I am often asked this question and it is impossible to answer. Given the vast range of basic skin colors 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 colors.

In order to make a start we will be publishing some basic guidelines in our forthcoming 'Color Notes' series under "Depicting the Colors 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' colors offered by paint manufacturers.

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