I am often asked this question and it is impossible to answer. Given the vast range of basic skin colours which are then further modified by age and health, together with the various degrees of light and shade in which they are seen, we must be talking about hundreds of thousands of different colours

In order to make a start we will be publishing some basic guidelines in our forthcoming Colour Notes series under Depicting the Colours in Portraits.

As an aside, I have yet to come across anyone who looked so unusual that they could be depicted employing any of the standard 'flesh' colours offered by paint manufacturers.

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