Aesthetics First faceup :) (Volks YoSD Bontenmaru)

edit: there are a couple updated pictures a few posts down.

Heya guys. Bontenmaru is my first BJD. I got him secondhand-- the original owner wiped his default faceup, so it gave me an opportunity (responsibility?!) to do one myself. It finally stopped raining for one day so I sat in the garage for about six hours yesterday working on this little guy's face. Slept on it and looked at it again this morning and touched a few things up and added his eyelashes.
No hair in this since his bangs cover his eyebrows:



And here's a before/after of him from when I got him a couple weeks ago vs today:



I wanted it to look somewhat like his default (what with the short, higher-up eyebrows and all that) but with my own art style in it. I've painted statues, but I've never done something quite like this (with pastels and all that) so it was a biiiig learning experience and I had a lot of fun with it. I have some plans to someday dress him like my own Bontenmaru character that I've got, so the little flecks of not-quite-white hairs in his eyebrows will match that too whenever I get around to it. ;o

(Also, times like these I really wish I had a better camera. My phone makes things so grainy it feels like.)​

 

@Geekmama -- Thank you very much!! ;-;

@KiyoshiSenshi Thank you!! I do prefer the look of a more 'natural' fuller lip, though I can also see why others might not as much... I will see if I can find a happy medium with it. Though I will say Bontenmaru does have a pretty big pouty lower lip. x'D That probably emphasizes the shading more. Hm... I did a little bit more poking at his faceup today around his lips and chin. I blended the lips a little bit more. I don't think I want to go any farther than this-- but how is this looking to you?






(...And now I have a feeling like I want to blush his hands. But I play with his hands and hold them so much that the blushing would probably just get ruined pretty quickly. xD Oh well.)