This year started off great for my doll hobby! I spent the first 2 days doing face ups and took some photos the third one, it was awesome! How did you spend your first days of the year?
I wasn’t sure if I was going to do a face up entry for Faolan (2.0 because the first Faolan was a whole other character completely) and Hana for this blog, but I’ll start with Faolan and see how it goes. The weather has been really crappy so most of the photos I took of Hana were awful.
There’s not much of a surprise about Faolan’s face up at this point since I already did a very similar one that got screwed up with cloudy sealant. I always have trouble with the liquitex varnish, diluted or not, if the layer is not ultra thin, it gets cloudy. I don’t know if my product is defective or I am doing something awfully wrong, but I decided to skip the final layer using this product and do a zillion of liquitex medium layers instead, because that one is completely transparent.
This was the face up with the sealant problem
After the sealant fiasco I re tried his face up right after christmas, but luck was not on my side and after screwing up the lower lashes 3 times, the eyeshadow in one of his eyes started to look a bit dirty and I couldn’t stand it so I wiped it out once again.
There’s not much more to say about the face up really. I think I thinned the acrilics too much, but now I know better for the next time.
I tried to do the eyebrow hairs with a brush instead of watercolor pencils and it went better, though they still need a lot of improvement.
Lower lashes and eyebrows are still a problem for me and it’s stressful to do, specially after screwing up so many times. Sometimes I’m happy with how I have improved and then I look at other collectors and get depressed haha, though it doesn’t happen often because I remember that I can’t get any better if I give up now.
I put a lot of pearl powder all over his face because He used to live in the snow, and when the snow gets hit by sunlight it has the same shimmery effect, and I liked that for him.
I also put a bit more of color on his lips this time, so the fangs would stick out more. and the eyebrows aren’t as round.
And as a start of my photo challenge of this year, I tried to do something a little different:
Gosh! He is SO cute *____*
I love his styling in that last photo. SOOOOOOO cute :3
I think you did really well with you faceup! Congratulations on having him with a face XD
Hmm…I think it is a general problem with that sealant for the last layer…it also gets cloudy for me, even though I delude it ‘cuz I find it pretty thick when direct from the bottle. But I think it ‘wears’ off after some time? I mean the ‘grainy’-ness wears off XD’ but I think its also a matter of maybe doing it in multiple layers as well, and just do very thin layers. Because last time I used it, I remember I was like “I need to seal this properly” and sprayed like I was putting out a fire…it got very grainy and cloudy…but it gets a pretty cool texture haha
Thank you!
So you have the same problem then? I can’t wait for the dustiness to wear off lol it just bothers me too much XD In the worst cases it looks like the head rolled up in white dirt lmao And I did a bazillion layers the first time too! that was the first time I painted my Supia Rosy, and that face up didn’t last long haha
Oh my that faceup is too gorgeous!!! I love it, and the tiny rosy chin is just so cute! :3
I’m so happy that you decided to finally do the faceup because it looks great! Also, love the last one with the quote from Hamilton! Faolan’s color scheme is perfect, love him!
Can’t wait to see more of Hana!
I love blushing the chin, I can’t help it XD! Thanks :D!!
Once the days are more sunny I’ll take photos of Hana again 🙂
I really like that faceup, I think you did a great job on it! ♥ Remember that we’re always our own worst critics and will probably never see our own stuff the way others see it, but we can learn to enjoy what we do nevertheless. Comparing your own work to someone else’s is always a no go – you should instead try to think of how you’ve improved from your previous faceups and what you could do better next time 🙂 I often get that insecure and depressing feeling too if I start comparing my faceups/photos to someone else’s, I try to remember not to do that…
Thank you! With the years I’ve gotten better and I do not compare myself to other too often, I just happened to think about it today haha XD But of course I always try to only compare myself to myself 🙂 Who knows? maybe someday I’ll be proud of what I can do with my dolls
Yup that’s good ^^ I think you should already be proud of your dolls and what you do with them~ ;3
I tagged you/gave you a Liebster Award on my blog btw~
Aw thanks! I’ll go check it now 😀
Oh he’s wonderful Alejandra! I think you have done a terrific job of his face up and I really love the total look in the last photo. 🙂 He’s very much an awesome boy now.
Hugs,
X
Thank you!! He still doesn’t have clothes of his own, but I agree that the outfit there really suits him 😀
They always say that we are our harshest critic. I think you did a great job on Faolan’s face up. I really love the colour scheme and the red/pink parts just make him look so adorable.
Do you use the airbrush method to spray on the sealant? I’ve been thinking of trying to get a beginner airbrush set sometime this year and try my hand at repaints. Liquitex is about the only sealant I can get easily enough where I am that is non-toxic so I was thinking I could give repaints a go if I can get my hand on an airbrush to use to spray on sealant.
Thank you!
Yes I use an airbrush for the sealant, since it’s quite convenient to do so imo. Here it’s super hard to find Mr. Super Clear and it’s so toxic. They don’t sell liquitex here either. but since it’s liquid and not spray. there’s many stores willing to ship it internationally by airmail, unlike spray cans that are not allowed and thus have to travel by ship, which takes 6 months.
I’ve also blushed some things using the airbrush. Serafina’s back body part (where the tail sits) was done with a mix of airbrush blushing and some pastels, and the scorpion tail from the Vesuvia body and the Souldoll horns were made completely by airbrush.
I’d love to practice more painting with the airbrush in the future too. For me it was quite scary at the beginning, but you get the hang of it really quick, you should try!
I love that full photo, the whole package is just sooo cute! :3 But also the face-up itself looks very nice, with well-blended blushing and nice detail on the eyeshadows. Personally I’m not a fan of blushed noses, but considering the background for his character it fits very well. 🙂
haha I love blushed noses! But I get that a lot of people don’t like them. I will always find a great excuse for a blushed nose XD In his case it suits the character so it’s all good mwahahaha. And Serafina also has a red nose that suits the character :3
Thanks!! I love the last photo too, I’m so glad it worked because I managed to take only 2 photos before Faolan fell XD
Awww, he looks so cute! I seriously love the last picture. 😀 His eye shadow and brows look awesome! Did you just use pastels and watercolor pencils?
Thanks! I used pastels for the eyeshadow and blushing and acrylics for the lines. The only place where I used a pencil was for the white lines in his lips
I have not mastered acrylics at all with my dolls. I only use it on their lips really. xD; I use prismacolors on most everything. I think it looks really nice!!
I also love musicals, very cute! Heehee.
Prismacolor pencils? I think It’s harder for me to try pencils than a brush haha, but doing thin lines with a brush its quite hard too, but I like the result better for me, I just can’t get it to work with a pencing, no matter how sharp it is
Yay for musicals!
I think you did a really great job on his face-up! Those rosy cheeks are just way too adorable! *w* Also that last photo of him is really great, I love that it’s a bit different from the usual bjd photos! xD
Thank you!!! Now I think his eyebrows are too high but oh well XD maybe I’ll re do it next year lol
I think your face-ups are so awesome, especially on such a tiny scale!
Please don’t give up, remember, it takes practise to get such tiny lines right ~ if it really doesn’t work, try another brush. I tried various tiny brushes until one day in Japan I found the perfect brush for tiny details!
Thanks! I won’t give up 😀 I need to make an order to dick blick soonish because my airbrush cleaner ran out, so I will check if they have better brushes, since the ones that they sell here are kinda crappy haha XD