Neutral or grayed colors make excellent choices for painting interesting faces. To create gorgeous grayed colors, you don’t actually mix the colors with gray paint (that’s how you get the tints we created in the Tonal Values section). These grays are even more yummy, and you can create your own, which will vary depending on what hues you use. It’s a really fun way to experiment even further with color and to extend what you can do with the paints you already have. I used Derivan Matisse Fluid Matte Sheer Acrylics.
Create colorful neutrals by mixing the three primary colors (red, yellow and blue) together, and then combine that grayish color with each of the colors on the color wheel. This makes a gorgeous set of neutral colors.
To create a grayed color, mix two complementary colors (colors opposite each other on the color wheel). To make complementary color slides, place a dab of two complementary colors in a line with space in between, then mix the two to form a range of colors. This is a fun way to experiment, and it might make you want to try new colors in your portraits.