Painting a Miniature Clay Baby

by Rosanne
(Pittsburgh PA)

QUESTION: I am making my third mini baby. The first 2 I just blushed with makeup. Should I use the brown thinned down paint as in your painting tutorial? Baby skin is very light coloured and I don't want it to get too dark. Could you give me any ideas, Please.

Thank you,
Rosanne

ANSWER: As a rule it is good to use both the Burnt Umber and the Red paints. You can use just the red if you wish, but I find that this tends to look a bit unnatural and more like the skin has been sunburned.

Human skin, whether it's baby or adult skin, never has a perfect complexion. Some areas of the face and body are rosy (where fine capillaries are present), grey or blue (where veins are present) and brown (where there is thicker skin or shadow). I find that using red and burnt umber tends to cover the tones red, grey and brown and can produce a very realistic skin tone.

However, this will depend on the execution of the paint job. Both colours can be very dominating if not used carefully, especially the burnt umber. This is why it is important to water-down the paints substantially and be quick to remove the layer after application.
If the paint is allowed to dry on the doll, you will produce watermarks and dark spots.
Be patient and continue to apply the watered-down paint and wipe it off until it's at the required shade. A baby with a pale complexion will not need as many layers of paint as a baby with an olive complexion.

It also helps what colour the clay you use is. I find that Fimo:Puppen- Rose is very good for a pale complexion, whereas Cernit is good for darker complexions.