Painting black skin

[Last Hussar]

How do I get realistic African-American skin on my 10mm Viet Nam Yanks?

Please don't tell me what paints to buy - I don't want to accumulate more paint!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Normal flesh, two coats of sepia wash then a watery black wash.

[Steve J]

Black skin is very hard to paint because there are around 24 recognised 'black skin tones', ranging from pretty light through to oily charcoal black. Personally I'd got for a lighter shade than you think so that it stands out on the figures, especially against their camo uniforms. Will's advice seems to make sense, but as with all these things I'd do a few samples to see what works for you.

[Fenton]

I use GW Dark flesh with a highlight of the same paint mixed with dwarf flesh

[GordonY]

I use brown, honestly that was what was printed on the label, flat brown (Tamiya), then darken it a bit with my magic wash.

[petercooman]

I use GW Dark flesh with a highlight of the same paint mixed with dwarf flesh

Same here, dark flesh with a highlight, but i give it a good devlan mud wash first:

[FierceKitty]

Sorry - that fails to convince me.

[petercooman]

Sorry - that fails to convince me.

Not trying to convince anyone, just showing 

[Orcs]

Colour party do a range of skin tones

I have always used "Negro Flesh" by colour party paints for African skin. Dark wash for the darker skin tones. For Asian I ngenerally use leather brown

[Leman]

Sorry - that fails to convince me.

I think they're Arab types rather than Afro-Americans.

[FierceKitty]

Normal flesh

For God's sake! Just noticed this now. Try thinking before you speak!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

FK, all I was saying was one way of painting people of African origin was to take your normal flesh colour and by applying undiluted sepia ink, leaving it to dry and then applying a second sepia coat you can produce a reasonable approximation of lighter African skin tones without shelling out for new ink/paints.
Sorry if my original was confusing.

[FierceKitty]

Normal = about 20% of the world at most?

[Leon]

I think we all understood what Lemmey was saying there.  Vallejo have colours called 'Basic Skintone' and 'Flat Flesh' which might only cater for a percentage of the world as well, but everyone knows what they mean.

[WeeWars]

How do I get realistic African-American skin on my 10mm Viet Nam Yanks?

Please don't tell me what paints to buy - I don't want to accumulate more paint!

Burnt Umber is a good start as it is a dark red-brown and is a must in every wargamer's paint box. It lends itself very well to washes over a lighter colour - something like a mid to light brown.

Otherwise, you're looking at replicating something like the Foundry Dark African Flesh palette with whatever you have.