Olive Skin

[wdmartin]

I'm aware that Reaper has an Olive Skin triad.  But it's not a skin tone I anticipate using very often, so I don't think I'm super interested in purchasing a dedicated set of paints for it.  So -- what tips can people give on mixing up olive skin tones?  I've got a pretty wide selection of colors to work with.  Mostly I use various mixes of Tanned Skin and Fair Skin for skin.  I have the olive triad if that helps, though that might be a bit too literal.

[Cyradis]

I just did a project with the Olive Skin Triad. I think it is VASTLY better than the Tanned Skin triad, and fulfills a similar purpose. The tan paints are fine, but as a triad, aren't different enough. I'd suggest picking up the Olive Skin triad even if you already have the Tanned triad. 

 

If you were to make your own, probably add a general brown into the tanned, plus the tiniest bits of blue and green. 

 

I did also use the golden skin triad, red brick, and clear red in addition to the olive skin paints. I find that the skin triads in general need extending. Some are better than others. Golden and Olive are some of the best, imo. 

[Doug Sundseth]

FWIW, I've been having good luck using Olive Skin or Olive Shadow for the dark tones, one of the tanned flesh colors for midtones and something from the Rosy skin triad for highlights. Gives a bit of green to the shadows and red to the highlights, which works pretty well.

 

When I was using the Tanned Skin mostly straight, I typically ran from Dark Highlight for the shadows to Fair Shadow for the highlights, for exactly the reason @Cyradis mentioned. The tones of the Tanned triad ar just to close together.

 

As to how to mix for olive? Add just a touch of green or blue to one of the Tanned or Dark colors. I do strongly recommend a bit of red or pink as a glaze on the very top of Caucausoid skin tones. For that, Clear Magenta works very well, but it's quite intense, so go very, very light.

[wdmartin]

Thanks!  Those are some good tips.  I'll experiment a bit and see what I come up with.

[Madog Barfog]

I just painted Hajad Torgan as a negro without any black skin triad. I mixed Vallejo Smoke (one of my favorite colors, a very thin dark brown) with Olive Skin Shadow and it came out great! For highlighting, I mixed in more Olive Skin Shadow. For shadows I'll probably use some thinned Brown Liner.

 

I also did Stine Brinegrog using the olive skin triad. I agree they aren't quite far enough apart in tone, but I was very happy with how he turned out. I think he looks a lot like a half-orc. I think I'll do a Rozmina in the same triad (yes, I am painting a pirate crew).

[SamuraiJack]

Paging @Mocha she said she uses that triad a lot

[Mocha]

Hiyo! Thanks @SamuraiJack :) It's true, it's one of my favorite triads-- not just for skintones, but for leathers. Many browns are just too warm (with orange/red undertones) and, when paired with an overall "cool" color scheme, can look a bit out of place. Reaper's Brown Liner + Olive Skin Shadow + Olive Skin is a great option for worn leathers. At the end, I'll take the Olive Skin Highlight and brush the edges where leather strips would have received the most wear. Hope that helps! 

[Darkmeer]

I have also used an extremely dark olive color (I use Vallejo's USA Olive Drab model color paint) as a base coat going from dark to light, which gives a really wonderful dark green coat to the skin, if that's something you're interested in.  You can then add some brighter reds and yellows to the top of the skin tone to give it some real differences, while still keeping those shadows REALLY DARK. 

 

And @Mocha, thank you for the tip on the Leathers.  I will have to try that soon!