Questions about a face-up on my 27cm Obitsu...

[Evelien]

I've been looking at tutorial videos, I've been looking at loads and loads of pictures and I've been reading all there is about face-ups. But... I'm still left clueless, it seems.

I thought this would be the right order, in short:
- seal the face
- start with a light basis using pastels
- seal again
- do the details with acrylics or watercolour pencils
- seal again

But.. I went to the crafting store today. I got pastels and I was hoping to get a sealer/fixative as well. They didn't sell MSC, so I asked them what I'd best get and I explained what it was for. They said my plans were all wrong and they told me the right order to paint a doll's face was this:

- don't seal beforehand (?!)
- start with acrylics (?!?! I said no, you'd want the lighter basis up first right, and they said no, you want the acrylics first so you can later blend them with the pastels?!?!?!)
- don't seal (?!)
- paint over it with pastels (...)
- seal

?! What the? Am I stupid or are they right? I thought I'd done my homework but they made me feel really dumb. They also told me I'd need two different fixatives for the pastels and the acrylics.There they were, two experienced men telling me this and I left the store completely confused and insecure. I think I'm gonna order some MSC from Think Pink...

[DollyKim]

It depends on the style you want. I usually do most of my work in acrylic then use the pastels for blush powder and accenting. If you want a powdery face up use the pastels first. There's only a "right way" on a couple of things like which kinds of sealers to use, not fixatives, and avoiding oil based paints and pastels.

As for a sealer I use Testors Dullcote, some people do and some don't, and it works fine for m. The sealers they reccomend might not be doll safe. Mr Super Clear is the most recommended and it seems to work fine for all doll safe stuff.

And actually the first step for your blank Obitsu should be a gentle bubble bath to wash off any mold release.

I don't pre seal my plastic dolls, some people do. It helps prevent accidental bleeding of colors, can happen to anyone, and gives a bit of a tooth for the pigments to hang on to. You can do sandwich layers of color/sealant/color but you don't want to over do it. If you want try some practice face-ups on spare Barbie heads.

[delbelcoure]

You can do it your way or their way, both would work and give slightly different results. I've done a few face ups. I've sealed painted and pasteled and then sealed again. I've also painted and then painted on liquid sealer only over the painted parts. Both worked and both are slightly different from your proposed methods and the store employees methods. Your way is fine. It won't hurt your doll and it will give good results. Sounds like those guys only know one method and think it's the only method.

[landwhale]

Hi, the steps depend on what kind of head you're working on as well. Here's what I do but you can try it or do your own thing if something else works better for you.

For painted eye heads:
1) Seal with two layers of MSC (get them from Junkyspot. His prices are the best and shipping is fast) The MSC prevents staining and if you mess up you can wipe it all off with Winsor Newton Brush Cleaner. When spraying, cover the rooted hair if any with saran wrap. MSC in the hair = stiff hard grainy mess.
2) Paint or draw light outines of eyes, darken the nostrils a bit and do lip part line.
3) Paint in the face if I am happy with the drawing. (I usually am but if you're not you'll have to wipe and start over from 1.) You can also start blushing and contouring at this point since you know where the eyes are now. You can't really contour if you don't know where the eyes and eyelids are. So starting with blushing on a painted eye head is not so useful.
4) Spray with MSC to set paint and to retooth surface that has been painted.
5) Pastels are sheer so I use this after the paint and it won't cover paint details. I blush and contour.
6) If I need to I will respray and add more details whether it is with paint or pastel. In general it doesnt matter if you start with pastels or with paint, but since contouring is like adding makeup to a base face, I usually paint the features first and then start adding more detail with blushing and more paint to bring the character out.
7) Seal everything with two or three layers of MSC again and clear gloss detail.



For Open Eye heads.
1) Spray 2-3 layers of MSC.
2) Do a bit of contouring with blush, lips and layout the eyebrows. I don't need to outline the eyes because there are eyeholes.
3) More MSC. and the first bit of paint. I usually do the basics here, the lashes, eye lining, lip part line as well as lip texture detail.
4) More MSC. Layer more pastels where needed.
5) Continue layering MSC and pastels and paint until I am done.
6) Final 2-3 coats of MSC and clear gloss detail.

Hope that helps.

You'll always want to seal before you paint. Spray with MSC between layers of pastels to retooth when you fill up all the tooth with pastel. Seal with 2-3 coats of MSC.

My favorite sealer so far is Mr. Super Clear UV Cut Matt. I've used the ZM and that works well too but it definitely goes on a bit thicker. This can work out if thats what you like. I've also heard ZM stays matt longer so you can get both and just use ZM as the last coat. I haven't done any tan dolls yet, but ppl also say the ZM spray is more white. They are both "clear" but with anything matt, there is always a frosting of white. Think frosted glass vs clear glossy glass. I think ZM is more white because I've noticed it has more tooth to it so it's a thicker layer of frosting/matting.

[Evelien]

Thanks so much guys!! Learned a lot again. I'll definitely get the MSC, just not from Junkyspot, they charge $32 for shipping to the Netherlands. I'll see if I can find something closer. Think Pink sells it, but I'll have to pre-order, so perhaps eBay will be faster. I'll check it out.

I'll definitely practice on a spare Barbie head first. I have only one haha, but she's my experimental guinea pig for everything. Seeing as I dunked her in acetone to shrink her, she doesn't have any face paint left, so she's a great blank canvas haha!

I do have one more question though. Something I don't see mentioned in any tutorial... after adding a layer of MSC, how long does it have to dry? Would that be a day per layer?

[landwhale]

lol, evelian, a day per layer to dry would take ppl forever to do faceups since most use at least 6 layers of MSC. You'll be super safe waiting 10 minutes for it to dry. I generally wait around 5-10 minutes.

[Evelien]

Haha okay thanks, hey I couldn't find it so I had to guess!! Thank you so much!