a bit of texture as we did previously on the back with small darker or lighter touches lighter touches to bring the skin to life and further enhance the sense of volume. So once again, this is really a continuation of the work we have done so far. Another very instructive exercise that will strengthen the ability to convincingly render the volume of the human body. Now, again, for the shoulder area, I start by marking some reference elements, the darker areas, the folds that are clearly visible. And this will make it easier to paint between the different zones. And what we have with the shoulder is truly a continuation of the back. These elements are visually connected. They are part of the same whole. So that's also what I am trying to do here to create that visual continuity between these different elements. Now, it is true that what we are doing here on the shoulder is basically the same kind of work we just did on the back, carefully placing our colors, working on the blending, building volume, and texture. But you shouldn't see this just as a simple repetition or something redundant. On the contrary, repeating this type of work on another part of the body is exactly what will help you strengthen the skills you have just developed. Everything you learned and applied when painting the back, observing values, placing colors precisely, managing transitions, creating volume, you are now going to reuse here and also reinforce. And by repeating the same approach across several areas, your brushwork will gradually become more natural, more controlled. Your eye will become sharper and your confidence will grow, and you will start to truly understand how to convincingly render the volume of the human body in paint. So don't think of it as I am just doing the same thing again. Think of it as I am reinforcing what I have just learned. That is exactly how progress happens. And when I am painting in this area, I try to be very precise with how I apply my colors so that I avoid going over into the end area because the end is a part where we will need to be very precise with our colors later on. And if I can make things easier for myself by not having to paint over dark brown, especially in the light areas on the fingers and around the naves, that's definitely better. So I really try to avoid the end area here being as precise as possible along the edge that I have marked out. 8. Finishing the painting of the back : While I am continuing to apply my colors here slowly, just like I did with the back, I would like to take this opportunity to share a few more general painting tips, things that will really help you no matter what subject you are working on. The first tip is learn to observe carefully. Take the time to observe your subject before you even touch your brush to the canvas, um, always take the time to really study your subject. Trying to understand the volumes, direction of the light, the values, the soil color ss, the area that might feel a little more difficult, what are the difficulties and complexities with your subject? Which area should you begin with? The more you develop this habit of analysing your subject beforehand, the more accurate and convincing your painting will be. The second tip is don't get caught up in details too early. This is a very common mistake. Many people want to start painting tiny textures, little wrinkles, fine hairs, but if your main shapes, your volumes, and your color transitions aren't solid yet, those details won't help. In fact, they might even make the area look confusing. Always start by building a strong base first. The third tip is, think about overall consistency. When you are working on a specific area, always consider how it fits how it fits with the rest. A my colors consistent with the neighboring areas, all my shadows behaving in the same logical way as elsewhere on the body. Asking yourself these kind of questions really help you create a more cohesive and believable image. And finally, one last be patient. A beautiful painting isn't creating in just a few brushstrokes. If you need to be willing to take your time, to build up the layers, to work on your blends, to revisit areas when needed. This is what makes the difference between a rushed painting and a carefully crafted one with real depth and realism. So take advantage of these calmer phases when you are applying your color slowly to really develop these good habits and move forward methodically. For the application of colors I am, we working a little bit on these areas with this color that is pretty light. There is a big contrast with the darker elements next to it. I will probably have to lower a little bit the contrast later on. But since I'm going to blend these elements, my lighter elements will probably a little bit darker due to the presence of these dark elements next to them. So I am blending them, blending all these different colors together with some small brush strokes here and there to really create some nice transitions, nice blending between all these elements. And so I am carefully applying these brush strokes. And next to when this will be done, we will be able to have the small detail, the small texture elements over this. Since this is a fairly ordinary and quite standout blend, just like we have been doing so far, I'm going to move on to a small section of the video. So feel free to pause here before moving on. And if you'd like to spend a bit more time refining this part. Now that my areas are blended, I'm noticing that some of the darker elements aren't standout enough yet. So I'm going back in and reapplying some colors precisely in order to get the right contrast and the right values in each spot. I am applying this dark color, and once it is in place, I make sure to blend it well with the surrounding elements. I don't want to have any arch edges or colors that don't blend naturally into one another, because as you can see, all of these colors, all of these elements are really interconnected. That's why even though I have reapplied some darker color on top, I still take care to blend it well with the other areas around it. Now that I've been able to go back and refine all the darker elements on the back of the head, I'm going to finalize this area. I will add a few more small touches to further enhance the texture, the shading, and the volume. So I am adding these little touches and once that is done, I can move on and start working a bit more on the area below. I am following a kind of natural progression here. I started with the head, and now I can continue by adding some darker elements around the finger. But something I also like to do is to focus on one color or one value at a time. In other words, I worked on the darker elements in the head area, and then I extended at work, knowing that there are also some darker areas around the finger. And now I am thinking that there are also some darker elements here along this fold that really defines the shape of the shoulder. So I will add there as well. And the same goes for the fold at the elbow and along the entire length of the arm, and I can add some darker touches there, too. And this is how we really bring life to the arm by enhancing the volumes we have in this area. Alright, so at this point, I would say I've really improved these areas. I've added all those darker elements we need it. Now I am making sure they blend nicely with the rest of the elements that we get smooth transitions between the dark areas and the highlights next to them. I'm also taking the opportunity to add a few small darker touches within the highlight area itself, which helps improve its texture and makes it look a bit more realistic. And there we go. I'm going to keep progressing and finalizing this section. At this stage, the shoulder area is really starting to take shape. When you compare it to the reference next to it, you can see that we really managed to create some nice volume here. Of course, if you didn't have the reference in front of you, you might be wondering what this area actually is. It might be hard to tell that's a back and a shoulder. But since we do have the reference right here, we can see that the comparison holds up well and that the work we've done so far is solid. That said, it's really once all the elements are painted, especially the arm and the hand that it will clearly read as a back, a shoulder and an arm. But for now, without the reference, it's true that it might be hard to recognize. And why I am here with this fine brush in hair, I'm also going to work just below the shoulder. Well, I have worked I worked just below the shoulder to add this small light line, and it's a small detail, but it really helped enhance the area as well. Now we are going to move on to the forearm area. For the color application here, I'm going to speed up the video just a little because this is fairly simple area to paint and very similar to what we did earlier when applying the colors lower down. So I will speed up a bit, but do take your time when working on this part. Of course, you have the reference to see exactly how I am applying my colors. And then we'll go back to normal speed as soon as we start working on the hand area. We are now moving on to the end area. What I do here is start by marking the dark elements as reference points. I observe the darker where the darker areas are, and you can see that along the edge of the thumb, we have a fairly dark border, as well as the thumb joint. The separation between the fingers is also quite dark, so I can mark that as well. This already gives me some reference point to start painting the end. When painting a hand, it's a fairly complex element. So it is important to take your time to observe carefully and think about how you can approach it to make the process easier. Here, I am deciding to paint along the length of this finger with some dark elements. So that's what I am doing. Then in this area, there is also a medium dark brown touch that I can add. And this is how little by little, we will manage to progress through the end, adding one element at a time. The end will gradually gain volume. What really help as well is adding those very elements on the finger, the bright highlights on the finger that we will add later. So I will mark those next, and they will really help the whole hand to stand out nicely. But even just with this careful application of different shades of brown, it will already help us gradually to build the hand. On the full harm, I can blend all the color applications together, blending them so that the transitions extend naturally into the different areas of the end so that all the elements feel connected. And then I can start working a bit more precisely, a bit more delicately, beginning by enhancing the texture of the full harm. Here, as well, I notice that some of my dark areas have lightened a little under the full harm as they blended with the other browns. So I don't hesitate to go back and rework areas I had already painted earlier. Then on this full arm and on the elbow as well, I'm going to rework all of these a little. There are areas that s be darker than what I had done so far, so I will adjust those, and there will be some small touches of texture to add in the center of the area just like what we have been doing up to this point. And I continue adding elements, lighter elements we see in the end area. On the end, you can see that there are some small highlight areas that are quite pronounced. There rest some on the upper part of the end and along the length of the finger, there is this whole side of the finger that is very light. So I work on that area precisely. Then I will need to have some small darker elements over it and create a smooth transition between this light area and the darker area next to it. So that's what I am doing. With a fine brush, I gently blend it to create a good transition. I leave a small white gap that corresponds to the next finger. We can't see much of it, but just this little highlight is enough to make it look realistic. Next, I will add a little bit of texture with my fine brush, but already just with this, you can see that you can start to clearly make out the shape of the ends, so it's looking pretty good. We'll also be working on the foam next. Along the edge here on the finger, you can see that there are some small creases on the finger, little brownish marks. So I'm adding them like this to make the finger look even more realistic. And finally, to finish, I can go ahead and bring the nail that we see on the foam. What we can observe is that on the side, there is a fairly light brown, and in the center where the nail itself is, there is a sort of slightly lighter purplish brown. It is a very small difference in value, but it is still noticeable. And just above there is these darker elements, and below as well, I can have a small dark touch like this. And there you have it. The hand has taken shape along with the arm. Now the other arm will be done off camera since it is exactly the same process as what we have done right now. So take your time with it. You are absolutely capable of doing it. You can easily manage it, and then we will meet again to work on the background together. So this is the back that is painted. Now we are going to mix the background color. I like the color that is here because it creates a strong contrast with the back. There's a real difference, but I want to create an even stronger contrast and go for something lighter. I'm going to start with an orange base like this color, but I'm going to add a large amount of white to make it very light. So we'll mix it and see how it looks. I also add a little bit of blue, which is the opposite color. This way, it will tone down the color a bit and make it less intense. So that's what I am doing here. I am creating this mix, but now I realize that my mixture is leaning too much toward yellow instead of orange. It's not balanced enough. So I'm going to add a bit of red to achieve a better color. I now have a color that I like much better, and to start painting the background, I'm going to begin by painting all around the edge of the portrait. I'm going to carefully go all along the outline. This helps to secure the area a bit. This way, when I paint the rest of the background with the flat brush, for example, and spread larger amounts of paint, it will be easier, and I will have less risk of bleeding it over onto the back. So I'm working it. I'm working very precisely along the edge here, trying not to go over it. If my color is still wet, I create a slight blend between this orange color and the brown, but just very subtly, so they barely touch. I will do this all around the edges first before painting the rest of the background with a larger brush that allows me to really spread the paint and apply it in broader strokes. So that's what I am doing now, and I'm going to do it with this lounge brush, making large movements, large back and forth strokes between the colors so that the background looks as smooth as possible. And that will conclude this very interesting project. We have seen how to create all the volume in the back, how to build up the muscles and the form and the little work on the hand was also quite nice. I really hope you enjoy this tutorial and now see you very soon for another one in a new video. So thank you for watching and see you again very soon. 9. Painting the leg : This video, we are going to work on the leg and see how to paint it. This subject is interesting because it's going to help us to make some progress on the creation of the volume and to be able to turn a flat drawing into something that looks in free dimension and with some kind of a round effect because the pi is actually a cylinder. And so we have to create this aspect with our painting. It's also going to be interesting to work on the joint of the knee and of the ankle because these area are a little bit intricate. The foot is also a little bit intricate, so that will be also interesting to see how to deal with it. And finally, the work on the buttock will also be interesting because we will have to create some volume for the cheek and to see how to deal with that with the right use of the right color. And, of course, we will practice color mixing as usual, which is always great to master a little bit more the color. On this subject, I will use my oil painting paper. The size is 20 by 30 centimeters, my usual material, and a grid or my projector to make sure that my drawing is accurate with the right proportion. So grab your brush, and let's get started. So let's proceed with our color analysis before painting the legs. This will go quite quickly. You can see that there are four main colors that stand out. The top color I selected is a somewhat medium tone that we will find in shadow areas, but not in very deep shadows, more subtle ones. Just below the color points to lighter skin zones. We can't really call them highlights. There will be relatively bright areas. As for the actual highlights, the very bright areas, you can see with the third color at the bottom, it points to something very light, almost white. And finally, for the really dark shadow areas, we will need to create slightly orangy browns like this. Of course, I selected just a few colors here to give us an idea of what we need to mix, but it will certainly take more than just these few colors to properly render the legs. We'll need to create intermediate tones as well, between these colors. So let's get started and see how to mix these colors before painting these beautiful legs. So let's start mixing our skin tones. What we will do is try to proceed logically, working from the lightest colors toward the darkest. As we saw earlier, for these lighter tones, not necessarily the highlights, but the fairly bright areas, there is a large amount of white, and the color leans a bit toward beige. To obtain beige, you need to mix an orange baige and tone it down slightly with its complimentary color. Blue. So I have added just a few small touches of blue. At this point, I would say the color looks pretty good, but it's lacking a bit of yellow. So I am adding some now. And here we have a first color that looks quite good for skin tones. I also added just a tiny touch of Burn Turnber because I like to include a very small amount of it to create something a bit more neutral. So that's what I am adding right now. Now I can create a new color that will be a little bit darker. And therefore, to make it darker, what I'm going to do is increase the amount of the other colors and reduce the proportion of white. So as you can see, I put a big amount of yellow in comparison to the red. That's because if we had the same amount, we got something that is too red, but I think I didn't have enough red, so I am readjusting my color and rebalancing out with a little bit of red like this. And well, we get some nice color for this kind of tan legs. But I think it's pretty good, and then we can create another one that will be even darker, and therefore we reduce the amount of white a little bit more again, and therefore we create a nice transition between the color, and we'll be able to create nice blends between these different ones. So here we have got a color that will work quite well for the intermediate areas, those that are a little in shadow, but not too much. I'm just going to reduce its orange intensity slightly because it was looking a bit too orange. I wanted to lean a little more towards brown. So that's what I did by adding a bit of blue. And now I'm balancing it out again by adding a bit more red. Now we've got a color that will be pretty good for medium shadow areas. Next, I can move on and create something a bit darker for the areas that are really in deep shadow. Here, I'm going to increase the amount of burton Bert. For now, I'm starting without any white. We'll see later if it needs some. In the meantime, the previous color is still a bit or orange. If needed, I will adjust it again once we start painting the L. I will see how it looks on the paper. Now we've got this brand that will work pretty nicely for shadow areas, but I think it's going to be a little too dark, and I need just a little tiny amount of white like this to get to color slightly lighter for this shadow. Now I'm going to take a bit of this color and create a slightly lighter variation because this way, it will help me achieve a smoother transition between the dark area and the rest of the colors on the leg. So here I am adding a bit of white to the color, but to avoid making too washed out, I'm adding a touch of orange by rebalancing it with some yellow and red. And with that, we'll have a good set of colors for the body. Now we are going to mix the colors for the underwear. It's true we haven't analyzed them before, but we are mainly going to need black, which I will mix by combining bird timber with Ultramarine Blue. So here, I'm using more burn timber and less ultramarine blue. This gives us a black that is slightly more brown, which will make it easier to blend softly with the body areas. This way, where the two areas met, we'll avoid getting too much of a grayish tone. And for the slightly lighter areas, I will have a touch of white like this to create a lighter variation and build some volume. And with that, we should be good and ready to start painting. So let's get started with painting the legs. Here, the drawing I made, here is the drawing I made. It is a fairly simple, quick sketch done using a projector. I have outlined the main shadow areas, and that should be pretty enough to guide me through the painting. And as I always say, if you feel you need to add more details to your preliminary drawing, feel free to do so. Do what works for you, do what helps you. And personally, I find that with just a few marked areas like this, I have enough reference points to proceed. Now I am starting by working on the top of the buttock. You can see that there is a fairly light tone that will go around the contour. And as we move down towards the lower five, we have that highlight I pointed out earlier, which is really quite bright. So as you saw on my palette, I added a bit of white to that first mixed color to that first color we mixed. Now I am focusing on identifying the color zones, picking out the main colors present in each area, so I can be quite precise and start creating volume right from the start with my color application. That is exactly what I am doing here with this brush. You will notice that on the central part of the buttock, as we go down to the rest of the pi, the colors gradually become a bit darker. And that's also what I will aim to achieve. Now I am going to keep applying my color in this area, but this time with the flat brush, you can see that I have created an intermediate color mixing the different colors. When you look at the Phi, you can notice that at first, I was able to apply a slightly lighter color with the fine brush in the center of the phi at the center of the buttock. And now around that, I'm going to apply something a little darker within the pi itself between what we see on the side and what we have in the center. You can see that there are some pretty noticeable value differences, and that is exactly what I am trying to capture to create depth and volume in this area. As I am applying the colors, I'm really trying to figure out where the different color zones are and to carefully evaluate all the solo shifts we see in the beige tones, the slight variations here and there that will help us build up the volume in this part. As you can see on my palette, I'm also not hesitating to mix the colors together and create some intermediate shades. For example, with this intermediate color I am using right now, it is just a little lighter than what I had applied on the sides of the pi. So I am continuing to apply the colors in this area. The goal, of course, is always to apply the right color and to stretch it out smoothly, really trying to avoid any thick patches of paint. This way, when we go to blend the different colors together, it will be much easier to do. It's not impossible to manage if some thick spots do form, but it does make things a bit trickier and will probably mean we'll need to spend a bit more time on the blending afterward. My colors now applied, I can start blending the areas using this lighter finer brush. As you can see, I am using small brush strokes like this, that allows the different areas to blend nicely together. I will get a smooth transition between the various colors. Whenever I notice too much paint building up on my brush, I wipe it off with a tissue on the tissue because otherwise, I risk dragging the wrong color into the wrong area. For example, as I am blending here, some paint naturally accumulates on the brush. If too much of a darker color builds up and then I move on to blending lighter areas, I would end up spreading that darker color where I don't want. So it's really important to keep an eye on that and clean the brush regularly. At this point, I would say that the blending looks pretty good. And now I start to work on different sections a bit more precisely. For that, I use a fine brush. And what I mean by working more precisely is that so far we've been applying our colors in fairly broad strokes, laying down the main color zones. But if you look closely, you will see that there are lots of small, more subtle areas of color that I didn't focus on earlier. For example, if you look at the reference image on the right side of the buttock, there is a more pronounced shadow that isn't very visible in my painting yet. So I will go in now and refine that area. It is all these small shadows, these sort of highlights and little details that I didn't take the time to add earlier, and now I can start bringing them into the painting. Working like this helps improve the skin texture. Now, what do I mean by skin texture? If you look closely at an area of skin, you will notice that there are lots of small variations, some parts slightly darker, some lighter, all within the same area. For example, in the central area where I am working now, you can see that this isn't just a single flat colour. It is made up of many tiny pigments of different tones, which help create a surface that looks more realistic. For example, here on the side, I'm applying this slightly darker color and blending it with the rest. I'm blending it using small, irregular strokes, and it's precisely the small and irregular touches, darker elements, next to lighter ones that will help us create the skin texture that looks convincing. Let's say that when we are painting the skin on the leg like we are here, we don't really have extremely precise details to add, unlike when we are painting a face, for example, if I were painting the face of an older person, there would be lots of wrinkles, and those wrinkles would be made up of fine lines, darker and lighter elements next to each other. This is how I would achieve a realistic pace through very precise detailing. But here on the leg, we don't have that same level of detail. Instead, we are creating a skin texture made up of lots of small pigments in various colors, which we apply with small irregular touches. Because if you really look at skin, you will see it isn't made up of neatly arranged pigments. It's not like one row of lighter tones followed by a row of darker tones. In reality, it's lots of tiny pigments and small touches that blend naturally together. And this area is looking pretty well textured now, which will really help this leg stand out, especially once we paint the over leg and in particular, the strong shadow next to it. Here, you can see that on this leg, there is also a fairly dark shadow that defines the knee. So I am working on that now with this slightly darker brown. And you can see that starting from this large dark brown area, there is a line that moves upward, becoming a bit lighter and blending nicely with the rest of the thigh. So I have added that. And right next to this darker area, you can also see that there is a small touch that is slightly lighter. I am adding that as well, which helps to enhance the realism of the knee in this section. So for the knee, it's looking pretty good. Later on, when we work on the lower part, the calf area, we will be able to refine it even further. Also, just behind the thigh, there is a little hollow, and to create that effect, I'm using a small darker touch here, and right next to it, I'm blending in a slightly lighter tone. That is enough to suggest this subtle indentation and the volume we have in this area. And so now we can continue with this section, working just below the knee and start approaching the calf area calmly and step by step. Now, let's work on this entire calf area and the sin. This won't be a particularly complex area. There isn't too much volume to create here. So as usual, we will start by applying all colors. One thing to notice is that along the entire edge of the calf on the right side, we have a fairly dark tone, so I apply it. There is also a thin dark area along the left edge, but be careful here because you can also see that just next to this darker area on the left, there is a narrow but lighter strip. This will help give some volume and definition to the tibia bone. That's something we'll need to add. You can see that I am deliberately leaving this white space here to reserve that area Photo lighter tone we will be painting later. And photo calf, it's very similar to what we did on the pi. We apply our color first, then we'll blend them, and finally, we will add small texture touches here and there to help create depth and definition in the area. So why is this leg exercise such a great way to practice painting the human body? Quite simply because the legs are one of the most instructive areas to paint when learning how to represent the human form, they force us to master several essential concepts. First, we work on simple but fundamental volumes, the cylinder of the five, the cylinder of the colt and the knee, which interrupts and connects these volumes. It is an excellent foundation for understanding how light moves across forms. Next, it's also an ideal area for learning how to render skin texture. Unlike the face where we are often tempted to focus on extreme detail and very precise detail, the leg requires us to handle more subtle nuances and gentle transitions, which is precisely what creates realism. Here, we practice painting soft shadow diffuse highlights and enriching the skin tones with a sallow variety of colors because you can see that the colors I am using on my palette aren't quite different from one another. You can see that it gradually goes from the lighter ones on the right to something darker on the left, but it's not something very, very dark. And so, finally, this exercise also forces us to sharpen our observation skills. We must learn to spot micro variations in values. These small shifts between light and dark that give volume and credibility to the leg. In doing so, we develop our ability to analyze and reproduce transitions, a key skill that will serve us well when painting other parts of the body. So with this simple leg exercise, we are training three essential pillars of figure painting, volume, texture, and precise observation. I have also worked on the knee area because there was a slightly darker shadow on the knee, but right next to it, there was also a light of shadow that diffused and blended into the rest. I'm also going back over the edge of the calf because I felt it wasn't dark enough. I wanted it to stand out a bit more. So I am adding these small touches here. Then on the central area of the calf, we'll also add small touches to enhance the skin texture and create a realistic surface. Again, here, I find that the shadow isn't standing out enough, so I am deepening it and making sure it blends smoothly with both the right and left side. I wanted to just barely touch the lighter area to have a very slew transition between this darker shadow and the lighter highlight next to it. So we are making good progress, and that's good. The surface and overall, it's quite satisfying to see this area taking shape. Little by little, it's starting to really look good. Now I am creating something a little darker because one thing we can notice is that to clearly separate the body from the white background, there is a small line along the edge of the light area that is just slightly darker. So I am adding that now, and now it's true that this line may look a bit rough or uneven, not perfectly straight, but that is because I haven't painted the background yet. It is still just the paper. And once the background will blend once I paint the background, it will blend much better and will have a cleaner and sharper edge. I am now logically moving on to the foot area. When applying the colors to the food, what we can observe is that the lower part is quite dark. There is a very strong shadow that really helps to give the food volume and shows that the underside is flat, which reinforces the three dimensional effect. Then on the side, there is also a noticeable bump with a slightly darker shadow. So I will be adding that as well. This will already help us build the volume in the foot area. Next, I will be able to paint in between areas. We can also see that on this foot, there is something that is fairly light, not a highlight, though, but it's a fairly light color that stands out on the lower part of the foot right next to our shadow area. So I will also add that later on. M And here, just next to the bump in line with this lighter area, there is this small patch of lighter skin that I can add, which will help the bump stand out even more. 10. Finishing the painting of the leg : And Now I can start working on the toes. To make the process easier, what I am going to do first for most of the toes is paint the darker areas, meaning the shadow between the toes. That way, it will be easier afterward to paint the lighter areas inside each toe, and this will help me create the volume more easily and quickly. For painting this foot, I am, of course, using a very fine brush right from the start, since this is an area that requires a lot of precision. I am placing my color very carefully, paying close attention to the solo color variations and the spacing between the toes as well. I am doing my best here, but don't put too much pressure on yourself either. First of all, this is just an exercise. And secondly, the toes, while it is important to apply the right colors to separate and define them, in the whole painting, they represent only a tiny part of the overall image. They are very small. They occupy very little space, and even if they are not rendered with absolute perfection, that won't prevent the painting from looking convincing and realistic overall. No. You Before continuing with the foot, I need to mix a color for the nail a. What I'm going to do is use some red and create something slightly pinkish, slightly purplish to apply these small touches of color. It will be very subtle, very discreet and also quite light in some spots. But simply adding these little touches of color should really help give a nice finishing touch to this foot. Then it will be done for this. It will be finished with this leg and we'll be able to do the same on the right leg. Et's now move on to painting the other foot. For this foot, we'll see fewer toes, so that should make things a little easier for us. What I am starting with is marking out the shadow areas. But first, I'm making my color a bit darker and slightly more orange because it looks like the colors in this area are a little more intense and a bit darker. So I'm mixing this color to work on the shadow areas under the foot and also on the sole near the toe, where I see the same color. And once again, with this for this other foot, we are starting with a very precise color application. And what is nice is that since we are working on both leg and it's roughly the same process for both, it really helps reinforce everything we have learned so far to fully absorb the technique and get more practice painting fit. Always in small format at a small scale. So that's also a good thing because it helps us practice precision in our painting. You Since I'm doing exactly the same work here as on the other foot, I would like to take this opportunity to talk to you a little bit about how we approach this kind of stage in painting. Very often, when we are learning to paint, we tend to focus only on the final result. We want it to look good. We want to move fast. We want to get the important part done. But in reality, the quality of a painting depends a great deal on how you handle every small step, even the ones that feel the most repetitive. Moments like this, when you're repeating the same gesture, working on a similar area are actually very precious. They train your eye, they strengthen your hand and help you develop the habit of observing nuances, values, and details. It's also a great way to cultivate what I call some kind of active patients. Painting isn't just about filling an area with color. It's about staying fully attentive, brush stroke after brush stroke, even when you feel like you already know what you're doing. The best artists are those who paint quickly. They are the ones who can stay focused and repeat similar work with the same level of care and precision without letting their concentration slip, and that is exactly what you are practicing here. So I really encourage you in this kind of stage to not see it as a wasted time or a secondary part of the painting. See it as a very concrete exercise in discipline, precision, and observation. If you can't maintain this level of attention on the part that feels a little repetitive, you will be much more confident and skilled when you tackle more complex and richer area where this mastery will be incredibly valuable. So let's continue this w calmly, stay focused, brief, and above all, use this moment as an opportunity to grow in your painting practice. I'm now going to add the final details to this foot, a bit more texture here and there. And on the big toe, the only one that is visible, you can see that there is a small nail showing. So I'm going to add a little touch of color I had mixed earlier, and that will complete this area. Let's continue working on this entire overleg. Here I am choosing to start with the shadow area up at the top. I actually could have continued with the foot that I painted a few moments ago and walk my way upward gradually. But I really wanted to paint this shadow here first because it will help me see how the leg I painted earlier the left leg is looking and whether what I did works well, whether it really helps create a sense of volume. So this is really just to check how things are going to see if my earlier work looks good, if it reads well. And so now I am starting to apply color on this side. You do need to pay close attention here because, yes, it is a shadow area with dark brown, but it's not the exact same brown everywhere. There are a few value differences that you want to capture carefully. So with this medium sized brush, I am applying my color, making sure to spread it out well, and create an even distribution so that later I can blend all the colors smoothly in this area. You can also see that along the edge of the leg there is this small, slightly lighter area that I am going to add here. And now I have applied it quite broadly at first, but by blending it with the surrounding colors and adding small texture details, the lightest spot will appear less large and will integrate nicely into our shadowed area. And now we can continue applying color to the rest of this area. I am observing where the darker areas are and where the lighter ones are. For example, you can notice that along the entire edge of the lay, there is this slightly darker line running down. So I'm going to add that in. Of course, it won't appear as a solid line like this once it is blended, but it's blended in with the rest. But later on, you will still perceive a subtle darker area there. And that is exactly these kinds of detail that help us create a sense of volume. So once again, stay focused. And with your painter's eye, a sharp and attentive eye, look for all these subtle differences in value you can spot here and there on your subject. These are the details that will help us bring out the volume. And here's something I encourage you to do outside of painting. Observe the human body. Simply, when you are at home, watching a movie on the couch or eating, take a moment to look at your body a little differently. For example, look at your hand. Notice the sole variations in color across it, or even on a single finger, observe the differences between the light areas and the shadow ones. What colors can you see? What pigments do you think are present? Doing this kind of observation on your own body really helps you later on when you need to paint a subject. It trains your eye to recognize these subtle shifts, and you can even ask yourself, how would I mix that color I am seeing? Which direction would it lean toward? What colors would I combine to achieve it? If you start mentally thinking through rose color mixes, it will become much easier when you are actually in front of your palette. You will already have a clearer sense of what to do. And this is something I used to do a lot when I first started painting, and it really helped me progress. So I strongly encourage you to try it, as well. Now that all my elements are in place, I can go ahead and do a little bit of blending, adding small touches here and there so that everything connects nicely and flows together. Then we will be able to start working on the small details, adding little elements here and there to create a nice texture on this leg, just like we did earlier when working on the left leg. Now, all of my elements are nicely blended together, and we can start working on the texture. The first thing I do here is pick up some darker color. I'm mixing something a bit deeper by adding more burn timber. So I can paint some details that will be slightly darker than what we had before. The goal here with this texture work and with the large shadow we see at the top of the lay is to bring out the irregularity of the shadowed area. It's not a perfectly smooth and uniform zone. If you look closely, you will see plenty of little touches, some lighter, some darker and the transition from the shadowed area to the lighter, more illuminated partes. That is quite irregular as well. This transition is very irregular. And that is exactly what I want to recreate. And I am adding small even touches here and there to enhance the texture. You might remember that earlier I painted a lighter band along the leg and I mentioned it looked a bit too wide. Well, I have also added some slightly darker elements within that area. So now it looks less wide and also gives us a more varied texture with light and dark elements blending naturally together. Next, I will continue refining everything, adjusting the shadowed area along the lower part of the leg, adding some dark details around the calf, as well. And little by little, this will help us achieve this will help us really define the leg and achieve a more realistic look. It doesn't take a huge amount of time, just a few minutes, but these few minutes really make all the difference and will help us achieve a much stronger final result. We are adding the final little details here in this phase where we're working on the legs. And before we finish this part, I really want to take a moment to say congratulations because we have spent over 30 minutes working carefully on these legs, building brush strokes, refining textures, observing the slightest variations, and this isn't an easy exercise. Sure, it is just legs, but it takes real focus, patience, and above all, a strong level of commitment to your work. So if you're still with me, still painting along, truly well done, you have just shown that you have the persistence it takes to keep progressing in painting. It is through this kind of sustained effort that we truly build skills and start seeing real improvement in our results. So let's keep going. We are almost through this part, and next we'll move on to painting the underwear and the small section of the stomach that is visible, which will really help bring all the work together nicely. So let's continue. Let's now move on to painting the underwear. And I am starting by marking the darkest areas we'll have here. There will be sections that are completely black, so I will begin by blocking those in. Of course, I'm working very precisely here, trying to be very careful to make sure the black doesn't touch or at least doesn't bleed into the skin area, the beige tone because otherwise it will create a really muddy color. So I am applying this very delicately. And now I have outlined the area where we'll have the large black section of the underwear, so I can go ahead and fill that in with black. Then for the entire outline of the underwear, you can see it's bordered by a black band all the way around. To make it really clean and precise, I will switch to my over brush, and I will use the sword brush to carefully define that entire line after. For now, I am applying the black in this area using this medium size brush because it is precise enough to paint right along the edge, and it also lets me spread the color quickly across this small section. As I mentioned, I can now paint the edge using this brush to swap brush, which is extremely fine. I am using this one here because in this area will actually have very few truly black elements. There will be some dark areas, but pure black will be used only sparingly. That's why I am using this brush, which allows me to create a nice and clean line with my black color. And I can also do the same along the upper edge. Since I already have this brush in end, I might as well take advantage of it and define the top edge of this area as well. Be careful, though. On the right hand side, you will see that the shape forms a kind of V. So make sure to add the detail too. Alright, so now I have a nice outline. What I can do next is use this lighter gray and apply it in this area. And I also make sure it blends well and naturally with the black color next to it. And thanks to this different gray color, it will help me to create some volume in this area. And next, what we observe as well are some even lighter touches. So I am using this lighter gray in here to apply the very thin and very small highlights that we see in this area. Next, I will also work on the other side. You can see that there is a nice line that marks the edge of the darker area. It transitions gradually with a gray that is just a bit lighter than black. Right next to it, there is a much lighter highlight that will help us create some depth and volume in this area. So I am adding that in very carefully now with this light gray. You can also so you can notice that this is a very thin highlight, and I'm trying to capture that. And right next to it, we have something that is just a little bit darker, very darker, just a little darker gray. So I am applying it and making sure it blends nicely as well with the black color, the dark gray color that is next to it. And so we also have this very small section to complete, and that will be good for the underwear. And to paint this verythin line in this area, I am not hesitating to use the swa brush, which really allows me to define it precisely and gives me great control for painting this detail line. And there we go. The underwear is finished. It was a very small area, but as you can see, there were still some interesting details to take the time to add properly. But Now that the underwear is painted, we can move on to the final part with the stomach. Since this wasn't really the main focus of this video and because this area isn't very complex, I've sped up the video a little for this session. So here I am applying my colors fairly quickly. We have a darker area on the side with the shadows, and in between those two, a lighter section. So I am applying my color using these tones, and that will nicely complete this part. There aren't too many details to add here. And with that, we are calmly wrapping up the video with this final section. And so we are now calmly reaching the end of this work on the legs. As you have seen, this is a stage that does take a bit of time, patience, and a lot of care when observing the texture. But the result is definitely worth it. We have been able to create volume, texture, and make these legs look very realistic. So well done, if you have followed along with all the work, it is this kind of effort and attention to detail that really helps you progress in painting. Now I'm going to continue working on the stomach area, and finally, I will paint the background in white just like in the reference. What I will do is very lightly blend the edge of the leg and the edge of the underwear. Just enough to ensure we have a nice and clean edge, not a rough one, like it might look now since there is no paint around it yet. And with that, this tutorial will be finished in just a few moments. I'm also going to add a few final little details here and there, and then we will be done. And here is the final piece. You will notice that I also added a small shadow underneath the fit. Make sure to add that as well. Also, I had a small paint splatter on the shelf, and since this was a tutorial, I didn't worry too much about fixing it. And that wraps up this tutorial. Thank you very much for watching the video. But 11. Painting the breast part : In this video, we are going to learn how to paint a breast. And this subject will be interesting to paint because it is actually quite complex. It will be a nice work to make some progress on the values and on the transition between the different elements. Because with the breast, what is important is to be able to create the right volume, the volume that we can see with the model, with the reference, because if we create a breast that is too big or that looks too flat, will be wrong. And so observation is the key to make sure that we create some nice transition at the right places with the right values, dark or light one placed at the right place. It is very important to work on this. So we'll see how to deal with that. And also the work on the Nipple will be interesting to work on because the Nip is an area that is a little bit intricate with some small details that are necessary to create some volume first to create some volume on a small area and also to create some kind of a texture, thanks to this detail. So this will be a really great subject to make some progress. And for this painting, I will be using my old painting paper. The size of it will be 20 by 20 centimeters. I will use my plastic materials and agreed on my projector to make sure that I have a nice drawing with the right proportion. So grab your brush and let's get started. So let's see the colors we will need to mix for this part of the painting. If we look at the colors at the top of the nipple, we can see that we'll need to make some slightly purplish pinks, kind of red, fairly soft in intensity, varying in lightness, depending on the area so that we can create depth and dimension in the one. Then the skin tones of the breast itself also quite varied. For example, there are areas that are very bright, where we need to where we will need very light beige tones. And gradually as we move downward, the beige will take on slightly pinker tones and become darker shifting towards slightly brownish shades. And where we will see the darkest elements is really in the lower part of the breast. This is where we need to create the volume. So we need a wide range of colors, and that's what we are going to mix now. So let's start mixing our skin tones now, beginning with the beige that we will use on the skin. We'll try to follow a logical approach and mix from light to dark. So for the lights beiges, I'm starting with a large amount of white. Essentially, beige is a kind of orange that we will tone down with some ultramarine blue and also add a touch of bone timber to give it a slightly more brownish quality. So that's what I am creating here, my first color, a fairly light one like this. At this point, I am noticing that my color was too much yellow and not warm enough toward the orange. So I corrected it by adding more red. The burnt timber also helps shift the color toward a more neutral, slightly brownish tone. Now I've got something that's starting to look pretty good, and I will move on to creating a slightly darker color. To do that, I am reducing the amount of white while keeping the rest of the colors roughly in the same proportion. Reducing the white gives me a deeper tone. And once again, the color needs a little bit of adjustment. It wasn't leaning enough to orange or reddish orange, so I added a bit more red, but ended up adding too much. So I correct that by rebalancing the orange with a touch of yellow. Now, the color looks pretty good, but I think I will create a slightly more pinkish variation as well. That is because in some areas of the skin, we'll see both little orange tins and slightly pinkish touches. So that's what I am doing now, creating a solid different toe with a bit more pink in it. Now I am going to make some darker colors so we can gradually move toward the shadow areas of the breast. You can see that here we are progressively moving toward brown. So I am increasing the amount of yellow, red, and burned timber and reducing the amount of white to get a darker and darker color. Here, I find that my orange brown is a bit too reddish, so I need to adjust it. I want to shift it slightly more toward orange. It's always a bit tricky to find the right balance, to make sure that it doesn't lean too much towards red or too much toward yellow. So you often need to make little adjustments to your color. Then I mix an overtone that is a bit darker again. So we can create good transitions between the dark areas. Later, we will also need to mix some even darker browns for the area underneath the breast. We'll create those a bit later. Here, I feel that my color is a little bit too intense in terms of orange, so I add some ultramarine blue to tone it down a bit, making the orange less intense. The burn timber also helps to shift it toward a more brownish and slightly darker tone. But at this point, I think it's going to become a little bit too dark, so I'm going to rebalance it again with some white. And now we have a pretty good color for darker areas, and we will move on to creating colors for the nipple. Now, I am going to create the colors for the nipple. As we saw earlier, we are dealing with a kind of light purplish red. What I do is take a large amount of white, some red, and some blue, and a bit of yellow to tone down the intensity of the purple. At first, my color was leaning way too much towards blue, so I rebalanced it by adding a bit more red. I'm also adding a bit of yellow to reduce the intensity of the purple and make it slightly more neutral. And with that, I am quite happy with the color we are creating right now. I am adding just a bit more yellow because I felt it was leaning too much towards the purple red, so I am adjusting it again. Now the color is starting to look good, but I still need to balance it a bit more. It's not easy to find the right balance, to keep it slightly red without going too far. But at this point, I would say that it looks pretty good, and what I am going to do is add some white to this color to create lighter variations because as we saw, the value won't be exactly the same all over. I also think adding a bit of burn timber can help to make the color a little more neutral. I am going to add also a little touch of blue to make it slightly more purplish. And finally, now I am going to create the darkest elements, those brands that we can see under the breast. So I simply start by taking some burnt timber and adding a bit of white to make it slightly lighter than the pure burnt umber. But for the area directly under the breast, we are really looking at something very dark. So I figure that using burned timber with just a touch of blue to give it a slightly grayish tone, along with some white, works pretty well to achieve these colors. And then we can also create a lighter version. And I would say that at this point, our palette is looking pretty good and if needed, we can always create a few more shades as we progress with the painting. I am going to start by painting the nipple. And what we can see is that on the upper part, there is this very small area that is dark. So that's what I'm working on first. And I think I can also create a slightly lighter color. It will be very useful in certain areas, especially on the lower part, where it is clearly lighter. I am also adjusting the color a little. My goal is to create a purplish red that isn't too intense for this lower section, and I can go ahead and apply it. At this stage, the goal is really to start applying the colors and to establish a good base, making sure to place the right colors in the right spots. I notice that on the lower part, the colors are generally quite light, so I apply those first. Later on, we will have some slightly darker touches in other areas of this zone. But for now, these are the dominant colors that I am applying first. I'm really trying to apply the color that stands out the most in each section I am painting. To do this, I am using this medium size brush. And when I apply the color, I make sure to spread it out as much as possible so that the area is as smooth as possible, and this will make it easier to blend the colors together and to a small details on top. And so that's what I'm going to do now. I can start adding small details on top. We can see that on the slower part, there are some slightly darker elements here and there. So I am adding those, and I'm going to place them anywhere I see sort of variations in color, not necessarily large areas, but small touches like these. And that will be enough to make the nipple look very realistic. I am continuing to add small touches, sometimes darker, sometimes lighter, and that's what will allow me to create a fairly realistic texture on the nipple. You can also see that on the lower part, there are lines that follow a kind of curved shape. So that's something I'm also trying to replicate. But overall, it's looking pretty good. I won't necessarily need to add a lot more detail to make this area look realistic. Go Now I can move on to the other part. And what we can see is that in the central area, there is going to be a fairly light zone. We'll have a distinct highlight there. So that's what I am going to add. I will start by applying a light base, and later, I can add some even lighter touches on top if needed. And it's really the difference in value between this area that I have painted and the surrounding area that is much darker that will create the sense of volume. The depth and volume come from placing darker elements next to light ones, and that's what we are doing here. Now we can observe that on this upper part right here, there is some darker touches, so I'll go ahead and add those. I also notice darker touches on the lower part, so I will place those as well, quite precisely. But even though there are dark elements, the value of these darker touches isn't uniform throughout. So once again, I am paying close attention and trying to be very precise in my color application. For example, I noticed that in this area here in the white spaces I left, there are some slightly lighter touches, so I am going to add those now, and I am gently applying them so they stand down and already, even before the area is fully finished and before I have added all the final light and dark details, you can already see some volume taking shape thanks to this work on the different colors and values of the purplish pink we have applied. Now I can really refine the area and perfect it with more. You can see that on my palette. I am creating this purplish red but slightly darker by adding more Ultramarine Blue and Burn tember. I'm also adding some red, and all these additions reduce the proportion of white in my color. This allows me to add the darker elements we can see on the lower part of the nipple. In the central part as well, we can observe some slightly darker elements that help enhance the depth even more. So I am adding those two. And there you go, just a few more bur strokes here and there, and this area will be nicely finished. Now the nipple area is finished, and next we can start working around it and begin applying our skin tones. What we can see just around it is that there is a very light area, a slightly yellowish beige, but very, very light, even lighter than one I had done before. You can see I am adding a bit more white and just a little bit of yellow to my color. So I am applying this color with a flat brush. I'm making sure to spread the color well so that there aren't any thick patches of paint, areas where the color would be too heavy and make it difficult to blend the different colors together. I also notice that on the right side, there is some of this light color. We have some bright areas there as well. So I will adjust my color slightly and apply it on the right side, too. I'm trying to be very precise with my color application. Even though this isn't yet the stage where we will work on the texture or detail of the skin, it is still a very important step. It is important to be precise when applying the colors because it's really through color, that will create the volume on the breast. We saw that with the nipple. We were already able to create depth just by applying the colors, and here it will be the same. You may have noticed that on the side, I am trying to blend the color delicately into the nipple. In fact, there isn't a sharp edge between these two areas. It is almost as if the skin and the nipple are connected. So that's what I am trying to do. I carefully work all around it, applying the color and trying to blend it very slightly into the skin tone. I'm trying to make sure that they only blend together very gently. Then as I move to the lower part, I start adjusting my color a bit because we can see that in this lower area, there are some slightly more purplish, pinkish tone. So on the upper part as well, I'm going to adjust my color a little bit. Since there is a change in value, we have some areas that seems to be a little bit darker than what I had applied so far. So here there, too, I am applying I am adjusting a little bit my color. So now my color is applied quite well, and what I am going next is working a bit on the transition between the nipple and the surrounding skin. You can see that in some areas along the edge, it's a little darker. It needs to blend a bit more smoothly into the skin. So I'm working on that now, adding small brush tracks here and there to ensure a good transition between these areas. On the upper part as well, I realized that what I had done earlier wasn't quite dark enough, so I am darkening that area a little bit more. And gradually the whole area is taking more and more shape, which is great. I just a moment, we'll move on to working a bit more on the skin area and its texture. But I am happy with the work I did on this transition, and now I'm going to refine this upper part a bit more. You can see that in this upper part, there is a shadow that is a bit more pronounced, a bit more visible. So I'm going over it again, adding some darker touches. You can also see that even in this small area, the value isn't uniform everywhere. On the edge, on the edge, yes, on the right side, the shadow is a bit stronger, so I am refining that as well. And, of course, I want this shadow to blend nicely and naturally with the surrounding skin. So that's what I am doing now. Now I'm going to work on improving the entire skin area we have been working on. Here we are dealing with a large section of skin. It is an area of the human body where we don't really have a very distinct details in the skin texture, like you would see on the face of an older person with lots of wrinkles showing us lines, or, for instance, with an ear with lots of clearly defined small shapes and relief. That's not really the case here. The skin texture here will be made up of lots of irregularities, small touches that are slightly darker, slightly lighter, slightly more orange or slightly more reddish in certain spots. So that is what I'm going to focus on right now. I'm starting by applying small dabs across the entire area like this. Then I will make sure to blend these small touches well into the color I had previously applied underneath. And by doing that, we will achieve skin texture that is irregular and realistic. In the end, there won't be much more to do. Just the small amount of work these slight little touches here and there will be more than enough to create a skin surface and texture that looks truly realistic. 12. Finishing the painting of the breast part : Now we can move on to the area below. This area is going to be a little darker. It seems to me that the color in this lower area is also slightly more pinkish. So that's what I'm going to create here. Starting from the color I used for the nipple, I'm mixing a slightly pinker skin tone, a reddish orange tone, but still quite light. It's not a very dark color, and I am going to apply it to this area. Here, I felt that my color is still a bit too orange, so I want to push it a bit more towards something reddish. So that's what I am going to do. Even though we won't have exactly the same color everywhere in this area, there will be, again, some small irregular touches, and I will need to make sure to apply them properly. So I am applying my color right now. You will notice that I am also trying to respect the movement of the skin, the shape of the breast, which is something which is somewhat rounded. So that's also what I am trying to reflect in the brush strokes I am applying. So I am adding touches that are sometimes a bit more beige, sometimes a bit more reddish to create from the start the texture that looks a bit more realistic with multiple colors in this area. I think it is even more obvious that in this area than it was in the area we worked on before. So we can see on the breast in the reference photo that there are a lot of multiple colors in this area. So that's what I'm trying to do. And I am applying my color here, and the goal here is really to create a smooth transition between this lighter area above and this slightly darker one below. The transition should be seamless. We should barely notice the shift from one color to the other, and that's what I am aiming for. And that starts with the way I apply the colors using shades that aren't too much darker than the area above. It also involves the blending work I will do, making sure that colors flow smoothly into one another. And if needed, I will adjust the colors slightly to improve the transition even more. For example, by adding a bit of lighter color over the darker areas or a bit of darker color over the lighter areas. You can see that that's what I'm doing here. I'm picking up a bit of light color and adding small touches to the area, especially in the upper part of the area I worked on, I have just painted to make the transition smoother between this darker lower area and a much lighter upper area. The transition here is looking good. And what I can also do both to improve the transition even more and to add a bit more skin texture is to add a few extra darker elements, a few small touches here and there. This will give me an even smoother transition and enhance the appearance of the skin texture. So that's what I am doing now, making sure that these new touches blend well with the underlying color. And this way, we have already started to establish the transition with this lowest part becoming very, very dark. And gradually we are moving from something that was very, very light near the nipple something that gets progressively darker in the lower area. So I'm adjusting my color a little here and then will be able to paint the lowest part. This is quite a dark area, so I am going in with these brown tones. Once again, I start by applying the colors carefully, making sure to respect the natural movement in the area by working with round and strokes. And just like in the previous area, my first goal is to apply the right colors. Then I will need to create a smooth transition between the lighter area above and this darker section. And it is thanks to these intermediate tones I have on my palette that I will be able to create a nice transition between these different color zones. So I'm taking a moment during this exercise because I wanted you to explain why painting a breast like this is actually an excellent training exercise in painting. Here we have a very rounded volume with very gradual transitions between the light and shadow areas. It's perfect for learning how to manage blending and how to adjust values to create depth without any harsh edges. It is also an exercise that really forces you to observe the cell color variations in the skin. You can clearly see it here. There are slightly pinker areas, other parts that are mo beige, some parts that lean a bit more towards red or orange, depending on the spot. And all of these changes with the light and the shape of the volume, and it's it's a great practice for learning how to adjust your palette. On top of that, you need to be very careful with the transitions between the different areas. For example, between this very dark section that we are painting now and the skin next to it, the transition between the nipple and the surrounding skin and between the bright highlights and the deeper shadows. Again, the goal is to create some very natural and gradual transition. And finally, painting a large and rounded breast like this really forces you to understand how the light moves around the form. If your gradients aren't placed correctly, the volume will end up looking flat or distorted. So this is an excellent exercise for improving your rendering of form and volume consistency. In short, it may seem like a simple subject, but it actually helps you practice a lot of the fundamental painting skills. Right now, I am starting to refine my transition, and you can see that the transition doesn't look completely natural yet. So what I am going to do is take some small touches of this light brownish orange color and add them to the lighter per area. And I will also add some lighter touches to the lower area as well. What will really help me create a smooth blend between the elements is adding is adding lots of small touches that also follow the natural movements, and I will try to blend them with the surrounding areas. But before that, I have picked up a slightly darker color again because I find that the lower part isn't dark enough. The shadow needs to stand out a bit more. So that's what I am working on now. You will also notice that on the lower part of the breast, there is a slightly lighter band. That is the reflected light, the bond light coming from the shadow. And this small and slightly lighter area is very important for creating a sense of volume. So make sure that you leave that as well. Or you might need to adjust it later depending how well it stands out. Once everything is applied and the texture is created, that's possible to add it by the end of this area. And now I'm continuing with this process. The darker colors I have added, I blend them into the colors I had already applied. The goal here is that as I blend these colors, I am creating something irregular. I am applying little brush strokes to the left to the right, up and down, and in doing so, I am also enhancing the skin texture by keeping it irregular. Because if you zoom right into the photo and really look at the texture in this area, you will see that it's nothing more than small patches of color in completely random shapes. You can't say it is a square or circle, or a triangle. They are actually completely irregular forms. So I'm trying to recreate that irregularity with my brush strokes going left right here and there. And now I notice also that in this area, I can add a few small lighter elements, and that's how I will continue working over the next few minutes, adding small touches here and there, always with the goal of improving the skin texture and the transition between this darker area and the lighter area above. So for about the next 2 minutes, that's what I'm going to focus on. I will be adding small lighter touches in the darker area and slightly darker touches in the lighter area really trying to refine the transition. And it's only once I have done data that I will move on to the area below. Later on, once that lower area is painted, we'll also take novel look at how everything is coming together. Because right now, it's true that we only have the breast itself painted, but it's really once the area below it's done that the full sense of volume will appear. And at that point, we will also be able to step back and evaluate our work to see if what we have done so far looks good or if some adjustments are needed. So here I am really trying to achieve a very smooth transition between this lighter area and this darker one. But what will really tell me whether the work is successful will be once ever I have completed the lower section as well. So I am going to continue working and refining this area for about two more minutes. And then we'll move on to painting the area underneath. So here is my area now completed, and now what I am going to do next is move on to the lower area which will help to create volume. And that volume already begins with the model touch on the left side, which contrast with the shaded area we have above. So I'm going to start by applying this light color here, and then gradually we'll move towards darker elements. Both the lighter tones will gradually become darker, and the shadow areas will also become even darker. With this slightly fine brush, I can also define I can also go over the edge of the breast a little because it wasn't dark enough. The contrast between the skin area below and the breast area wasn't strong enough, so I have reworked that a little bit. Next, I can start working on the shadow we see under the breast a very dark, very strong shadow. And I begin by applying pure burnt timber because it won't stay that dark because as you move away from the edge, it becomes a bit lighter. And I will make sure that these slightly lighter touches blend into the very dark shadow so that they gradually become a little lighter. You can also notice here that in this shadow, I am reaching an area where the shadow that hugs the breast become slightly lighter again. So I adjust my color to create a brown that gradually lightens, blending into the area we painted earlier. And this is something really important to pay attention to. Noticing the small value shifts that may seem subtle, but actually make a big difference and help the piece look even more believable and realistic. So that is what I have done here. Now I can continue by applying this slightly lighter shade for the rest of the shadow. So here you can see I am applying this brown. And in the upper area, even though the shadow become a bit lighter, it is still darker than the color I have just applied further down, since this area is overall darker. And as I get closer to the lower area, what I can also do is create an intermediate shade between these two browns to ensure a nice transition between the two shadow areas that we see. So now my shadow is well applied. You can already see that just having this dark shadow under the breast really changes things and really helps give it volume. What will also help later is when we do the same with the little area of blue background that you can see and with the arm next to it, but one thing at a time. Now, what I am going to do is apply my color and work on the skin of the chest that we see here, just like we did on the breast itself, I will aim to apply my skin tone and especially to create a smooth blend with this shadow area, making sure that we have a nice transition between these two elements. So here I am applying my color. I will make sure to create a good blend and also add a bit of skin texture in this area to make the surface look more realistic. Since this is something we have already worked on a lot so far, I'm going to speed up the video a bit until the end of the tutorial because at this point, we are mainly repeating the same process. And above all, the main focus of our subject, the breast is now well worked. I am reworking the shadow area under the breast a little because since I applied a light color next to it, I made my shadow area a bit too light when the two colors blended together. So I am going over it again with a slightly darker brown, and I will therefore need to rework the transition a little, making sure that this dark shadow blends well with the adjacent color to get the best possible result. We are really in the final stretch now. Our subject is well advanced, but even so, take your time here, work carefully on these transitions. Apply small and irregular brush strokes like this, which not only help to ensure smooth transition between the two areas, but also create the irregular skin texture that we see in this area as well. I am now going to work on this area of the breast on the upper part. The goal here is to extend the area we worked on previously and to achieve a smooth blend between this new area we are painting and the previous one. This will involve adding a variety of colors with different values to create a soft transition. Just like we did earlier, we apply our colors and make sure they blend well with the surrounding areas. We'll also work on the texture using small, irregular touches, which will give the breast a realistic look and create a nice skin texture, just like we did on the other parts of the breast. You can also see that this area is overall a little darker than the pot we worked on the left, so make sure to carefully adjust the value of the elements that you are working on. Sibon. For the background, I'm mixing a slightly blue green color, not too intense. That's why I'm adding a bit of its complimentary color, red and yellow, and also a touch of burnt timber to give it something a little slightly grayish. The goal is mainly to color that contrasts well with the breast to fairly dark color that will help it stand out nicely. So now very carefully with this brush, I am applying the color right along the edge of the breast first to make sure that when I paint the rest of the small area, it doesn't bleed over, as you can see. Next, there is the arm next to it. I'm not going to paint the entire arm because that's not the focus of this tutorial. I will just paint the edge that is next to the breast because that will really help to complete the piece and give a bit more context to our subject, helping it look more free dimensional and surrounded by its environment. The arm with its shadow and light really helps to make the breast stand out. So I will just work on the surrounding brand quickly to finish the subject, and that will conclude the video. I really hope that you enjoy this exercise. It was really interesting to study in terms of texture, volume, and the various skin tones we needed to mix. Very precise and rewarding piece of work that I hope you found enjoyable and helpful for your progress. So thank you very much for watching and I'll see you again very soon for a new tutorial.