Colors and Tones In Painting

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine about how differently fine artists, or people with drawing and painting backgrounds, look at color. For example, if I were to paint a realistic portrait of someone, there would possibly be tones of blue, green, red, etc in his or her skin. You have to concentrate more on what you see than what you know: on the exact color of what you're painting, not the object. Everyone is taught in elementary school that skin is a peach color, and for the majority, that is correct. But, when you look closer, that skin most likely has shades of completely opposite colors that you would never guess would look right.

Skin is just an example of looking at things differently. It happens with everything. If you were to paint someone's red shirt, it wouldn't be plain, solid red. It would have other tones such as pinks or greens or browns. A lot of times, this way of thinking/seeing is what makes painting so difficult. You almost have to train yourself to see things differently, and it takes a lot of practice.