Welcoming home my 50cm Obitsu Girl! Tips? Advice? FIRST DOLL

[Greyhaunt]

Probably my first piece of advice is that you need to understand that vinyl will stain. Staining is inevitable and while you can take steps to delay it, inevitably it will happen.

hand wash every piece of clothing you plan to have her wear until the water runs clear - even "pale" colors - and this includes socks. If the shoes you have her wear are colored on the inside then make sure she is wearing socks or her feet will stain.

Do not let the vinyl come in contact with things like newspapers or other printed materials - they can stain the doll. keep your hands clean (I use babywipes to wash off my hands before I work with my obitsu) and don't let your doll come in contact with your brand new pair of jeans...yes, this is experience talking.

When your doll does inevitably stain, don't panic. Stains can be removed and there are posts on Junkyspot about how to do that

[Greyhaunt]

Now as far as patterns go, there aren't really any made specifically for a 50cm, but I've found that patterns made for SD dolls reduced to 80% of the original size are just about right. They always need a little fitting, but not a whole lot

[Sixoclock]

Oooo great advice there, that I can certainly use as well. Grey!!!

Not to hijack the thread here but, for instance, if I was looking to make this:

http://twilightarms.com/dolls/patterns/ ... t%20sd.pdf

I could reduce it by 80% in PS and print it and it should work out?

I am still utterly inept most of the time when it comes to sewing. :3

Now as far as patterns go, there aren't really any made specifically for a 50cm, but I've found that patterns made for SD dolls reduced to 80% of the original size are just about right. They always need a little fitting, but not a whole lot

[Iwa_Hoshi]

If you can sew, you can make a few bodysuits or tights for her to change in and out out. There's a second bodysuit pattern on the board you might find that ad other clothing patterns by searching the board.

I'm not very good with measurements so this was made with estimation. Ended up making tights and socks as well since anything I have to order takes two weeks to arrive from overseas -_-'

Oh and because she has magnet feet, be careful of her picking up the scissors by accident.

[K2!]

Speaking as an owner of more than one well stained and well loved vinyl, when that inevitable stain occurs, don't panic. Replacement parts are readily available and are relatively inexpensive.

[Iwa_Hoshi]

Speaking as an owner of more than one well stained and well loved vinyl, when that inevitable stain occurs, don't panic. Replacement parts are readily available and are relatively inexpensive.

Hijacking this thread a little to ask K2 something because I keep foregetting.

Is it necessary to spray MSC(does MSC even makes a difference for this) on the Obi hands or should I just stick to using Oxy10 whenever the hands get stained

[landwhale]

I don't know so much about making clothes but I can definitely tell you something about faceups!

Materials depend on what kind of faceup you want to make. There are ppl who are satisfied with pastel only faceups, and then there are those who go all out or already have a lot of the supplies. Having gone to art school, I already had a lot of the supplies and just added to them when I found I really loved doing faceups. Here are a list of supplies that I feel are good for a beginner.

1. MSC (Mr. Super Clear), ZM Spray or similar - I really recommend getting a can of MSC from Junkyspot or ZM powder spray from Volks USA. I use both depending on my needs and if used correctly there are few surprises. Make sure to shake the can well. Temperature wise it is best to use in low humidity (so you can't use it when it's raining) and a medium temperature. If it's too cold, I've found that it can dry funny. Only use this in a well ventilated area and wear a respirator if you have one or a very good dust mask and hold your breath.

2. Respirator/dust mask - In all honesty a respirator is a good investment if you plan on doing a lot of faceups. If not, get a good dust mask, spray in a well-ventilated area ( I spray outside) and hold your breath. You can never be too safe.

3. Pastels - Soft pastels or chalk pastels. Don't get the oil based ones. The right kind is powdery. Quality pastels will cost more but be better pigmented. Cheaper student pastels will still work well so don't feel you have to get the expensive kind. Pastels are the heavy lifters in faceup work since they add the layers of color. I have yet to do a pastel only faceup but I've been tempted. Here is a shot of just pastels on a Custom House Stella head.



To save money you might consider only getting colors you will use instead of a set since art stores sell single sticks. A shader color for skin (a color a little darker than the skin color of your head in the orange/tan range.), a blusher (pinky/peachy to your preference) which can double for your lip color, a red lip color if you prefer, a dark brown or black for shading around the eyes if you wish. That is 3-4 sticks. If you find you really like faceups you could expand your collection later. The one draw back to single sticks is that you won't have a case for your pastels but some art stores might have empty foamed boxes lying around so you can ask for them.

4. Brushes/q-tips for pastels - You will need some tools to apply your pastels. I have 6 different brushes ranging in size and shape that I use so far and am probably going to add another two. To start out though, you probably can just use 2 and q-tips. The best kind for pastel application should have softer bristles. Get a teeny tiny flat or filbert if you can find one that is 3/16 wide or so. This kind of brush is good for darkening around the eye and blushing the lips. For the other brush get a larger fluffy brush that will help with blushing the cheeks. The q tips are a bit larger than the flat size i recommended and will be good for helping with blending out the lip and eye area. You can add to your brush collection later as well.

5. Kneading eraser - For clean up if you add too much pastels. These are very cheap.

These are the basics. After that you can add paints and watercolor pencils

6. Watercolors- Some ppl use watercolors and mix it with acrylic mediums to use on faceups. It is similar to using acrylic paints but some claim watercolors to be more transparent...which in my opinion isn't true with the traditional watercolor pigments. (the pigments in traditional watercolor and acrylics are the same. it's just the emulsions and binders that are different so in reality ppl who use watercolor+acrylic mediums are really just mixing their own acrylic paints.)

7. Acrylic Paints- You can get all the colors in the rainbow or just stick with basics you will need. White, red, brown, black, yellow. The yellow is to mix with the red and the white to get peachier colors if you wish.

8. Acrylic retarders and thinners - My favorite is very cheap. It is the plaid extender. I hate to say it but it beats out both liquitex and golden retarders/fluid extenders for me because it is so thin it is like water but it slows dry time too. You will need retarders to make sure that the paint doesn't dry out too quickly and to thin out the paint so you can get fine thin lines. You can just use water but too much water mixed with paint to thin the paint down leads to beading on resin instead of a nice thin line.

9. Brushes for watercolor- Even if you're using acrylics you can still use watercolor brushes. I just find they come finer. I get size 30/0 to size 0. My size 0 gets the most use and can give me the tiniest lines. In fact I use the size 0 exclusively on my 1/6 heads for a long time. If you keep them well the brushes can last a while but will need to be replaced over time if used a lot.

10. Winsor & Newton brush cleaner - good for your brushes. Good for removing faceups.

11. Watercolor pencils- I own some. I've owned some for a while that i used to play around with. Did I ever become a fan of them on paper? no. Did I ever become a fan of them for faceups? no. I tried. I will try some more but I just like brush and paint better. Some ppl have used pencils in faceups to great effect. I am sad to say I am not one of those ppl.

12. Gloss- I use Tamiya clear gloss but you can use any waterbased gloss varnish. I hear liquitex is good and my golden gloss varnish works well too but I find I prefer tamiya.


I will talk about methods in the next post....this is getting looong.

[landwhale]

I forgot to add pearl powders to the previous post but I used those too. THey aren't necessary tho.

So, methodology.

1. Base coat with MSC/ZM spray - very impt. I use three coats on vinyl heads before I start blushing/painting. This is because the vinyl is protected from the pigments and there is less of a chance of staining. This has worked well for me in that when I remove a faceup from my gretel head, she is like new. Of course I don't know if the length of time a faceup is on affects staining. I will know in another few weeks when Cerise is due for her new face. I've only been in this hobby for a year tho so I don't know about long term affects on vinyl yet.

2. Blush- For sculpts with defined eyes or eyeholes I start with blushing and shading around the eyes and on the cheeks and mouth area first. If there are no defined eyes like on the default 60cm heads I paint them in lightly with thinned down translucent brown paint so I know how to shade. Then I shade before I paint the eyes.

3. Spray/Fix - You can only add so much pastels before the tooth in the MSC spray (what makes it matte and gives it that rough texture) fills up so you will have to fix/ spray again. Spraying means that whatever you blushed on stays and is protected so make sure that things look right before you spray. If the blushing isn't dark enough, you can always layer on more pastels between spraying. You can tell when the tooth in the spray is full since the pastel will start getting blotchy. With practice you will get to know your pastels and know how much you can add before you should fix/spray.

The example in the post above took about 4 layers to get the depth in the colors. Don't expect to get deep darks in your first layer of pastel.

4. Eyebrow placement - I usually make sure the shading and blushing looks the way I want to and is completely fixed before i start the eyebrows because I want to be able to erase the eyebrows if I make a mistake but not erase the shading and blushing. Use your brushes, q-tips and eraser to shape the eyebrows.

You can stop at this point which is where I left the head posted before off. If you want to stop here, spray your head once. Let it dry and then spray another layer to help protect everything. If you want to you can gloss the lips and the eye rims for a nice shiny look. You can also choose to continue with paint.

[Greyhaunt]

Yes - with a bit of tweaking 80% should get you very close to perfect!

I've used the Undead Threads blouse/pj top pattern to make tops for Josephine - love their stuff!

Oooo great advice there, that I can certainly use as well. Grey!!!

Not to hijack the thread here but, for instance, if I was looking to make this:

http://twilightarms.com/dolls/patterns/ ... t%20sd.pdf

I could reduce it by 80% in PS and print it and it should work out?

I am still utterly inept most of the time when it comes to sewing. :3

Now as far as patterns go, there aren't really any made specifically for a 50cm, but I've found that patterns made for SD dolls reduced to 80% of the original size are just about right. They always need a little fitting, but not a whole lot

[landwhale]

If you choose to continue with paint (which is what I do.) I would say it is impt to add enough thinner. THere is no real formula since different brands have different consistency, It is up to you to figure out what works best for you.

After the last step above I usually add thin lines for the lashes in a dark color. Using the same color I use the side of my brush to rim the upper eye lid and then refine the tips with the point for a nice taper.

I usually use a very translucent pink or white to add lines to the lips depending on the look I'm going for. I don't like dark dots on lips so I don't add those but I will line with a translucent brown or darker red to give the lip line some definition.

After I finish painting everything I fix everything and go over with more pastel if needed or some pearl powder. When everything is done I fix the head with two more layers of MSC. Sometimes three if I feel it needs it. My heads usually have a layer of about 10 layers of MSC for basic faceups.

Watercolor pencils work basically like the paint except that you don't use brushes and you have to use a sharpener to make sure the point stays on. You can correct mistakes more easily by wiping off with water (or so I've heard but I don't know because I fail with pencils). You need to fix/spray the pencils to make sure they stay. You can layer them like you layer pastels.

Here's what the same head above looks like with paint added, gloss and lashes.




An extra step which makes all heads look cute is to gloss the lips and the eye rims. Here I painted gloss stripes instead of just glossing all over to give a more realistic texture.

Lashes....er....maybe getting complicated but I have been starting to use regular elmers. A good craft glue might be better but I have yet to try.