How to Make Anime Skin Colors

Making anime skincolors is a great way to get introduced to the properties of artist’s paints. If you can successfully mix anime skincolors, then you can apply your color-mixing skills to any number of fine art and illustration projects, from portraiture to landscape to abstract painting. Fortunately, you can get started making anime skincolors even if you do not have any previous experience with art or painting. With the right preparation, you can make anime skincolors in an afternoon.

Using a pencil, draw or trace the anime cartoon you’d like to paint onto a prepared canvas or canvas board.

Squirt out a small amount of yellow ocher, titanium white, burnt umber, Venetian red, ultramarine blue, and permanent yellow onto the edge of your palette. Use about the same amount of each color as you would use to load a toothbrush with toothpaste.

Move the yellow ocher to the center of your palette with a palette knife. Add a bit of titanium white and mix well.

Add a small amount of ultramarine blue and Venetian red and mix well. This will create a good base skintone.

Modify your base skintone to create the different skin tones you need. For lighter skin tones, add more white and Venetian red. If the color becomes too red, add a bit of yellow and blue to balance out the red.

Create darker skintones by adding burnt umber and additional Venetian red to your base skintone. Create several different shades of this skin tone by adding varying amounts of yellow, white, and blue. Remember to add a very small amount of paint when mixing colors–use just enough paint to cover the tip of your palette knife.

Thin your mixed colors with water and apply them to your anime drawing with an artist’s brush.