Face Ups: Common Problems and Solutions. (Tutorial)

These are all answers based on my personal experience, and I can be wrong, or there could be better answers.

Problem: The pastels aren't dark or vibrant enough!

Solution: Keep layering. It takes many layers. Use a darker color than the one you want.


Problem: The pastels are splotchy/grainy!

Solution: Sometimes I have this problem, sometimes I don't. I think the problem is that the MSC can't hold anymore pastels. Take a dry Mr. Clean sponge and rub some of the pastels off until they look right. Then add another layer of MSC and more pastels.


Problem: When I do a face up, it looks fine until I get into natural light, then it looks horrible.

Solution: If you can afford it, get an Ott Light. This thing has seriously worked wonders for me. I use it along with two other lights in my room. It's still not quite as good as natural light, but it's very close.
Also, go outside to seal. I take a good look out in the sunlight before I seal to see if there's anything I want to change.


Problem: How do I clean up mistakes I made with my thinned acrylic paint?

Solution: A Q-tip with a bit of rubbing alcohol. A little bit of rubbing alcohol shouldn't take the MSC off. If you want to make the paint look faded or lighter, use a dry Mr. Clean sponge.


Problem: My paint lines are too thick!

Solution: You're gonna need a long liner brush. I have a Princeton 0/30 Extra Long Liner and a Arteje 0/100 Brush. The Princeton liner gives me much finer lines. If anyone wants a comparison picture of the two, I'll upload one later.


Problem: What do you do when a tiny bit of MSC chips off?

Solution: I hate this. So. SO Much. I'm always scratching it with my nails. If it's on the actual face up, you can try and soften the edges of the chip with a Mr. Clean sponge, then add a few layers of MSC, then pastels to cover the damage.


Problem: I want to try normal water colors. Will is smudge when coating?

Solution: As long as you've let them dry before you coat, they shouldn't smudge. Do NOT try to add pastels over it on the same later, the lines will get "blurry". I use the these btw.


Problem: Thinner? Redarder? Water? What is this stuff, and how much do I use with my acrylics?


Solution: When you get it perfect, let me know. For those who don't know:
Thinner, also know as flow-aid, will make the paint runnier. This is good if your paint is too thick or gooey. If you have Liquitex Flow-Aid, you're supposed to mix it 1 part flow-aid to 20 parts water. Then add to your paint. Some people don't use flow-aid at all, just water. But beware, it you use too much, your paint will be too thin and clear.
Retarder slows down how long it takes for the paint to dry. It thins it a bit too, since it's mostly water.

Another tip regarding sealing: I do my face up in my room, where there's air conditioning. Then I go outside in the heat and humidity to seal. What I've realized is that the head is still cold from the air conditioning. When it hits the warm air, it gets a layer of condensation on it, which makes little fuzzies stick to it. I just sit out there looking over my work until I can feel that it's dry. I spray sealer, then let it dry in my room. I've even sealed when it was raining with no problems. That's how I've never had any problems with MSC I guess. the only problem I ever have is putting too much on.

 

Ok, now onto my question!

Does anyone have any tips for doing fine lines? I was extremely disappointed with the 100/0 Arteje brush. I don't want to buy another brush without knowing for sure that it works better than my 30/0 long liner.

I'm just sort of stuck at doing eyebrows. I can draw eyebrows on just fine with a pencil, but I have hell with the brush.

Oh, and what can I use to clean gloss off of a brush with the least amount of damage?

 

I just bought some face up equipments to prepare for my new doll that I'm going to get. I just wanted to ask if they were usable products because I don't want to mess up my doll's face. I got them from Walmart so I'm worried about the quality?

Daler Rowney Soft Pastels (http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6443/30045004.jpg)
Daler Rowney Acrylics (http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/4144/30044728.jpg)

 

Thanks so much for all of the info!

 

I have volks acrylics and volks thinner (I love those little acrylic bottles). My problem is that when I make thin lines they become very faint. I mix the paint to a milk-like consistency with thinner and the thinned acrylic appear to have the same colour as the unthinned acrylic. Thicker lines or less smooth lines (due to less thinner) has more colour than thin lines... is there any way to rectify this?

 

If you find that your doll's sculpt is uneven and not symentrical (if you turn the head upside down, these sorts of things are more noticeable) how do you cope with eyebrow placement? Do you start each brow at an equally fixed point from the center of the nose (even though the nose may be off to one side slightly?) or do you start the brow at the same part above each eye (say X many millimeters from the tear duct), so that the eyebrows look symmetrical relative to the each eye, but may not be centered on the face? Hopefully that makes sense...

 

Well most sculpts are not symetrical anyway, so that's why I lightly draw one in, then lightly the other, but keep holding the head up to a mirror, it will work itself out to look even, if that makes sense.

 

Edited: My DoC Bee-a got a custom face-up from a customizer. Now I noticed grimy areas under her chin, forehead and nose. After gently erasing it with a soft eraser some "skin" peeled off leaving white spots. This never happened with her old face-up so was her new one not sealed right? Also, the grimy areas that are bothering me result from the bad sealing or are they the bad sealing coming off?

 

Problem: I can't find the best way to take off a faceup. I've been using Mr. Clean Magic Eraser but I can't get all of the faceup off and it's a pain to get it off. I was going to use rubbing achohol but I've heard that it messes with the resin color.

what can I use to easily remove the whole faceup safely?

Oh and thanks for the tutorials! It's extreamly helpful!!!

 

Those should both be fine. Doesn't matter where you buy your supplies as much as it matters to get experienced with them!

 

i've got a -very- used and aged DZ Wing head, when I was applying pastels scratches that were not visible before become very noticable- any ideas on how to hide/deal with these? they are right under his eyes where well, it's kinda in need of face-up XD

also- whats best for removing face-ups? I heard windsor and newton brush cleaner, but I'm not entirely sure?

 

This has been really helpful! I look forward to trying this out But, why only acrylics? I understand the no oils business, but what about watercolors/gouache/inks? I have a bit of a hatred for acrylics, so of course I'm looking for ways to get around them if possible (without losing intensity of color, of course!)

 

Wow!! So many useful tips here!! Thanks to everyone who has contributed an advice here!! Every bit of it is helpful!!

 

Thankyou so so much for these tips, I'm looking to get into doing faceups and these will be more then help

Also thankyou the material list

 

WHAT THE CRAP?!?!?!?! I decided to take off my doll's face up with rubbing alcohol because people on the fourms were saying it was a good way to do it. At first I was undecided because I heard it changed the resin color and that a type of paint remover was really good but, there are no stores that sell the paint remover product. So I decided to use rubbing alcohol and it didn't even take off any of his faceup! The only thing it did was slush around the black on his eyes and now I'm stuck scrapping all of that black crap off and his remaining face up and the black is pretty much a pain to get off.

DUN USE ALCOHOL! IT SUCKS!

 

Rubbing Alcohol works. I use it with a mr. clean magic eraser and it works well.

What are you using to put the rubbing alcohol on to scrub the face-up off with?

 

If it was a company faceup, or sealed heavily with MSC..it'll take some work. Try 90% rubbing alcohol, its a stronger solution then the 70%. Also try using a magic eraser...even just a magic eraser with water and some elbow grease will take off a faceup.

 

Problem: Can't get blush to go on dark and controlled enough. It's either faded or scratchy and I can only get them to show up if I use a Q-tip or my finger (which might be a no-no due to oils now that I think about it...) Is it my brushes?

 

I'm having a hard time getting the gloss and color out of my girls lips, it looks awful, but after a half hour of scrubbing it didn't seem to even budge! I have rubbing alcohol and magic eraser, but I haven't used them together. I've heard using a soft toothbrush to scrub it out? I really don't want to soak her or anything...

Also, is testors gloss alright to use? I mean, I've used it, but it seems a bit yellow after a few weeks, though that may be just the color under it since I didn't do her face in natural light.

 

I'm not sure why the OP said you should only use acrylics. I've used watercolor paints without any issues or staining on my boy. The stuff in the tubes, the cakes... No real problems, aside from consistency on the latter. I'd really recommend the liquid watercolor paints, though. I cannot tell you how hard it is to get the consistencies right for the watercolor cakes.

 

I sprayed a head with ZM spray just yesterday after the primary two coats. I did some work and went to seal it. After letting it dry and I took it back to continue working, it did not flake, for flaking to me implies a little chip just falling right off. No, the whole dang thing peeled off in a solid sheet from the cheek, up the nose, and the forehead. The rest of the sealant was lifting off at the edges.

What happened? When I use MSC in the same conditions, I have never had this problem. It was cold outside probably around the freezing point, windy, but not precipitating. I was in the right-angle armpit of my house, hidden from most if not all wind. After spraying, the head was placed in a closed cardboard box and left outside for 20 minutes to dry.

 

I am new to customizing, but I've been practicing and reading all that I can find here on DoA, so I feel okay with answering a few of the questions that have been asked here.. Rubbing alcohol has not been a problem for me at all. I use it on my "practice" head without any problems. The 91% rubbing alcohol is what I use. Put it in a small container, immerse the head and let it soak for a few minutes. For the bits that don't come off with that I use the Winsor and Newton brush cleaner on a q-tip, and then the head is super clean, ready for me to try again... Oh yeah, I love this thread.

 

I use a lot of watercolour with retarder. It thickens the watercolour up so you get a nice consistency to work with.

I've found ZM spray is a bit more ... finicky to use compare to MSC. It is quite sensitive to any subtle humidity and temperature and very easy to overspray. MSC is a bit more forgiving in that sense. Perhaps that's why?

 

I sent a rose grey skinned iplehouse Luna to an artist for a faceup, and she came back flaky. The artist said that Iplehouse dolls are problematic, especially the rose grey ones, because iplehouse dolls are made of urethane not resin and MSC doesnt adhere to it as well.
I paid a huge amount of money to have the face up done and have sent the one head back to be redone but was wondering if this is a known problem and if maybe Testors would be better in this instance?

Thanks in advance

 

Well I don't know of any problems with IH dolls. But to me it sounds like the customizer is trying to fool you. Urethane resin is the name for the plastic most dolls are made of, then some people shorten it to resin but it's the same thing.


ETA: My statement is very general and to my knowledge french resin isn't urethane while "normal" resin is.

 

Hi Ciantha,
Thanks so much for your reply, what I should have said was the customizer had said most dolls are made of polyurethane and IH were made or urethane.

I don't know if this is true because IH doesn't say on their site which resin they are made from , and I always thought polyurethane and urethane were one in the same.

After looking around the net I see they are surely 2 different things. Wow who knew LOL

This article explains it pretty well .
http://www.differencebetween.net/object/difference-between-urethane-and-polyurethane/

 

Well, I can't speak for the rosegray resin but I have sprayed an IH doll with MSC (body blushing) and the MSC behaved just fine even though it was quite cold outside.
I read the article you posted and according to it urethane is softer than polyurethane and my IH doll is no softer than any of my other dolls though I can't vouch for what kind of resin she is made of.

ETA: You could always ask on the IH Q&A if the dolls are made of polyurethane resin and if they use MSC to spray them.

 

Hi~ I have probably a really stupid question, but it has been bugging me for some time now....
I love the original make-up of my boy, everything but the lips, and everywhere I looked people redo only full face-up, so basically, is it ok to just remove the lip's make up and redo them, not the whole face, or it doesn't "work" that way? ^^;;;

 

This is a really helpful thread-- thanks for starting it, OP, and thanks to the contributors so far! I'll be keeping an eye on this, and hopefully adding to it eventually.

 

I plan to do a light body blush on my doll, do I unstring to spray msc?
Would I spray one side of the body part, let dry then spray the other?
Will the msc run or drip onto a rounded body part?

 

It can be done, but sometimes can be tricky to do without it looking like a 'patch' job.

 

Thank you everyone for your solutions and tips, I've really learned a lot reading through this thread! Especially the tip with the daylight lamp was very helpful, I've never even considered that...

 

You don't have to unstring but it really helps to get every bit of space of the pieces if you unstring. So, I recommend unstringing.

I personally spray the front, let dry, then spray the back. Or you could suspend the piece vertically and rotate it as you spray. It's all up to preference and technique as long as you get all parts of the pieces.

If you spray a thick, THICK coat of sealant, it will run. But MSC is very hard to make it run - I tend to spray thick layers and it doesn't run. Zoukeimura runs like mad though, so be careful.

 

Oh, thanks ^^

 

Sometimes I just want to send my head to someone else to do, but the money factor and sending it out make me a little uneasy.

 

Thank you Aiko

 

Question...
My mum says that I cannot coat my doll because the garage is 20 degrees and so she says it's too cold for the coating to stick? Does Testors Dullcote have to be sprayed in a certain temerature?

 

Thank you for the ifo. I'm thinking of sealing my doll's body.

 

This might be a stupid question buuut since you can use liquitex to seal but you generally need an airbrush would putting it in a spray bottle with the mist setting on work?

 

The mist in a spray bottle isn't fine enough and you get spatter, that's why airbrushes are used, to control both the air and the liquid. It take some practice to get good at airbrushing and it's expensive to get everything you need. I love mine, though I've had long before I had dolls.

 

Thank you for the help, I'm sad I was really hoping that would work ;-;.

 

Would Modge Podge matte arcylic sealant work for faceups?

 

I have a question. I was practicing my first faceup and I find that sometimes my watercolor pencils will actually scratch away at some of the MSC if the point is too sharp. Is is my pencils? Should I buy a softer brand? I think the ones I have are from Reeves. I do not think I am pressing down too hard with them but I suppose that could be it too.

Also I tried wetting the tips to get a darker line and while it works, I find the results to be very inconsistent. Sometimes the line comes out very dark and the water seems to melt the tip so sometimes tiny chunks of pencil come off which leaves a blot in my line. The wetting process also only works for one line and then I have to rewet. While that's not a huge issue, the next line may end up darker or not as dark as the first which doesn't work well for something like eyelashes. Does anyone have any tips for that? Or is it something I just have to keep working on? I wet the tip not by dipping it in water but by running it along a wet napkin. I figure this way I'm wetting it the same amount each time.

 

idlehen, the pencils you're using may be a bit too hard. I've only had the problem of scratching off the sealant once with my faceups, and it was when I hit a defect in my pencil that caused it to be harder than usual. If it's something that regularly happens, you might want to try a different brand. (I have Derwent, and other than that defect I'm overall happy with them.)

 

Thanks vicemage! I'll give the Derwent brand a try.

 

I really dislike wetting the tip of the pencil for this reason... Have you tried drawing the lines on dry, then running a damp fine-tip paint brush over the line?? I found it works quite well, and the lines can stay consistent :P

 

Thanks! I have not tried that. I'll have to see if I can find a small enough brush. Does it leave the line as thin/sharp as it originally was? Or will it smear/smudge it a little?

 

It will smudge if your brush is too wet, I roll mine on a piece of paper towel to point the tip of the brush and get the excess water off at the same time. If your hand is shaky though, I would rinse the brush and roll/dry it every few strokes though, as it will pick up some of the water colour ^^ However mistakes can be washed off with water this way too. Try it a couple of time on the headcap ^^

 

Thanks ellipses! I'll give that a try.

 

Hello everybody) Now I'm working at make up for my Lati Yellow, using watercolor pencils. But I can't achieve clearness of the lines. I also have Derwent Inktense Pencils & Blocks..what if I try to use them to do make up for my doll? May be you know something about this pencils?

 

I personally wouldn't recommend Inktense pencils, as they become permanent once they contact water (unlike watercolors, which are still workable after drying). I have a set of them myself, but would not use them on any of my dolls.

 

Thanks for this thread you guys! Going to be doing my first faceup tomorrow!

 

Vicemage, thank you for your reply, now I have no doubts not to use them. I thought that if I’ll make fist 3 layers of sealant I could use these pencils and they wouldn’t damage the resin.

 

So I've had plenty of practice with acrylics from a lifetime of painting/sculpting, but I've never tried colouring anything with pastels and so I'd just like to check that I'm thinking right here- when building up layers with pastels, you spray a layer of fixative/sealer in between each layer? Because I don't imagine you can just keep layering pastels without providing something to set the last layer/give the new layer something to grip to. Right?
And also, are pastels what is generally used for blushing? I get the impression acrylics are a "final touch/accenting" thing and pastels are for the subtle shading. Or are there people that have used one medium for everything, either pastels or acrylics or whatever?
And where can I find comparisons of things done with different mediums/methods? I'd like to be able to see if there's subtle differences in the finish!

 

Lots of great information. I have read through the whole thread and there seems to be some problems I am not sure of. I have been reading a lot on face ups as I still have to give it a try. have not got the nerve up to try it yet. My face up has t o be done on a tiny face. Do you normally add real eye lashes to sleeping face plates? I was thinking on doing that.

 

Ok, I'm having the weirdest problem...My gloss seems to sap only the red pastel out of my face ups. It looks fine for a day, but the next day when I go to look at them, the red seems to have disappeared or turned into a dull grey color on the lips. D: It doesn't seem to affect the watercolor pencil. It seems to only be doing this recently, within the last 2 months or so. I've used this same gloss for multiple face ups with no issue. It's Sculpey Gloss Glaze, if that helps. I am thinking I'll switch to Liquitex now...
Here are the 3 faceups it has affected.
You can see here especially how it left the watercolor pencil in place.
Gloss fades red in lips? by GenevieveYay, on Flickr


On this one, all of the warm tints, including purple and pink, have faded into grey.
Gloss fades red in lips? by GenevieveYay, on Flickr

Here, it looks like it wiped all the color out on the raised parts of his lips, leaving some red on the inside even though I put gloss in there too. I am mystified. o.o
Gloss fades red in lips? by GenevieveYay, on Flickr