Showing a bit of vulnerability here...

[Hammers]

..since this question obviously relates to my LPL round 5. I am having trouble with African skin painting and I wonder if there is a method to it. I've bascoated with black because it seems like the natural thing to do and then zenith sprays with white to pick out the hilites. Not a good idea. Had to cover the whole skin area with Foundry musket stock shade (72). Problem is it get so fucking hard to see where the hilites go on such a dark base since the first must be subtle and close to the BC shade. Any tips?  

If chamberofminiatures says base coat with turquoise I wont believe him...  

[answer_is_42]

I've painted upwards of 120 African figures, and have yet to work this one out. 98% of them are way too dark...

[Remington]

Why dont you start lighter and tone the colour down with Devlan mud? That's how I do it. The first coat is Foundry Dusky Flesh A and the I wash the skin with Devlan and highlight it afterward with Dusky Flesh A again. Never had any trouble picking out details with this colour combo.

[valleyboy]

Never really painted any black skin myself but I'd wonder about starting in brown and using darker washes
For Arab skin I find GW snakebite leather, highlighted with some vallejo medium fleshtone and then washed with GW Ogryn flesh useful but wonder if you'd geta   result from something like bestial brown and a darker brown mix with highlight and a devlan mud or black wash

Would this be of any use? http://www.jenova.dk/ - have a look under painting skin tutorials and drow skin

[Hammers]

Never really painted any black skin myself but I'd wonder about starting in brown and using darker washes
For Arab skin I find GW snakebite leather, highlighted with some vallejo medium fleshtone and then washed with GW Ogryn flesh useful but wonder if you'd geta   result from something like bestial brown and a darker brown mix with highlight and a devlan mud or black wash

Would this be of any use? http://www.jenova.dk/ - have a look under painting skin tutorials and drow skin

I had a look at that and while very good there was no step by step on dark African skin.

[carlos marighela]

Ok not LPL standard but I've just knocked off about 60 African guerillas in the past month or so plus a dozen or so Belgian Askari. My technique?

I prime everything using grey primer. Why, cos it;s cheap works with most things and provides good coverage. I hav etwo basic skin tone recipes. Burnt umber or chocolate highlighted with dark earth and a black red highlighted with vallejo panxer aces German camo brown. Variety by adding flesh or white to the final highlight and i dip the figures. If you use the Army painter stuff then the middle  Strong) one works well with the former, the dark tone with the latter. They look quite acceptable to me.

[Luthaaren Von Tegale]

Hammers,
for my Darkest Africa tribals I undercoated/basecoated with "Bubonic Brown" and then gave heavy washes of "Scorched Brown" both from GW - not LPL standard but look good en mass on the table.
Depending on the strength/number of washes the darkness of the skin can be varied.

vT

[Orctrader]

Black undercoat - because I always do.

Dark Brown - any I have to hand.

Light brown or dwarf flesh - which ever is closer - mixed in.

"White" Caucasian skin tones are hard to get right - all the others are much easier, mainly because there are less layers.  This is where some painter's go wrong.  Used to Caucasian skin tones they try to paint darker skin the same way - and there simply are not the same number of highlights required.

For illustration take a look at my website and the Ral Partha gallery where you will see examples of several different fleshtones including "Black African" next to Tarzan's bronzed physique.   

[OSHIROmodels]

When the Capt' has a spare minute or two, I would ask him as I have seen his Zulus in the flesh (steady now) and they look great 

cheers

James

[Heldrak]

Personally, I dislike the Foundry Dusky Flesh triad for black skin- the shade is way too purple, the mid-tone is way too orange and the highlight is way too yellow (I use it for leathers pretty much exclusively instead). For round 5, I'm getting good results with the RMS (Reaper Master Series) Dark Flesh triad. If you've got some lying around, Foundry Bay Brown 42 may be useful too. Some of the newer Foundry dedicated skin tones might also work, if you have ready access to them.

[Remington]

I agree with you but washes can help out there. When I am finished with my skin painting using the dusky triad, I always use a nice wash of Devlan combined with sepia... That gives the colours a browner and nicely warm look. Never used the reaper paints... Might be time for it soon.

[Hammers]

Personally, I dislike the Foundry Dusky Flesh triad for black skin- the shade is way too purple,

Exactly. Th outcome looks like raw liver. So does the  Bay Brown triad. I've found that the Bay Brown shade workt a treat as a foundation and now I have a formula which can be refined but works, hiliting with scorched brown and VGC dark flesh and last a mix of IWE Sun Tan andd VGC Dark Flesh.

I do however find it is a bit chocolaty, I'd prefer a greyer tone (knowing fully well that in Africa skin colour can range from coffee to blue-black).

Thanks all much obliged.

And yes Aethling I am willing to learn from all. Tjis is the first African batch I have done, I think since I left Enamles behind.

[gamer Mac]

Usefull thread but a tad late.
I have been struggling with this as well.
I ended up using scorched brown over a black undercoat. Highlighted with beastal brown, then snake bite leather and then a couple of scorched brown washes to darken it down.
Don't know if it is right?
I will show the results on Sunday

[Mindenbrush]

African flesh tones are never easy.

I have used in the past
Liquitex Burnt Umber base, highlight with L Burnt Umber with progressive amounts of F Dusky Flesh C.
The new Foundry Dark African Flesh A, A+B, B, B+C, C. An additional C that is thinned to blend the previous C into the others.

I believe the Prof tends to use Plaka Dark Brown or Brown base,.Highlight with P Dark Brown or Brown with progressive amounts of VMC Ivory but I have always ended up with a muddy effect 

[Svennn]

I believe the Prof tends to use Plaka Dark Brown or Brown base,.Highlight with P Dark Brown or Brown with progressive amounts of VMC Ivory but I have always ended up with a muddy effect 

Thats the answer I got many moons ago when I asked and it works for me although I do not have Plaka and use CDA Negro as the base.