Faceups Faceup & Body Blushing Practice - 11th

Hi guys,

I'm very excited to share my experience of my 11th faceup practice with some body blushing. It is a very special experience because this is my FIRST time doing faceup on my own doll. I did all 10 previous faceups on the practice heads only. I was very nervous!

The head sculpt is from a Brand called GanGan DOLL. The founder has some amazing BJD works and I really like the head sculpt from her that I'm doing faceup on. He's name is Lucifer and it is 1/4 size in white skin color.

the GanGan DOLL 1/4 boy's body was not coming out so I bought an 1/4 boy's body from CharmDoll. The head and the body fit very well except the difference in skin color. CharmDoll white skin was very pale. It definitely needed body blushing



Because I did not have much experience in faceup, to get more prepared, I took a photo of the head and will do a drafting on the head. Just to get an idea about how it basically look like. The head sculpt was very beautiful! Can't wait to do faceup on him!



So my idea was, he should be a young, unhappy boy named Richard. He's at the age of 13, had some bad things happened in his family and he's somehow quiet. Here was what I did in the app SketchBook in my Ipad. My apology for my bad painting skill! I know it looks funny in the app LOL



Two layers of pastel added to the head, and I redid my sketch (just the lines) in the app. I also decided to change to shape of Richard's brows. To make him more "boy" looking and depressed.



First layer of line has been completed. I thought the color is a little too light. I might need to add another layer of pastel the next day.



So then, next day I added the final layer of pastel and and deepened the color of the lines on his face. The moles were just temporary, I did them in water pencil. I also added a layer of clear gloss solvent-based acrylic on his lips and lower eyelid. I found it important especially for the lower eyelid coz it created some highlights on the eyes. So the faceup should be at least 90% done.

 

Sorry it has been a while since I'm back because I was super busy right before the New Year. I'm SOOOO surprised to see all your sweet comments and I REALLY appreciate it! Your comments really encouraged me to put more affords in the faceup practice and I hope you all had a wonderful and enjoyable holiday!

 

So I began my body blushing work. I didn't really compare the color difference when I was doing the faceup. I kinda had a feeling the difference would be really big because when you began to put pastel on the resin, it makes the surface darker. But I NEVER EVER realized the difference was that big!! Oh my gosh!

Richard's body is illuminating!!



I don't even remember how many layers of pastel I applied on the body. But finally it worked.



More parts has been done. It took longer time than I expected because before I applied the pastel onto the body parts I needed to mix the colors to see what colors and what ratios worked. I was happy the color difference was finally minimized. I did not do the details on hands and feet such as nails and the texture on joints. I don't feel it necessary because you almost won't see any in the photos for a 1/4 size.



The finally work of the body included applying silicone rubber sheet between joints and wiring the body with aluminum wire as support. The rubber would help avoiding body blushing chipping off from movements. Aluminum wire functioned as interior support and it fixes any poses for the body. Sorry I don't have a photo here!

 

And then after weeks I finally decided to finish up this faceup. The reason it took so long was I tried to get more practice (on the lines) before I have confidence to complete it. So I did my 12th practice and I began my 13th during the pending period. I felt much more comfortable on the lines. There are 4 things I did on Richard.

1. I noticed the lower eye shallow on the left face (right side in the picture) was darker than the other side. So I fixed it.
2. the eyebrow lines looked a little monolithic so I added another layer of pastel and another layer of lines. I believe a boy with darker eyebrows looked even more unhappy. But I just noticed it was hard to tell to difference!
3. I darkened the lower eyelashes to make them more clear, and some white lines to create some highlights.
4. I changed the mole locations to the other side because I noticed Richard's nose wasn't symmetric. It might be hard to notice in the photo but his nose bridge was closer to the right side (left side in the photo), and it created weird shallow under certain lights. Hope the relocation would help!

To finalize the faceup, I applied the clear gloss solvent-based acrylic and eyelashes like I always did. And my Richard was born! WOO-HOO!!!

I really enjoy creating a doll that matches the character I designed. That is absolutely one of the most enjoyable things. I appreciate any comments from you and any advises you provide to help my progress.

 

Thank you! That's for sure an very exciting accomplishment!

 

Just got Richard dressed up. Looks like he's gonna take some secret adventures out home.

 

Thank you! I'm so happy the match worked out, and I'm more than happy to share this process.