Aesthetics First Faceup w/Airbrush and Eyelash Critique

She's very pretty! I'm not that good with eyelashes myself, they don't look bad. I think the black acrylic is the culprit, maybe cut the brush more and see what results you get. For me, the acrylic always spreads and makes the lashes too bulky but I have yet to buy a tiny brush. I think they fit her overall face-up pretty well though.

 

I think your brushstrokes look great, it's just that there are too many. I think if you had done just the black it might look better, in my opinion, and might help with the "chunky"-ness if I'm understanding you correctly. Then maybe add some brown pastel to the bottom lash area to give it that brown look without adding more lashes. I hope that makes sense, your face up is still very lovely nevertheless, you did a wonderful job!

 

I really like the style of this face-up! I think the black on the ears is really interesting...were you wanting to be a smooth gradation, or more like it was "dipped"?

As for your question about the eyelashes, they might have meant using the lighter color (brown) to draw your guidelines then coloring over that with black (building up the color gradually). As you mentioned they seem a little thick for bottom lashes. It's also hard to tell from the photos, but you might consider leaving a blank "waterline" area between the eye opening and the lashes to give the illusion of realism (but that's an aesthetic choice I suppose).

 

*grin* that sounds like a great idea, as long as you stop at one glass Otherwise your doll might end up with a tattoo on her face and you won't remember where it came from. I know what you mean about your hands shaking and feeling frantic. When I start art projects, I always get that feeling too of wanting to be done and I tend to rush and then overdo it, so I'm not a very good model of what to do. :P

 

if i might ^^ first of all i love your style here the way you have the eyelashes sort of clumped into groups is really intriguing and different from most face ups i have seen. also the bit of black in the corners of her mouth as just so so cute ^^ and i adore the eyebrows and how you made the entire eyebrow seem to have individual lines for each hair by only using a few well placed strokes to imply the rest of the lines. it gives them a far softer look and using implication instead of drawing every line also works well for the size of a BJD as this the looks that would come across naturally.
the one thing i have noticed after reading through this post is that you've been talking a lot about feeling like you may have gone overboard in some areas. this is an issue i often have myself most often when i am being impationt and going to fast. i often combat this issue by getting the basics of what i want done on a project and then taking a break for a while then comming back after working on something else. this proces puts the project into perspective and can sort of allow me to see it through new eyes as it were.s
Again I adore the style you are creating and would love to see more of your work in the future ^^

 

Something I really like doing is going in with white in the end to break up the lines and make the eyelashes look more sparse. Do you use flowaid? That also helps a LOT in getting thinner strokes.

 

She's looking great! I especially like the blushing and eyeshadow you did on her. And I completely agree, acrylic is a pain in the butt...

For the eyelashes I think going in different directions helps a lot! (make sure the eyelashes aren't exactly parallel to each other) It helps break up repetition and "clumping" As for your strokes I agree with @Pannytheangel, using flow-aid can be a miracle worker. Just a drop or two in a pea sized amount of paint can change the entire consistency. What I like to do is dip my brush in the paint and then do a few strokes on a piece of scrap paper first to get rid of the extra paint and that helps me get those really thin tapered lines. Dip and repeat! And you probably know this already but a lot of those fine lines is just control and experience, practice that kind of flicking motion with your wrist, it gives you a much more consistent line and I'm a firm believer of confidence transferring into your brushstrokes. Good luck!

 

I'm always impressed when someone uses an airbrush for face-ups- I am envious. I can see, as mentioned before me, about leaving the bottom waterline open to create separation. Your eyebrows are just brilliant!! Also, sometimes when I have to do really fine work, I use one of those gel mouse pads to rest my wrist and stabilize it. Otherwise I start doing stupid things like make lines where they don't belong...