[jillsy]

Can anyone offer advice on how to shadow/paint with white, especially Santa beards? I have a very hard time shadowing with white. I try using dark and light gray, then I wind up painting over that, then it's too white so I try adding more...it just goes on and on and I never get the look I want. And the mustache winds up blending in with the beard...it just doesn't look good at all.

I find painting with white very difficult. I have the same problem with trying to paint things like animals, or the trim on Santa's robe, etc. Basically, if it's white, I'm gonna have a problem!!

Thanks for any ideas or advice,
Jillsy

[Doug Ridley]

Try adding a touch of Burnt Umber to your White to tone it down a little and keep it from being so stark and glaring. Test on scraps first.
Doug

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

there are several colors you can use to shadow white....if you will look at snow sometime, the shadows are a very beautiful blue....white normally will take on and reflect the colors around it.....tried different colors/shades, lightly in the creases of the beard and dry brush the white on last....or if that scares you , take a piece of scrap and make a bunch of cuts to resemble a beard and play with the colors of shading.

[AlArchie]

White is a SCARY color! There are very few things on the face of the earth that are actually "white", or any other single color for that matter. Just take a look at a "white" painted wall......no, LOOK at it! There are tiny dots of gray and streaks of different shades where the brush or roller left streaks or raised portins.. Same with "flesh" tones. Take a close look at your arm or the back of your hand......all sorts of different areas of varying shades of pink, tan, brown, white, etc. Blond, brown, red or even black hair is not all one color, but combinations of many shades.

For beards and hair, try putting on the darker shades first, getting those into the crevices, where shadowing would be, then dry-brush on lighter highlights on the high spots. That will give you the shadows FIRST, and the highlights last. You might dry brush across the grain of the hair to hit just the high spots, or go with the grain to work some lighter shades into the shadowed areas. All kinds of things toplay with. And hey, if it doesn't look quite right, it's only paint and can be gone over again till you get the effect you want.

Al

[AlArchie]

Geeze, Dave, ya beat me to the whole concept by about 30 seconds......must be on the same wavelenght again!

Al

[Canopener]

Jillsy,
I can't help you on white in general, seems like good advice above.
But; as far as Santas robe, I use a pearlescent color, it comes off looking like fur. A few black dots will add some depth.
Hope this helps.
Jim

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

In painting, I never use pure white or pure black, everything is mixed....even snow....highlighted snow has a touch of a yellow cast and the shadows normally a touch of blue....as for the human face.....geez, every color in the rainbow.....take a look at some really extraordinary paintings of people and look very close at the colors used....it will surprise you.

[jillsy]

Thanks for all the advice. I try to do the salt and pepper look, but it always looks too gray. Then, I think of Santa having a "snowy white" beard and I start all over again. And you're right, white is very glaring and tends to be too much.

Canopener, can you explain the pearlescent color you wrote about?

[Canopener]

Jillsy,
Pearl is an acrylic color you should be able to find at the craft store. The one I have is Ceramacoat made by Delta.
It is white with a pearl like cast to it. It has a slight glitter to it and seems to reflect different colors. I guess it would be similar to some of the makeup or lip glosses you see or maybe a hot rod car.
I have used it for the fur trim on Santas coat, it might also work for snow. I just texture the fur, paint with pearl and add little black dots and it looks like sable or some exotic fur.
Having said this; I guess I am cheating because I am not a great painter, but it works for me. I do not think I would use this for human hair. The correct way would be to follow Dave and Al's advice [they do good work] and take the time to learn how to shade with other colors. This not only works with white and skin tone but all of your painting to some degree. I try to work in layers of light washes and dry brushing.
One last thing you might find interesting, I just counted 12 different shades of "white" in my kit and a similar amount of black to grey, so stock up on your next trip to the craft store.
Good luck,
Jim

[jillsy]

Thanks everybody!