Cheek Bones: How to create thinner cheeks?

I used 400, 600, 800. And it wen very well. I used the 3m sanding sheets, they are more fabric like then paper, and are exteremly uniform.
Is you want to see the result she is at evenstars web site and is called persis.

 

I feel like cheek bones are the ultimate sexy, sultry and dangerous thing, whereas most dolls have roundish face, and I was wondering if anyone modded a doll to give her/him cheek bones, or if you'd have tips that would help ? Unless maybe it's impossible to do just by sanding ?

Thank you in advance ^_^

 

I've done an IM Hound head (bought used, bad faceup). All by sandpaper wrapped around my finger. The thing is, you better have a good idea of the structures underneath the surface, because you have to develop the "cheekbones" in three dimensions, from the side views as well as the front. And don't forget there is a thickness below them for the jaw/teeth structures.

I wasn't going for really deep cheekbones - didn't want to turn him into a Saint head! But I did want to soften that frontal plane on the hound head. Also softened and rounded the chin, reduced the nose (which I'm still not happy with, but the head's been coated) and softened the lips. Worked at it slowly, over a period of a couple of weeks, and kept rechecking him under a bright light, from different angles, often under a magnifying lens or extra strong craft glasses. I haven't posted these pix before (and he still doesn't have a face), so I'd be interested in what you think -

Used 230 wet for the rough sanding, and between 440 and 660 wet for finishing. I'd like to try a Dremel sometime. It would probably speed things up, but there's the danger of taking too much off at once.

Front- IM, rear - regular hound head (The only diff between the two original heads is that an IM has a furrowed brow and half-lidded eyes. Mouth, chin, nose, cheeks are otherwise exact.)


Top - regular head, bottom IM


Left - IM, right - regular


Don't know how useful these frontals are, with all the reflected light. Left IM, right regular. I was looking to just "lift" the facial structure a bit.

 

Thank you hobbywhelmed !

I was afraid about the skull structure as well, I thought you'd have to think 3D all the time too... You did quite a good job, the cheek bones look very natural, not too much, but still noticeable, and seem quite symetrical (another tyhing I'm afraid when I'm the one sanding XD).

I think I'd go even further, if I ever gather the courage to do it, because I'm a Saint fan, and I love James Masters (if he was a doll, people would so say no real person can have cheek bones like that XD), but seeing the shape you sanded is a big help to know where to sand, and where not to sand, you're right about the teeth, I hadn't thought about that. Thank you for the tips about the magnifying lens ! about the dremmel, I don't have one, but I'd be like you, afraid to remove too much, better spending hours sanding, than hours crying ;p

Thank you for sharing your experience \^_^/

 

It also helps a lot to view the head upside down a lot, and with a directional light at times. In fact, you'll find yourself sanding while holding the head in various angles. And while a good back-and-forth gets sanding faster, only in the very beginning. Trying to sand in a rotary direction on the cheek planes gives more natural slopes, I think. (Although you're limited by the size area you're working on. When I sanded some curve into it going back from the cheek area towards the ears, they were tiny rotary motions indeed!)

Yes, James Marsters developed quite the amazing jaw/cheek line, didn't he!

re: magnifying. I really cheat. Ever since my beading days, I have cheap reading glasses (from National Liquidators, the dollar stores, etc.) in all strengths. If I need super-power, I'll just pop on 2 pair! It's easier than trying to hold a magnifying lens while sanding. And those "loop around the neck" magnifiiers they sell in the craft store just SUCK. Still use a regular lense at times, though, for checking. The more ways you can look at the head, the more you'll see. Which is why it ws good to do a bit, and then leave it and go back to it.

What grabbed me was seeing more I wanted to do after I'd sealed the head. Several times. (Or how a cat hair got on the head before the coating dried!) I'd still like to plane the tip of the nose more. He was going to be an anime character, but ended up more realisitc-looking.

Good luck on yours! I'd love to see what you end up doing. Once you do a sanding job like this, thoug, the *bug* really bites you and you keep seeing "improvements" you can make on lots of heads!

 

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124524
Here is a sneak peak of my doll head, it is pretty far down the page. It is with the one of a kind doll on the table. I modified from the eyes down on the head.

 

I've carved cheekbones on 2 dolls so far:

Dollshe Bernard:


Dollshe Hound:




-------

I think it's a *wonderful* choice of modding.

It's a drastic mod...you *realllllly* need to remove a lot of resin for it to be effective. For this I use what's called a gauge tool that's used in making linocut prints. It's a tool with a 'u' shape to it that you push along and it literally curls up resin as you gauge away.

Here's a link to what they look like.

It's very effective in removing what you need, but the real challenge is smoothing in what you've removed with the resin around it so it all blends together. This takes a combination of rough sandpaper with very fine paper. You need to have plenty of light so you can analyze the area for 'ridges' that can form when sanding and to also see any tiny visible scratches left by the paper. Without good proper lighting it's hard to catch all these scratches and only when you go to put down some blushing do you end up finding them and by then it's too late. So it does take patience and a lot of 'going over'. But the results are very rewarding! I LOVE the look!

 

Wow Christ that is really inspiring. I want to mod a Saint in a similar way, I also want to put in some forehead ridges and the line at the corner of the nose down toward the mouth. I want this guy to look 30+. What kind of wigs are your guys wearing, and did you cut the hair. I like how it looks like man hair. I was thinking of putting a "lip" around the crown where the hair goes and using a mohair wig on mine. The lip is so the hair starts at the same level as the "skin". This way I could brush the hair staight back- Does that sound crazy?
I also use the lino tool, mostly for finer lines and the philtrum. To get out fine scratches I use jewelers rouge and a the dremel using a felt tipped thing to hold the rouge. The rouge is waxy, but jewelers use it on plastic so I am hoping it is safe for resin- I am not 100% positive. I also use silicone wheels that are inpregnated with abrasive to get rid of scratches fast. This is also a jewelers technique. At lower grits you can sand off resin really fast so I wear a big respirator and hair cover when I do this. And eye protection.

 

Do you think the lino tool would be useful for defining or creating the little hollow at the inner corner of the eye, where the tear duct is? I'm reclaiming a head that had been badly modded. Got the lips back, but by enlarging the eye sockets, the previous person destroyed one of the -- Hey, fitz, since you know the name for the indent above the lip, what's the latin name for this body part?

(All I know about the indent above the lip is that scene from Prophecy when Gabriel -Christopher Walken - says he made it by pressing his finger there to shhh someone. Or perhaps that's the only image I needed to know! )

Fitz - good idea on the hair cover. I hadn't thought of that!

 

{{your heads are awesome btw, you've done aLOT of work on those!}}

Hmmm that lino tool maaaay be too big for the tear duct. I used a tiny hand drill once for that purpose though and it seemed to work pretty good. You can have more control and poke a few little dots here and there and then with more work you combine them all together for a good indent. And the hand drills have those nice small bits that if you really can't make a big mistake on.

 

Yeah I do have a really tiny lino tool you could do the tear duct with, but I prefer the dremel and a really tiny burr, make a circla and connect it up like Christy does.
I would use the lino if I wanted to make the doll look squinty.

 

I used a nail file and sand paper to make cheek bones for my El......Now that I look at him, he slightly reminds me of those hound doll face molds......^___^;;

 

I recently did Ilaliens cheeks to remove some bad staining from a previous faceup:

 

thanks arsenic! yeah, was funny, i just started to gently sand off the layers that were affected by the staining, then suddenly in no time at all i had hacked off her cheeks and smoothed them out again! lol......
pleased with the outcome, but i think if i had thought about it more they might be a bit more subtle ( they are very....whats the word......striking in person!

 

I know this is a pretty old thread but I'm in sort of a small dilemma.

I like the look of a Crobidoll Hue but I find his cheeks a tad too chubby. I was wondering, since it's not really specifically cheekbones, but more on the overall face shape, if making his face more like this possible.

 

i don't see why not. i've never done anything like this but it looks simpler than carving a cheekbone.

 

i'd like to see more pictures of this done, if anybody has any. i'm planning on modding my dollmore kid aiden the same way when he comes in because i want to make him look a little older. thanks

 

Here's a link to my blog on some cheek/face mods I made to a Limho Mono.

His face is originally, somewhat 'cherub-like' in my opinion. Very cute and rounded.
Here, the request was for a more leaner, older look. I basically resculpted the whole
sides of his face using my Lino-cut tool and sandpaper! Mostly a lot of fine sanding
to blend in where I initially cut resin out (cutting out is the easy part, lol!).

I think the most challenging part is getting the mod to look like it was really meant to
be that way with no evidence or 'ridges' in sanding that shows where you sanded.
By keeping the sandpaper moving around as you sand you get a smoother finish. If you
stay in one spot too long you form an obvious ridge where the resin flattens out
too much, and it only takes just a tiny bit of sanding in one place to form that.

 

wow thanks, that's really amazing and helpful

 

bump, anyone have anymore tips?

 

While this isn't really modding...

Another tip is the way that a head mold is blushed. While it won't entirely cover-up chubby cheeks, blushing directly over them is a way to mask and slim them since it draws out the rest of the face. This is especially good for when heads are seen at an angle.

This might really only work for a girly or sickly look since a slightly darker colour (like a rosy pink or a grey-ish pink) is needed to have this effect.

 

Haha , I have been looking for this info for a while and I should have looked here first. Awesome!

 

I just did a cheekbone mod on my EID Evan head.. I used a round cera canna blade (http://volksusa.com/matlab0008.html), and a flate blade (http://volksusa.com/matlab0006.html) for smoothing and flattening other areas, and then sandpaper of various grits to smooth and clean.

I like the cera canna blades because they're not inherently sharp, so I'm less likely to cut myself badly (although I have drawn blood with them), but they shave slivers of resin on, layer after layer, and are great for all kinds of modding.

After seeing Christy's Mono, I'll have to try it on my Limhwa Eva head as well.

 

I have a question. I heard that often times dolls with sanded seams will have discoloration stripes at the seam area ....if you sand a dolls cheeks down do you get the same discoloration? I'd like to know before I do anything drastic =X

 

MissFlynn, yes the sanded areas will likely be faintly lighter than the rest.

 

I mean over time. Will they become drastically discolored?

 

No, the mods should blend in more over time. It depends on the resin too, what colour it is especially. The lighter areas shouldn't discolour more, and would be masked by faceup and protected by the MSC coating.

 

Is it possible to do sanding the cheeks without damaging the faceup?

 

Sorry Gothic-Diurnal-Hime but not really. You'd actually want to remove the facup before doing this kind of mod.

Could you, sure. Would you like the results, probably not. The sandpaper will pull up the sealant making everything more prone to chipping, and just looking generally yucky.

 

Fantastic cheekbones! Thanks for the how-to and photos!