Painting Freckles

Although this may not be quite what you're looking for, I added freckles by watercolor pencil. I used a light brown and just put dots on her nose. n_n;

 

For Riko & Umis' freckles I used acrylic paint -color: Trail Tan -brand: Delta Creamcoat
And instead of a paintbrush, I used a toothpick

 

I have always felt that most freckles painted on dolls end up looking really dark and splotchy, so when I did it I used brown-red acrylic paint watered way, way, WAY down.

The result:

 

I'm planning to put lots of freckles on my doll when I get her, so far my plan is to put the specks on one by one, with a light paint and building up the tone. I would reccommend varying the size and spacing of each freckle; if you put them spaced equally apart it won't look as good/natural. Also, don't use a dark brown, but a light brown-reddish colour (like starfall suggested)

 

I haven't done freckles on a resin doll yet, but I did freckles on a vinyl "Riley Kish" doll once with fantastic results. I used Liquitex acrylic paint in "raw sienna", which is that perfect reddish-brown color. I mixed it with some Liquitex Slow-Dri Blending Fluid Medium (a retarder) to thin it out, then dotted it on with a tiny paintbrush. The look was gorgeous and very natural in terms of how faint the color was and how well it looked on the skin. My only complaint was that the painted freckles came out looking a bit too shiny for my taste. I believe it was the Slow-Dri stuff that made them shiny, though, because the Slow-Dri bottle says "Dries clear and high gloss" in the instructions. Maybe if you used the paint without that type of retarder the freckles wouldn't come out shiny.

 

I used a water color pencil then dabbed a reasonably damp q-tip to them so that some were lighter and smaller than others. :3

 

Watercolor pencil in two colors, then hit the spots with a teensy tiny little wet brush to make them lighter and more irregular ^^ Works wonderfully! I use Derwent pencils in golden-brown and sienne brown both, then go back in with a 20/0 liner, personally.

 

I just use a light brown Prismacolor pencil. It's not even one of the water color pencils. You just have to make sure the tip is really shap so you can get tiny dots. When I apply then I put the pencil tip down and twist it a little so that the dot stays small but I get a nice solid color.

 

Although I haven't done freckles on a BJD yet I did do some on a Pinky Street figure before. I just used small dabs of liquitex acrylic paint. If you use pencil I caution to be careful you don't end up with small lines instead of dots.

Er, like "-" opposed to ".". It's not anything difficult, I don't think, just requires you to work carefully and patiently ^_^

 

This is my method and it has to be done with major caution or at least after a final couple of MSC layers.

I way, way water down a peachy-brown acrylic paint - so it's the consistency of skim milk-ish. Then I take a tiny toothbrush (baby sized), dip it into the paint, tap it onto a paper towel and run my thumb over the bristles to spray the paint. Do this about a half dozen times or so onto a paper towel until you can just barely begin to even see the paint, then move on to the doll's face.

IMO, you get a really nice natural spattering of freckles that isn't perfectly round or placed or have the exact same color all through.

 

Use this method. It'll be much more natural looking, with different shades and sizes of dots, and you can put them as thick as you want without risking looking fake. ^_^ I've seen dolls done with the "splatter" method. They're -adorable,- and they won't look like a painted Barbie or Cabbage Patch doll.

 

I use acrylic paints watered down IMMENSELY...you almost can't even tell there is pigment unless you paint a swash on some white paper and you see a faint line. I use mostly brownish tan tones in the little bit of color I do add to the water.

Once I have the brush dipped in the heavily watered down pallette of color I want to use, I paint a few strokes on white paper to reduce the heaviness of the brush. It's pretty much to the point where you could do one more swash on the paper and it would be too dry...that's when I start dabbing (and I use a VERY SMALL brush) or stippling on the face. I use my finger to dab away as I go so some freckles are lighter than others to make it look more natural.

Also it is good to make some freckles bigger than others...this also adds to the dimension and makes them look more realistic if that's what you're going for.

If you're going for alot of freckles prepare for it to take a *lonnnng* time and just relax. I worked on mine at my leisure for several nights after I got home from work. It was actually rather therapudic once I got it in my mind that there was no rush and to just take my time. I would like to continue with this idea eventually and do a little on her shoulders and chest/back...or maybe more!

Here's my Annalisa (Soah Standard) with her finished freckles:

 

Mix acrylics with lots of acrylic thinner/extender and use the tip on wooden toothpick to "paint" them, works perfectly! Once done, seal and optionally you can apply some pastel shading in light brown / peach in the area.

 

I use watercolor pencils...two different, but similar colors...
then I do spots in different sizes and add on pastel blush in a color that fits....

 

I want to know how freckles are done~ XD Can anyone tell me?

I have a Chiwoo Vampire Elf head coming my way and I want to give him some. Parlan says he wants his freckles! XD

I’ve seen so many dolls done really well and with me having freckles myself I’d love to have at least one doll with them as well~

So, if anyone knows? Do tell~ You’d be much loved by Parlan and me~


Oh, and here's a pic of the basic concept for Parlan. That's how I want his freckles to be...

 

'Nei's were originally made with a light brown watercolor pencil. I just gently dotted where the freckles should be, made a few bigger. All that jazz. Hope that helps.

 

I painted a Juri with freckles, and all I did was use acrylics watered down quite a lot (so it was translucent) and just dabbled it on very lightly with a super fine paintbrush. The results were as so...

 

@___@ Those are pretty! Prettier than my REAL freckles... XD

For Edan, who has freckles EVERWHERE (even the tops of his feet!), I just took a colored pencil--not a watercolor one, since even after coating he was still too "slick" to take watercolor pencil??--and. Poked him. XD Over and over again. Randomly. Then I added some bigger ones for variety.

 

Oh wow. Those look fantastic and very natural. Hadn't even considered watering down rather than paling down. Good tip, thanks!

 

When I did a faceup with freckles, I used chalk pastels and blushed the area (nose & cheeks) a little darker than the rest of the face. Then with a fine brush and a darker pastel colour, I lightly tapped the places I wanted them to appear on. It made for really subtle freckles which blended in with the skin.

 

I first used a pointy cotton swab and dabbed pastel chalk in little dots where I wanted them to go. Then I put on a coat of MSC and then went over the dots with water color pencils to add a little more depth.

 

I use a watercolour pencil and make a few darker and make then random shapes, and remember that freckles aren't neatly spaced out, you will have gaps and random cluster, and don't forget things like the ears and forehead and chin- It can make it look more natural.


He was my third face up and it really workde making some freckles a little darker ( I did my first as a practice for this on an obitsu head)

 

Those freckles are adorable! they really make a big difference in the face-ups

 

The best method I've tried so far is watering down some brown acrylic paint, dabbing an unevenly timmed round brush into it, lightly dabbing the brush onto a paper towel, and dabbing (fun word, huh?) the brush onto the dolls face. It's easy, and leaves a nice, natural-looking patch o' freckles.

Here it is on my Haven (Sorry for the icky photography):
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/2476/img2661lr2.jpg

 

I havn't done it yet but my plan is to cover up parts where I don't want then and then use a toothbrush and uhm... How do you say? Well, just put my thumb on it, drag it through and have the pain sprayed out on the face. Should get pretty spotty at least.
Sorry, don't know how to explain it properly. You can see it at the bottom of this tutorial http://mangarevolution.com/tutorial_display.php?tutorial_id=60
Made by Luciole. ^^

 

I know, there's plenty of information out there on how to do freckles. Somehow, all of that isn't sinking in and I just keep going from unnatural-looking freckled faceup to unnatural-looking freckled faceup. I'm really starting to despair, because I want to send Edan away to have someone else who's actually any good do this, but I don't have the $100+ for something like that--and I can't seem to get it right myself. I just want him to look how I know he should, how he looks in my head, and to be able to have other people appreciate that, too. And all I seem to create are half-assed failures.

So can anyone do, I don't know, a picture tutorial or something? D: That might be asking alot, since I want him to have those super-Irish freckles, the kind where in the summer they're more freckle than skin, y'know? Lyn_r (I think that's who it is) does them really well... Like that. Try as I might, I keep ending up with paint splatters, not freckles.

 

I did some freckles on Týr myself, but they ended up looking really unnatural.
But my friend puts freckles on her all the time and they look great. The trick is to use a really light colour, and even though some of them wont show it still looks alot more natural. Also put them all over, not just in some places. What I did with Týr was wrong because I basically gave him a nose bridge of freckles that looked to organized, but if you put a couple of them in places you probably wouldnt think of having one, it looks alot better.

Some people use paint, some people use pencils, I personally would go for paint but thin it out alot so that when you use it you can basically let the natural skinn tone of the doll shine abit through.

These probably dont help much but they are my observations so far from my "freckle" making experiences.

Good luck!

 

Try mixing a paint colour some 4 or 5 shades darker than the doll's normal skin tone and then add a paint medium to make it slightly translucent. It will loose some of the harshness that a 'solid' colour can produce. And don't make the freckles perfectly round. If you look at real freckles, they're often a slightly abnormal shape.

 

Hmm. Well, this what I have so far--it looks less like he has a ridiculous amount of freckles and more like he has some sort of rare skin disease. =_=



:< It's distressing, because I can figure it out in concept but in practice I just seem to mess up. Any advice on how to fix it?

 

they are too pink, add some brown and orange to the mix. You have to got the concept right for natural very freckled face. some of the paler larger ones are spot on! The forehead looks best to me I have done freckles on my red head boy but mine are lighter and more doll like. i do like what you are doing very much, I just think the colour is wrong. Freckles go dark brown in the sun so a mix of darkish brown and pale orangy ones would work well I am a natural red head so I have been starting at them all my life! LOL!

 

Thanks for the advice on the color. It's funny they're turning out so pink, since they are predominantly brown and orange. O_O

 

They actaully are really nice! I would just suggest making them smaller. Then they will look more like freckles than spots Good luck!

 

I think if you change the color it will defiantly help.
I also think that some of them are just too big. If you go to google and search freckles under images you'll find a bunch of really nice reference pictures.

Good luck! ~

 

Ive not got any experiences doing face ups, in fact ive not got my first doll yet, but has anyone tried doing freckles by using a clean toothbrush loaded with paint and paint flicking with a knife or something? Im not sure how to discribe what im talking about, its a type of painting i do with the kids i look after sometimes. (it is a little messy). Not sure how it would look but it would give the randomness of freckles.

 

Hello again DOA! I finally got around to writing this tutorial last night when I redid Alistair's (my Limho) faceup. But then firefox stopped responding and I couldn't save what I did! I hope this retyped version is as good as the last one *facepalm* Anyway... on to the Tut!

IN THIS TUTORIAL:
I will teach you how to do freckles in a more natural way. I wrote this because I've seen many dolls with the 3-dot-on-nose type of freckles, and figured I might offer everyone the chance to try to make their resin buddy more realistic! ^__^ Hope y'all like it, here we go!

WHAT YOU NEED:
&#9733;Small Brush - 0 and down works great, I used a modified (smaller) 20/0 for this tutorial.
&#9733;Big Poofy Brush - A makeup brush or other nice fluffy one works great, used for blushing.
&#9733;Water - Water works better than thinner for frecklation, I'll explain later. ^__^
&#9733;Paper Towel - Tear it into strips small enough to blot with
&#9733;Acrylic Paint - In the color you want your freckles (weird colors are okay! One of my characters has blue freckles... so... ^^;; )
&#9733;Chalk Pastels - For blushing your freckle area.
&#9733;Sandpaper or Paper - Used to grind up your pastels, I prefer sandpaper, but that's me. ^__^
&#9733;Sealant - Testors, MSC, Games Workshop, whatever suits your fancy! ^__^
&#9733;Mr. Clean Magic Eraser - For mistakes and freckle lightening!

And away we goooooooo!!!!

STEP ONE:
Squeeze some of your paint onto a palette, glass, plastic, or metal works great. Please DON'T use paper, unless it's wax paper ^^;;. Then water your paint down, HEAVILY, I'm talking about seriously soupy paint here, but not bad enough that you have tinted water instead of paint ^^;;. I find that water breaks up the pigment in your paint much more unevenly than thinner does, which I prefer for irregular freckles.

STEP TWO:
Okay, with your paper towel scrap HANDY, now grab some of that paint on your teeny brush and make a small dot where you want a freckle. Either immediately blot your freckle with your paper towel, or wait a few seconds depending on how dark you want your freckle to be. (I messed up on Alistair's first freckle, he now has a kind of darker beauty mark thing... ^^;; Darned picture taking time.) This should leave you with a nice VERY light freckle.





STEP THREE:
Rinse, lather, repeat. Keep making freckles as said in step two, making sure to place freckles irregularly upon the face so that no pattern occurs. Get yourself a nice base coat of very light freckles where you want them. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are helpful here if you make any freckle too dark. ^__^



STEP FOUR:
Okay, you've got your first layer of freckles down, (FIRST LAYER?! Yep, Freckles take time, that's why I LOVE doing them, plus they're cute lol!) you can either stop here if you are going for a very light coating of freckles (Which I did with Alistair, since he doesn't need mondo frecklage like Adrian) OR you can continue, layering darker freckles as you go. Keep going until you feel your freckles look right. As you can see on Adrian here, I kept going a LOOOOONG time and gave him a HUGE (unnatural HAHA!) ammount of freckles, because that's how I like him. ^__^
TIP 1: It is most definitely okay to put freckles on top of freckles, it just makes those freckles darker. ^__^
TIP 2: Remember, if you want darker freckles, just pick up more pigment on your brush, or leave your freckle on longer. Don't not-blot though, it's very difficult to get natural looking freckles from a paintbrush tip without blotting.

LIGHT FRECKLES:


HEAVY DARK FRECKLES:


STEP FIVE:
COAT FOR YER LIVES MATEY! Actually, don't overcoat, just seal as you normally would. ^^;;

STEP SIX: Grind yourself some pastel of about the same shade as the paint you used, if you want, you can add some pink to that too, I prefer to do that. ^__^ Take a bit of your now powdered pastel onto your big poofy brush and tap it on some paper/sandpaper to get rid of excess pastel. Then apply the pastel over your freckles, this gives them a nice shade underneath which (kind of) gives the illusion of even lighter freckles, and makes your other freckles POP. ^__^



STEP SEVEN:
Coat again, and enjoy your resin buddy's new pretty freckles! Or... don't enjoy them TT~TT and start over. I'd prefer you enjoyed them though, be proud of your work!







And that concludes the freckle tutorial! I hope it helped you all! If you use this method for freckling your resin kiddo, please feel free to post pics here in this thread! I would LOVE to see them~ Even if you don't use this method, I'd still love to see pics of how you freckled your doll, I love LOOOOOOOOVE freckles! ^__^
​

 

I would really like a freckle tutorial!

 

interesting BIG freckles. mine are much smaller. but i'd like to see how you do it none the less :3

 

Hahaha! Yeah, my freckles are... um... largeish. @__@;; It's definately possible to make them smaller using my method though. ^__^

 

yesh XD you should still do the tut.

My boy's getting light freckles :3 but i like seeing other styles:


Photo from aoyuki_kitsune and Davinerurinvega

:3

 

I'd love a tutorial as well if you don't mind sharing.

 

I`m amazed . Adrian looks so good with freckles .
I`d be definitely interested in tutorial how to make freckles .

Looking forvard to it .

 

An illustrated freckling tutorial would be fantabulous!!!

 

I'd love to see a freckletutorial.

 

I have not seen a doll with that many freckles; I like it. My next boy will have freckles so I've been looking for dolls with freckles to get an idea of how to do it. A tutorial would be great.

 

Freckle tutorial up! I need ONE LAST PIC. It will come, oh yes it will. ^__^

EDIT!: It's FEEEEENISHEEDDD! DUN DUN DUN yes it is! Oooh, boy, hope you all like it!

 

Hey! That was a nice tutorial. Thanks. Now all I have to do is wait for some msc before i try this.

 

Thank you for putting this up for us! Their freckles look really good(so does the rest of their face-ups). Now I am ready to give Noah a face-up and freckles! I just need to save up $200 and actually buy him first

 

=D Excellent tutorial~ Ali looks soooooooooooo good with his new faceup!!

 

skumring:
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it, let me know how it works for ya!

louiselle:
Your welcome! Thanks for reading! Good luck saving for your boy, and good luck with his face when you get him!

kayke:
Thanks so much kayke T^T your vote of confidence means a lot to me. I'm so glad you like Ali now... mom and I both think he looks like a REAL little boy IRL now... @__@ what with his August Rush haircut and his new face. @__@ XZAVI MUST MEET HIM!

 

This is wonderful! Thank you sooooo much for sharing!!!

 

Excellent turorial. Thank you for showing this technique on a doll with black hair & blue eyes. The freckles & natural shading around the eyes are true to life. My nephew has this coloring, with black hair & blue eyes. Now, I could make a face up to like him.

Some people probably think only red heads have this shading & freckles.

 

This is a great tutorial! +5 kudos for you! The coloring and direction are wonderful! Not to mention Ali looks beautiful!

 

very nice tutorial
I'm gonna try it as soon as I get my little girl next week ^_^

 

Just a question for all of you freckle-experts (I'm used to looking at them on me but not on my doll)~ do you generally find it easier to start off with the freckles and then blush the rest of the faceup on, or do you complete the faceup as if it wouldn't have freckles and then dab them on afterward?

 

I love all the info on this thread. Very thorough, so many methods and all so effective!
Now for my little question...
These all seem to be for bigger dolls. I just got me a Puki (yay!) and I am wanting to try my hand at giving him a faceup myself, complete with some cute little freckles.
Any advise/ tips on doing TINY freckles for such a sweet LITTLE face??

 

My suggestion might be to use the tutorial but instead of using the paintbrush, use the end of a toothpick. You'll get tiny little freckles on a tiny little face.

 

Excelent sugestion! thankyou, I will try that