Faceup - looking for opinions and advices

I’m no expert myself as I’ve only done a few fade-ups, but yours looks really nice so far! I also have a hard time with those fine lines, I seriously don’t understand how some artists like komoreibi can get such delicate looking hairs… I think trying gouache paints is a good idea, thats what I’ve been using to get more opaque colors. If you aren’t already, I’d try doing the first lines with a watercolor pencil that’s super sharp, then very carefully going over the “root” of the hair with paint so that it gets less opaque toward the end of each eyelash. That might help create the illusion that they’re thinner. Also, a few slightly thicker lines are better than a lot of thin ones bunched together when it comes to the lower eyelashes from what I’ve found, since on dolls if the eyelashes are too close they can create a much thicker effect than intended if you don’t look at them closely.

For the top eyelashes, I have been having the exact same struggle as you the amount of falsies I’ve bought at my work to take home and try in the past two weeks is absurd. The best advice I can give is look for human lashes that are advertised as “natural” or something similar, anything that’s not too long for dolls. Doll lashes work ofc but from what I’ve seen lots of them are really static looking and if you can get human ones that are the right size they look way better.

I’ve also seen someone take lashes that are too long for dolls that look super nice (like faux mink lashes or smth) and use glue to essentially push the lash line outward, effectively shortening them from the back (kind of like making yarn wefts with glue but with eyelashes). That way the tapered ends stay put so they don’t look all blunt and gross from cutting. I’m probably gonna try this sometime this week with a pair I have since it seems pretty smart.

as for highlighter, why not just do what you did in her eye corners? I assume that’s pearl-x powder or something similar. I’ve seen vinyl doll customizers use it as highlighter I think, msc doesn’t seem to completely take the effect away, just make it a bit more satin like rather than crazy glittery


I hope any of what I said is helpful, honestly I’m trying to deal with the same problems rn. Faceups are SO hard!

 

I think she looks good! For your problem with the fine lines I would recommend eyeliner brushes. That sounds a bit weird but I tried countless art brushes and nothing worked as good. Just obviously needs to clean it.

I wouldn’t use human fake lashes for the dolls as they often are thicker at the beginning and thinner in the end so if you cut them in the middle to make them shorter for dolls they tend to look unfitting. You can buy lashes who were made mainly for doll customising online. Just search for bjd lashes. They are often cheaper than normal fake lashes too.

And for the brows you could maybe use some pastels as a base. You can layer it and draw the lines on later to make it look more natural

 

I think you definitely have a good start!

For line work, I use this brush from Volks. I love it, not gonna lie lol. I use acrylic (mostly Liquitex and Daler-Rowney), usually thinned with water though I've started trying Liquitex Flow Aid. Before I start painting lines, I paint some lines onto my hand (I wear nitrile gloves) to remove some of the paint from the brush. It helps you see how thin your lines will be (you could do the lines on paper or your paint palette, as well).

My work flow usually goes like this: Pastel base for eyebrows/lips, seal, pastels for base blushing + more on lips to add depth, seal, second layer pastels for blushing if more depth needed (including eye shadow and cheek blush), seal, if the pastels need more depth then I do another layer and seal twice. if they don't then I just seal once, painted line work (wait til it's dry to do any more layers of paint), seal twice (I sometimes do three times cause I'm paranoid lmao), once sealant is dry then it's gloss time, if I want eyelashes then I let the gloss dry over night and apply them the next day.

I use human and doll lashes. Human lashes work just fine, in my opinion, it just depends on the style of them. I'll put some eyelash examples under a spoiler.

Spoiler

Doll lashes

Volks Nana ~ Faceup by LupusDarkmoon, on Flickr


Impldoll Erica/Dollzone Jeremy ~ Faceup/Blush by LupusDarkmoon, on Flickr


Collusion by LupusDarkmoon, on Flickr


(link just in case)

Human lashes

(link just in case)


(link just in case)


Soom Glot ~ Faceup & Body Blush by LupusDarkmoon, on Flickr (these were the lower lashes from a set with upper and lower ones)


Sully by LupusDarkmoon, on Flickr


Sound by LupusDarkmoon, on Flickr

If you need to make lashes shorter, you can set them further back in the eyewell or make your own glue strip on them and cut from behind the strip (never cut the front of the lashes, cause it blunts them). I've also seen people make lashes with the hairs from a paintbrush by making a thin glue strip (on a surface it won't stick to, like plastic wrap) and arranging the cut hairs of the paintbrush with the blunt ends in the glue. Once it's dry, you can put another thin layer of glue on top to make sure they're secure.

For a shiny highlighter, I suggest using pearl powder towards your final coats of sealant. So, try doing it when you're done with your pastels and paints, then do however many final coats of sealant you normally do. If you do, say, two final coats and you find it too matte, then add some more before the last coat.

Hope this helps! Feel free to @ me or PM me if you think I might be able to help you further!

 

She has a nice overall look! I think the brow color is just right for her wig and the brow shape is great.

To get really fine lines watercolors really do need to be thinner than you think they should be. When you get them that thin, they have trouble adhering to the surface. The two suggestions I've seen are to paint your watercolors on top of a really light base of pastel (I know I like to seal between the base brow pastel layer and painting the lines, so this confounded me for a long time, but I do find it works!) or make the area slightly damp before you paint on it. Gouache (traditional and not Acryl, which is basically just matte acrylic paint) is pretty much the same as watercolor in faceup use, except that it's less transparent. It's better if you want to use light colors. but not a lot different for dark ones (at least for the ones I have).

I also have had the best luck with the long nail art liner brushes instead of the superfine round art brushes you tend to find (for more money). Even if you get a really nice brush, it's really hard to keep a liner brush clean without ending up with frizzy bristles over time, so I think you actually get more for your money going through cheap brushes than investing in an expensive one.

And yeah, for eyebrow hairs, I think less is more, especially if you aren't doing very thin translucent lines. I have had a lot of success with practicing drawing the eyebrow hairs on paper or tablet before jumping into the paint. You want to plan out the shape of the hairs you're painting so that you know where to leave some negative space to let the skin and blushing show through. For a more natural look you don't want the color and thickness of the hairs to be too uniform throughout the brow. Otherwise they have more of a "plucked" look.

One other thing is that I find the pink of her lips a little overwhelming - the lips themselves are nicely painted, but I think the color extends a little bit too far around the lips, and the whole lower part of the face is pink. I see that you have some nice blues around the eyes and I'd recommend putting some blue near the lips as well to balance it out.

 

You're welcome! I hope you're able to get the sparkly highlighting to work!
And thank you! Fantasy faceups are a lot of fun, you should definitely try some one day. They can also be more forgiving than more realistic faceups since, you know, fantasy. You can do whatever you want. And, yes, glitter! Pearl powder has a tendency to go everywhere, but it's so pretty lol