Colored Pencils for Face-ups?

Her eyelashes and eyebrows are done in watercolor pencils.. This was my first faceup with pencils, and it was a LOT easier then with acrylics and came out much better. ^.^

 

I do a large proportion of my face-ups using pencils. You can see them on my LJ. (link below)

 

I only use watercolor pencils and pastels. I coat before and afterwards.

 

I've just tried color pencils recently. ^_^ Coat the head first with Super Clear. You'll find the pencils will go on easier. ^_^ Also, I was afraid of the color pencils staining the head, which was why I had coated. (My lead pencil on plain resin almost did. ^_^;


~ seph

 

hey all!
today i just recived my doll! and i just bought some pastels and whatnot, but i was wondering if i could use my plain prismas (they are not watercolor) for her face? i plan to spray her before and after i apply the face up.
i guess i am worried that it will stain, and i threw away the box it came in, so i am not sure if they are oil based or not.
thanks for reading!
:grin:

 

I use prisma's and crayola exclusively on my doll faces because I'm useless with a paintbrush. As far as I can tell both work just fine when given a coat of MSC to grip to, and neither will stain. I personally prefer plain crayola pencils to prisma's because they are harder and give me more control. But neither should hurt your doll if you choose to go the pencil route.

 

I don't think Prisma brand makes an oil pastel, I know that the hard pastels they make are square (vs round) The easiest way to tell is oil pastels feel VERY oily, and chalk pastels feel dusty (at least when you draw a line they make dust, some are very hard so they may not feel powdery) but the feeling is fairly obvious, crayons feel less oily than an oil pastel! ops:

Hope it helps!

 

What I heard was that Prismacolor pencils are wax-based, not oil based, but may have a tiny bit of oil in them. The general consensus the last time this question came up, as far as I know, seemed to be that prismacolors were safe in the short run, but that no one knew what would happen if you left the face-up on for a long time.

I hope that helps. ^_^ Sorry I couldn't be more definite.

 

Hello! If you are looking for a good brand of non-oil based pencils, this is what I reccomend:

Faber-Castell 'Albreitch Durer' watercolor pencils


They are most likely as very hard, solid watercolors in the shape of a pencil, gluer is arabic gum (removes even with water), they are sold separatedly and faber castell pygments are between the most light resilient on the market .

Oh, sorry for the late introduction, I'm new at the forum ^^, will make a longer presentation in the proper section of it.


Love


Nany

 

welcome to the forum! this sounds inresting, where did you find these? are they at common art supply stores? thanks!

 

I have water colored pencils, and I was wondering if those work well for face-ups. Also, do I need MSC if I use the pencils?

 

yes on both questions, you can use water colored pencils(I'm not too sure about normal colored pencils, but since that's not what you were asking uhm..I'll shut up now ^^; )and you need MSC for the pastels, or they'll either stain or rub off really easily ^^

 

I heard the MSC or Testers helps it stick better... I don't have anything on a full faceup but the online magazines have articles on doing the lips and brows so there might be something on them about spraying the whole face first.

 

i was about to start repainting my faye when i triped over my brothers sidewalk paint. i promptly threw the offending paint at his head then thought "wait just one second. people use "pastel chalk" ,whatever that is, so why cant i use sidewalk chalk all sandpapered into a powder." so that is my question to all of you. could i use regular sidewalk chalk to blush her face if its pre-coated with testors???

also mabe i could use ordinary crayola colored pencils for blushing. ive done whole faceups for my doll with them and had no ill effects. though they were much too pale.........
thanx in advanced.
((just FYI i will not use the chalk paint stuff. i dont like it))

 

the difference between soft chalk pastels and sidewalk chalks is a matter of binders (the stuff that holds the pigments together), the pigments used, and the concentration. honestly, i can't tell you whether or not it would be a good idea to use sidewalk chalks instead of soft pastels, but i can pose a guess that the sidewalk chalk will not give as even a coverage as pastels, or possibly not get as dark with layering.

as for the colored pencils... most colored pencils have a wax base as the binder, which means the color may not go on as evenly, and may flake off if applied too heavily.

hopefully someone else has more information than i do.

(one more thing -- it's usually requested that a poster not bump their threads more than once a day. people are looking, they just don't always have any answers.)

good luck!!

 

i would seriously suggest please use the regular pastels meant for dolls. you don't want to ruin your doll.

 

I suggest coating the inside of the dolls headcap and experiament with the chalk. I'd think the worst you can do is stain the resin, but since it's inside the head cap, it will never be seen. Stay away from red and black and you should be fine, I would think.

I've done faceups with crayola pencils before (although I prefer prismacolor) and have never had problems with them staining or harming the doll if used over a coated surface. In my experiance, it's quite safe to do as you please with those, although I can't imagine they'd be good for blushing.

 

As long as you've pre-coated the surface with something, there should be no problem with using color pencils or sidewalk chalk.

As an artist, in my mind, the only real difference between these and more traditional blushing and face-up mediums is the pigment concentration: it’s not good. I think it would be kind of a pain to even get the color to show up I’d recommend getting a basic set of chalk pastels. They’re pretty much the same thing as sidewalk chalk only they have a better color selection and truer pigment.

 

If you really want to use colored pencils, you want WATERcolor pencils, though they are rather prone to staining. Oils and waxes just aren't good for resins. Go with a water based acrylic paint instead if you can. Even a crappy craft brand would be better.

This advice is based on years of personal experiences and many, many mentions of colored and watercolor pencils in the forums.

Sidewalk chalk is mostly white. You're not going to get a good color out of them. Even some cheaper soft pastels have hardly any color. Go for a medium priced set of basic colors of soft pastel, or just buy one or two sticks in whatever color strikes your fancy. They'll last you about forever and will pay for themselves long before they run out.

 

Sidewalk chalk has a lot of binders and low quality pigments. I suspect it wouldn't hurt to use it, but the color quality and lightfastness witll be low. It may also be coarser and streakier due to the binder. You should really stick to artist's quality pastels. They have high quality pigments and just enough binder to keep them from breaking down. They are much softer. and can be applied like make-up. I would be careful of using non-watercolor pencils too as some pencils leave permanent marks.

 

I am an art teacher and have used all of the above mentioned materials.

"Sidewalk chalk" is cheap with little pigment, therefore the colors appear light. It is not the quality of material you want to work with. The very best, (IMHO) are Rembrandt soft pastels, but they can be pricey. I have a set of 300 different Rembrandt pastels in every conceivable color and value. NuPastels are good quality but have a harder consistency. Sets vary in size. As a last resort Crayola pastels could be used, although the colors are limited and can be very bright.

Color pencils come in different qualities as well. PrismaColors are wonderful colored pencils, but you want to stay away from these due to the high levels of wax in the pigment. In fact you do not want to use colored pencils at all if you can help it.

If you have a Walmart or Michael's near you, get some watercolor pencils. They just look like colored pencils initially. The cheapest with the most limited colors are Crayola of course. Better but still inexpensive watercolor pencils are by Kimberly. They come in sets of 12 and 24, and probably more.

Good luck and have fun!

 

I use Rembrandt pastels too. I don't have all the colors they carry, but I bought a "portrait set" which has a wide range of colors that are excellent for face-ups.

 

Hmm... So I'm trying to get all of my materials together for when my El arrives to do his face-up and tattoos.

My question is this -- I have a set of Ticonderoga Core-Lock colored pencils. I know they are not watercolor pencils, but I was wondering if anyone has used these on their dolls before, or knew if they were safe to use. I don't believe they have a wax or oil base, but I could be wrong. I've searched around on the net for more information about them, but I really havn't been able to find much out about what they're made of.

So have any of you used these on your dolls before, or know if they would be OK to use? I may just play it safe and pick myself up a pack of watercolor pencils.. hmmm... what do you guys think?

 

Well, I know that anything with wax or oil is a big no no....
I'd get some watercolour pencils to be safe....

 

I think any colored pencils that aren't water color by default have wax or oil...so yeah, I'd stick with watercolors.

 

i have a set of the Ticonderogas, and yeah, they're wax-based. good idea, going for the watercolor pencils!

 

prismacolor pencils are wax-based and will probably stain, especially red-based, orange-based, and green-based colors. (in fact, those are the three colors most companies will not guarantee their paints to cover, at least for wall-paints! random trivia, sorry...)

 

Blue tends to stain, too.

Go with acrylic paints if you can, but if you can't then stick to watercolor pencils. NOT wax-based. Prismacolor offers watercolor pencils.

 

I've used both prismacolor and crayola colored pencils for faceups without any staining or removal issues. I've used both brands on coated and uncoated resin and the worst problem I had was that the pencil wouldn't stick well on oncoated resin. :/

Perhaps I've just been lucky, but if you are sure to coat well beforehand I don't think you'll have a problem with them.

As always, I reccomend coating before putting ANYTHING on resin, especially intense pigments like red or black.

 

I like to use them on my DOD resin.. it doesn't seem to stain that at all but when I tried them on CP (luts) resin... well I can't say I'd reccommend it...
I guess it depends on the resin. The resin on my Na Nu Ri seems more porous than the resin on my three DOD kids.

 

I've had staining on CP and Volks sealed resins, so I just don't use them anymore at all.

 

I just used them recently on Chris's third face-up and Lucas's first one. I coated with MSC and then blushed and then coated with MSC again before using the pencil. I don't really see a problem with it, but I guess I'll check back into this thread if/when I have to re-do their face-ups.

 

Are Prismacolored pencils bad for your doll?

Hey Everyone! I was looking through out the forum but I couldn’t find an actual answer to a question I have. See, I recently bought some supplies (Retarder, Varnish, and Testors Dull cote) and I have some acrylic paint at home. I am planning to paint on some tattoos on my doll (my first time doing ANYTHING to my doll) but I want to sketch on the patterns first with Prismacolored pencils, and perhaps even put some fine detail onto the tattoo with the colored pencils. But I have heard that no oil based products should be used on the doll. Prismacolored pencils supposedly have oil in them, so I just want to make sure first if it is safe to use it on my doll after I apply the first coat of Testors? I also want to somewhat blend in the colors with the pencil but I don’t want to ruin my Vesa ^^; so any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

 

normal Prismacolor pencils are wax based, and not appropriate to use on dolls, sealed or no (wax = oil, basically). i'd recommend getting watercolor pencils as well -- and seriously, you can pick them up at most craft stores. the better the quality, the more you can do with them, but if you just want to sketch out the tattoos as described, a $5 set will do just fine for you.

good luck! so long as you take your time, i'm sure this will turn out well for you!

 

Hmn, I'll see if I can buy some watercolored pencils then :3 I just have one more question. (I am just trying to save money and trouble going all the way back to the art supply store @_@ its so far.)

How about Crayola Colored Pencils? I looked up the site to see what they are made of. They contain no oils, and it seems that watercolored pencils just have more pigment in them than the Crayola Colored pencils. Can I use Crayola to lightly sketch in the tattoo first?

 

All of my dolls' tattoos are made with Prismacolor pencils. I have also removed one with Mr. Clean Eraser, and there was no leftover staining or damage to the resin.

 

Prismacolor does make watercolor pencils and those are the safest to use.

 

If the Crayola pencils do not contain oils then it should not stain. I personally don't like them. They are not as smooth; but for sketching a design might work alright. Just remember how much your doll cost you and how long you waited for it. I dont think waiting another week or so and five dollars is to much. Just skip a couple starbucks or candybars, that should cover costs

 

i made the mistake in using an erasable colored pencil on smudge for his eyebrows... theres a reason his name is smudge.... when i tried to take off his first faceup[because it got dirty] the color smudged and stained his face... so now he's an orangy color... looks like i blushed him all wrong... its sad...make sure you dont use anything with oil in it.

 

Thank you everyone! I decided to use the Crayola colored pencils and it worked alright as a sketch. I didn't have to remove it so I don't know if it is stained but one of the colored pencils had some regular pencil lead on it and it smudged around where the tattoo was supposed to be >< however I did remove most of it and I painted over it. It all looks fine now and the tattoo came out pretty decent. I will show off the pictures here when ever it is finished just for you who are curious ^-^

 

Prismacolor pencils (not lightfast kind) will fade in sunlight. So they are great as a light outline, faint lashes, but even after a varnish spray, the color pencil marks will fade.

I have the Lightfast Prismacolor pencils but I haven't used them on resin models.

 

A lot of doll owners try to avoid too much sunlight, anyway. ^^ But this is very good to know!!

If you ever use the lightfast variety on a faceup, please tell us if they fade, too! I want to get into doing faceups myself for my lovelies, so I want to know everything!

 

I was wondering if Prismacolour coloured pencils were safe on resin?

Thanks!

 

I think as long as it's not oil based, it should be fine

 

I use Prismacolor on paper quite a bit. I don't think it would stain the resin, but it is waxy, and will show a waxy whitish film (bloom) as it ages/is exposed to the elements. I don't think it would work very well.

I've heard that Prismacolor watercolor pencils work well, though.

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. It seems pretty soft and when I colour with it, the outcome is smooth and glossy... So I thought their might be oil in it. I'll get watercolour pencils then!

 

I think they have waxes in them. Prismacolour does make a watercolor pencil too. I just picked up a box, to see if their color intensity is greater than Derwent or Windsor-Newton.

 

I agree with this. Although I know nothing about faceups, as an Illustrator I have worked with Prismacolors. The wax bloom can be horrible on paper, so I can't imagine it on resin. I don't think you would be very happy with the result at all. It might even gunk up in spots and not be even because of the wax, but I can't be 100 percent sure.

 

Just a reminder: original Prismacolor pencil artwork will fade in sunlight. I tried using a varnish over the Prismacolor to try and extend the colorfastness. It didn't work. The colors still faded.

Prismacolor does come in lightfast pencils. They smear and need to be "fixed' by a spray varnish. I do not know if they will stain on vinyl or resin.

 

hi i was wondering, i have some prisma color pencils and was wondering if they are safe to use on resin dolls?
i'm saving up for a vampire boy to go with my yumei girl, but i did Yumei's face with paint (going to try pastels when i redo her face) but the dolls are so expensive so i'd hate to ruin him.
thank you in advance!

 

I haven't done a faceup yet, but as I understand it, it's alright to use most pencils as long as they're WATERCOLOUR, not oil-based. I'm not sure if you have watercolour prismacolours, but if you do, then it's probably alright?

 

Water colour pencils and graphite (graphite pencils are the grey ones you draw with and don't (usually) come in any colour other than grey or blue) are fine but any other kind is bad. Regular colour pencils are made with wax and it is a nightmare to remove and can stain badly. I also recommend pastel pencils too. I have done lots of faceups with watercolour pencils and pastel pencils and I've never had any trouble with those.

Hope this helps

 

I think unless marked as watercolour or pastel, Prisma colour pencils, or most colour pencils for that matter, have wax in them if I remember correctly.

There are ways to check. Obviously looking at the labels or any print on the box/pencils to see if they say watercolour or pastel is the first thing to do.
If still unsure, get a piece of thin blank paper and draw a nice thick patch, making sure you get a good thick layer.
Go away and leave the paper for a few hours.
If when you come back there is any form of 'bleeding' or a greasy stain on the paper (turn it over to check as well), then the pencils contain some form of oil and therefor cannot be used on resin.

If there is no 'bleeding' or stain but when you tilt it toward the light it looks shiny, then the chances are it contains wax and again is unsuitable.

If still unsure then add some water to the patch, if the water just sits in droplets, or is repelled by the patch then again it contains wax.

If still unsure get a brush and try to 'paint' with the water/pencil mix. Watercolour pencils or even chalk pastel pencils should dissolve to a degree in water and allow you to spread the colour.

Might also be an idea to look for the website of the brand you have, find out information there, and if still in doubt ask them.

If still in doubt, don't use them and buy some you know are safe to use.

 

I think part of the prismacolor 'bloom' has to do with where you live. All of my Prismacolor art has been fine, even the stuff from 3 years ago. I do my face-ups and stuff with Prismacolor, and as long as it is sealed, it should be fine.

Now, mind, I do live in South texas, where it is humid, humidity might have to do something with it.

 

Whats your opinion on using regular colored pencils
ie crayola(sp) non water color
For the moment its all I have for face ups and I have
a incoming head witch will be my first bjd
I was thinking of crushing some for blush use as well

yes? no? your comments?

((I was looking for water color pencils but I had no luck finding them))