Customer Reviews

Painting Beautiful Skin Tones with Color & Light

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After poring through scores of art books for the many years, it doesn't take me long to spot a good one. When Chris Saper's book arrived from Amazon and I flipped through page after page of stunning illustrations, I knew I'd found a gem!

But it's not a mere coffee table book, though the paintings are beautiful enough to merit that, it's also a guide to deciphering what makes a portrait work. And what doesn't.

After years of painting portraits, I am still confounded by color temperatures. Is that shadow warm or cool. How about that filtered sunlight? I can change my mind a dozen times. Saper's clear and sensible explanations on how to determine color temperature was like being handed a map to the hidden treasure. She shows a before and after that really drives home her points. The section on color harmonies, which includes dealing with the background, clothing and props, is another gem that resolves many issues aspiring portrait artists struggle over. Other portrait books I've read only gloss over these key areas.

Saper's demonstrations employ a variety of races, but she somehow manages to make each one useful even if you think you'll never have the chance to paint people of that race. (But after seeing hers, you'll want to.) It has to do with her explanations for choices of background, poses, props and color balance, and also seeing how well it works out on the canvas or paper.

Most artists, myelf included, out of necessity rely on photo reference material that unfortunately is far from accurate, even though it may appear to be so. Saper skillfully unravels the tangle of pitfalls one encounters here: depth of field lies, value clumping, color distortion. She directs us on how to handle and compensate for these problems. Other books address this, but not with as much insight.

It amazes me to think I might have missed out on this wonderful addition to my library if I had relied on the Library Journal review quoted above by Amazon. The reviewer, obviously not an artist, said Saper's book does not markedly improve on what was covered in James Horton's book, How to Paint Skin Tones, adding that if you have his book you can pass on Sapers. Wrong! I have Horton's book and have been so frustrated by it. He himself has created some great portraits, but he doesn't tell you how in his book. He offers formulae for creating skin tones that are simplistic and rely on skin deadening colors. Unbelievably the suggested colors do not vary whether you are painting in oil, acrylic, pastel or watercolor. The portrait demonstrations often failed at even getting a good likeness. The watercolors looked like they were done by a novice. There simply is no comparison with Saper's book, despite the similarity of titles.

I'm glad I did my own research, including visiting her website, which gives an idea of her work and style. But surprisingly, the book has even better illustrations of her work. North Light Books did an incredible job with the color plates. Many books lose it from one part of a demonstration to the next, making it impossible to figure out what changes the artist made. Not so with Saper's book. And the close-ups of changes she makes are very helpful. By the way, the illustrations in the book are much better than on the featured cover for some reason.

I can't imagine you would regret purchasing this book. The illustrations alone are worth the price.

I bought this book based on the reviews so I think it is just right to give my own feed-back now.
If you are into portraits in whatever medium and you can only afford one book, buy this one, because if gives you more (unlike the title suggests) than just tips about skin colours. The introduction about the five elements in painting (drawing, value, colour, edges and composition) is clearer and more practical than in many other books I have ordered (I ordered 7 art instruction books in total). For example, Chris Saper presents colours theoretically with a colour wheel and the definition of the terms hue, intensity, but also gives you practical advice on which colours to buy first to make your palette and on how to mix them to make the different skin colours (hispanic, caucasian, black/african, asian/pacific). She even gives you a different receipe for mixing colours whether you're painting a brunette, redhead or blond type caucasian. Better than others she explains you the difference between cool and warm shadows, the colour and temperature of light and shadow, colour harmony and more importantly the three fundamental problems to overcome when working from photographs. The other books I've ordered that dealt with these items, did it often in a less accessible, practical or complete way. The second half of the book gives you mini-demonstrations and step by step demonstrations always with a materials list and colour reference.
The book doesn't explain you how to draw portraits, so you should already have acquired some ease at that in order to benefit completely from this book, because it is of course useless to know how to colour a face if you can't draw that face in the first place ! Then again, in my opinion, the drawing is the lesser important part because you could just transfer the contours from a picture and still make it artistically worthwile by your composition and use of colour. That's why I would rather buy a book like this one than one about how to draw faces if I could afford just one.
I you want to get even further into the matter of portraiting I would recommend the book "the Artist's complete guide to facial expression" of Gary Faigin that not only gives you a hint on how the facial muscles are related one another to form our expressions but also gives you a very complete explanation of the proportions of the head, the skull, the eyes, and the position of the gaze in different situations and positions that will help you draw faces more realistically and internally coherent.
If you want advice about design & composition about more than just portraiting and just one artist's point of view, I recommend "design & composition secrets of professional artists" from international artists.

Here are a few quotes in Chris Sapers' book that changed my view point on how to chose the correct colors in any painting.

"Painting beautiful skin tones has more to do with understanding color and the way it is affected by light than any other factor."

"Light lends its color temperature to everything it touches."

"Everything left in shadow takes on the opposite temperature."

"Light carries the color in a painting, but shadows carry the painting."

The high key of her book is dealing with various light sources and determining the colors to use in both light and shadow. If you think about it, with out light you can not have color. Plus notes on compositions, edges, pallete, and much more. Chapter 3 talks about "The Local Color of Skin: A Question of Orange."

When I was required to write a report on portait painting for college, I have chosen Chris Sapers book over 40 some art books that I bought from Amazon.com with 4 and 5 star ratings. The main reason, her book was the most useful, informative, compact and well written.

I asked for this book for a Christmas gift largely on the basis of the very positive reviews presented here. Now that I've had it for a month, I can't recommend it with the same enthusiasm. I certainly don't regret having the book. I'm sure I will learn something from it, making it worth the reasonable cost, but I offer these thoughts as a counterpoint that might be of help to another student artist contemplating the purchase.

My general feeling is this book doesn't deliver on its promise. I know this is an odd thing to say about a book entitled "Painting Beautiful Skin Tones...," but the skin tones painted by Chris Saper don't strike me as beautiful at all. With a few exceptions, most seem flat and in some cases almost unpleasant. There's a green tinge to many of her portraits that I just don't care for and that I would not want in my paintings. To see skin tones that truly are beautiful and glowing, look at any of the gorgeous pastels in Harley Brown's fine book "Eternal Truths for Every Artist", or at the cover painting and oil demonstrations of John Howard Sanden's "Portraits from Life in 29 Steps." Saper's work isn't in the same league with these examples, in my opinion.

The most striking thing to me is that Saper's portraits lack strength. Frankly, much of her work is very ordinary. I am acutely aware that it's hard to reconcile a statement like that with all of her awards and credits listed on the back cover leaf, but I can't avoid making the observation. There are a few works that rise above average, but just as many seem amateurish. Even those better examples are not impressive. Saper apparently paints a lot from photographs, as do many of us. Often the photos we have to use are not well lit, sometimes taken totally in shade without the fill light that adds dimension and color contrast. The problem is that, despite a chapter on "Breaking the Chains of Photo Slavery", her resulting portraits look like the photos they might have been taken from; flat, without contrast and with a pall over the colors. The demonstration using an Hispanic female model is an example. Comparing the fairly good source photos with the final painting shows that far from capturing beautiful skin tones, she has painted the life right out of them. Finally, the two watercolors included in the book are just plain bad. They are neither good examples of portraits in watercolor (see Charles Reid's book on that subject for better examples), nor are they good skin tone examples. Both are strangely washed out, and one is little more than a sketch.

Finally, I also noticed that the color control in the book is not consistent. For example, one demonstration is done on pastel paper that ranges in the series of photographs from a medium value warm gray to a medium value cool blue-gray to a very warm light value gray. In a book on color, that's not good.

All in all, this isn't a bad book, nor is it a waste of money. I guess I have made it clear that I am not crazy about Saper's art, but that doesn't mean that the book it isn't worth having. There are some interesting discussions on color, lighting and the skin tones of different races and ethnic groups in the book. Readers may find that information of value. I just have a hard time getting past the mediocre art; I expect more from a teacher.

If you are aspiring to be a portrait artist, or wish to improve your skills, this is the book for you. Chris Saper presents the needed knowledge for capturing the essence of a good portrait in a clear and concise manner. This book is beautiful in its presentation with its many colors charts, demos, and wonderful portrait examples. After reading this book you will be inspired to try portraiture. There is so much useful information given and it will translate into all art endeavors if realism is your aim. Thanks for an outstanding source among the many how to books in print today.

This is a wonderful book for everyone interested in portraiture or figurative painting. Although the emphasis here is on the use of clean, fresh color and how it applies to different racial groups, everything about painting is addressed: edges, value, negative space, etc. The artist includes many invaluable tips about working from photos - how to avoid color distortion, value clumping, etc. - as well as urging us all to work from life. If you love Harley Brown's work you'll also love Chris Saper's exciting portraits!

I agree with several of the previous reviewers. I believe that some of the writing on skin tones offers great insight. I also believe that most of the portraits in the book are garish at best. If there were Sears Portrait Studios around before the invention of photography there is no doubt that their portraits would look like these paintings. I would even be okay with that if it weren't for the fact that the book does not even begin to discuss skin tone until halfway through the book. I would say that 1/5 of the book is actually about skin tone. The rest of the book is just like any other beginners How-To. The basics of painting. Unfortunately there is little about skin tone.

As a watercolorist this book doesn't give my so much about portrait painting, but it is a very good source about getting the right colors for skin tones! It also contains a few thorough demonstrations step-by-step that can be useful. The most lasting impression of the book is the thoughts and facts about color, color harmony, color temperature, light, shadow and skin. The demonstrations about portrait painting are good but there are several very good books about that for oil, pastel, watercolor etc. The main value is a good penetrating depth about skin color, exactly as the book title says.

Highly recommended book for any portrait artist.

Painting Beautiful Skin Tones with Color & Light has been my constant companion since its purchase. Ms. Saper's book has guided me from my "rookie" year up to the present and I continue to learn from it. It delivers its promise of teaching its readers how to paint beautiful skin tones.

Having had the privilege of seeing some of Chris Saper's portraits first hand, there is no question as to her level of expertise. Viewing the luminosity in the skin tones of her paintings, one can clearly see how often she works directly from life. It is no wonder that John Howard Sanden has selected her to contribute to his internet site called "World of Portrait Painting". Her writing is clear, direct and informative, driving right to the core of what it takes to reach excellence in portraiture.

Chris Saper's Painting Beautiful Skin Tones is an absolute MUST for every single person who seeks to paint beautiful portraits. She exemplifies the consummate professional, teacher's teacher and artist's artist.

This book is overflowing with useful information. No matter what medium you work in the descriptions of colors and values are clear and concise. I especially enjoyed the section on the color and temperature of light. The step by step demonstrations inspire artists of all levels to begin fearlessly. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in trying their hand at portraiture.