Full/Closed .:In Tentationem:. - Face-Ups, Scarification, Airbrush and more [EU based]

Hello!
I'm Ara and here I want to offer you my services!
I'm living in Germany and have offered face-ups since 2008.

I aim for a detailed, semi-realistic style.
I paint fine lashes and detailed eyebrows, with lots of blushing to enhance the structure of your doll's face. If requested I paint on skin texture as well.
Please don't commission me if you want something different.
Next to natural face-ups I am open for pretty much anything detailed, even things like clown make-up, full robot look, horror or whatever.
Just ask!

Due to customs I am sadly EU ONLY.
However, if the customer is willing to cover the shipping costs and possible customs fee, I can work with someone from outside the EU as well

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I am currently CLOSED!
I have a couple bigger projects lined up, and also injured my hand. So no commissions for the foreseeable future :')

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INSTAGRAM FOR REGULAR WIP UPDATES

PORTFOLIO TUMBLR WITH WIPs AND MORE PICTURES

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About images:
I am sorry in case any images are shown as unavailable.
Please check out my Tumblr for all images.


Things I do:
- face-ups (any size)
- scars and wounds
- blushings (pastels and airbrushed)
- simple moddings (opening already open eyes a little further, sanding shorter noses or chins etc.)

I also paint other dolls too (Blythe, Pullip), if you are interested in a commission of that kind feel free to message me too.

Thing's I won't do:
- additive moddings
- remove seamlines
- opening sleeping eyes
- complicated and/or big tattoos
- blushing heads to match a body and vice versa
- glue in lashes
- working on already existing blushings/face-ups
- blush joints

But...:
Depending on the commission, I might be willing to do some of these things. Like sanding away a seam on a horn before I airbrush it, or some very simple additive moddings.
I only do those though when they are part of a larger commission and not too difficult.

My tools:
- MSC matt
- MSC gloss/semi-gloss
- Games Workshop Munitorum Varnish
- Vallejo Airbrush Premium Matt/Semi-Gloss Varnish
- Liquitex Flow Aid
- Acrylic paint (different companies, always water based)
- Schmincke pastels
- Hobby Line gloss
- Ponal wood-glue
- Tamiya Paint Thinner (for the airbrush)
For cleaning I use magic erasers, a soft toothbrush, 100% Isopropanyl and Mr. Thinner.



- Basic Face-Ups, any size: 120€
- with skin texture: 150€
Difficult and/or time-consuming extra wishes will cost more, like freckles, beards, scars, very dark skin tones.

- Removing a complete face-up: 20€
- Removing face-up residues: 10€

Things I decide on a case by case base are:
- Elaborate faces (pierrots, robots, gore etc.)
- Natural body blushings (hands/feet, full body etc.)
- Fantasy part blushings (airbrushed hooves, horns etc.)
- Tattoos
- Scars
- Simple Moddings (sanding nose shorter etc.)

Note: I might not paint really dark skin tones, because I cannot guarantee the same quality or because I am unable to fulfill your wish. There also might be sculpts I decline to paint because I know already they are too difficult for me, please respect that. I am usually very flexible, and always curious to try new things, but I want to make sure I deliver the best possible result for you.

Just send me a message and we talk about your wishes!



1) In case you are interested, and I have a slot open or you just want to ask for the future, please send me a message.
Subject: Commission for [your nickname]
Things you should mention in your first message:
- Name of the sculpt; kind of doll/parts and skin tone
- Do you already own the doll or do you want to ask for a future commission?
- Basic explanation of what you want

We then discuss your plans and how much it would cost.
2) Once we have discussed everything, I will send you a form which you need to completely fill out. This form ensures that all needed information for your commission is organized at one point, easy to access and reference for me while working.

Afterwards you get my address and payment information.

3) Once I received the payment and commission, I will inform you and start working on your piece. Depending on the commission I will send you WIP pictures, to keep you updated and ask for your opinion. Please make sure to properly check these images, and immediately mention anything you don't like or might have misunderstood!

As soon as I am fully done with a commission there will be another final photo set.

4) I pack up your commission and you pay me the return shipping fee, afterwards I send the commission back to you.

I will post the photos on my social media channels, and if possible tag you as well (unless you don't want this).

As soon as you have received back the commission, please let me know if everything is alright



- No recasts!
I absolutely do not paint any recasts. This is also true for bootleg/factory Blythe and Pullips.
Please respect that!
- I will not copy someone else's style or elaborate concepts
I am of course not talking about standard stuff like "natural face-ups", but I will neither copy especially elaborate concepts nor the specific style of another artist. Please only commission me, if you truly enjoy my work and style.

References are of course still okay!
- Everything here is hand-made!
Blushing and eyebrows are not always 100% the same on both sides, and sometimes a tiny speck of dust can be sealed in as well. However, I am very picky when it comes to the quality of my work and I always try my very best to deliver a great product.

- Payment upfront, customer covers shipping costs and other possible fees
Payment is due before the commission has been sent to me.
For very big projects we can discuss layaway. The commission will only be sent back once I received the full payment.

Return shipping fee is due once I am ready to ship your package.
Payment is done via Paypal.

- Please be honest about the state of your doll/parts
In case a head still has face-up residues, is heavily scratched or parts are still dirty, please let me know beforehand and pay for it to be cleaned or restored.

I only work on absolutely clean, undamaged parts to ensure the best possible quality.

- Changing your mind or requesting changes is only partly possible, if at all
Please be absolutely sure, what you'd like me to do. As soon as I have started working on your commission there are certain things I cannot change without completely starting anew. Depending on how far I have come already, you might have to pay an additional fee or even the full price again.

In case I made an obvious mistake (you told me blue, I painted red), I of course fix this free of charge!

We heavily discuss your commission before I start working on it, and I will also send pictures while working to ensure you understood you correctly and we are on the same page.
- Damaged/lost commissions are not my fault
I pack things up very carefully, and I always request your address again before shipping off your commissions. In case the post still loses the package or damages its content, and it was not due my own fault (for example due to lack of proper packaging/wrongly written down address), I cannot be held reliable for it.

- I have the right to photograph my work, as well as post these photos online or use them for my portfolio
The customer is not allowed to repost these pictures themselves.
This is especially true for WIP pictures, since those are only supposed to be seen by the customer and show an unfinished product.

In case you want to share my pictures, or use them for sales posts, please ask me beforehand.

I put in a lot of care into taking pictures that show the work as close as possible to how it looks like in real. However, different screens and settings of course can change how things are perceived.
There are also certain effects, like metallic paints, that can simply not be properly caught on camera.

- Modifications made to my work need to be mentioned
Your doll is your doll, and you can do with it whatever you want.
However, please be so fair to mention towards others if you have modified my work. For example, simply say the original was painted by me but you over-painted the eyebrows and added the freckles.


See comment at the top!

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Examples for things I've already done, I try to give a wide view on my work.

Post Order: Random Face-Ups -> Scars -> Airbrushed Parts -> Polished Pictures -> Apoxy Mod -> Cleaning Example -> Beard Example
From then on all posts include one or two bigger projects.
Updates are always in the latest post!

Random Face-Ups (changes regulary, from old to new):





















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Scarring, non-permanent and permanent and stitches done with real thread:
Examples for scars:



















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I own an airbrush too, here are a some of the parts I've airbrushed (changes regulary, from old to new)























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I LOVE to take finished pictures of your doll, so if you include eyes/wig (or tell me what the doll will most likely get), I will do my best to show your doll all finished to give you a better feeling for my work.
Here are a few examples how these photos would look like:






















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Complete modding of an old Delf Shine head.
Sanding of the lower lip, nose, chin, cheeks and modding his eyes smaller with apoxie. Afterwards he got painted.

Before:


Finished moddings:


The face-up:






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Restauration of a Volks SD Link:

Before:








After:


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Here's an example of a full-beard, done on a light brown Iplehouse EID Tedros:





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Complete DC Ada.
Mouth moddings on the horns were made by ChocolateDecadence, rest is everything by me.















Small package for a Limwha Mono.
Wiped old face-up, modded eyes open for a more female and younger shape, painted new face-up. Desired look was a heavy pin-up make-up in red/black.









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Last commission in 2013.
Nabarro Cyril, owned by PacificBlue.
Got told to do what I want with him (just no scars) and that he should look different compared to the usual Cyril look, so I went for dark sophisticated lord with beard BD







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Robot-Clown for Peggy Naoyuki.
Butchered robot boy, old and worn out.
He works in Peggy's Circus where he's usually the one who has to do the tasks the others don't want to do.
He also sells balloons and other things to the children, but they are scared of him.
His biggest wish though is to make them happy and laugh, just like the Clowns, so he decides to paint himself up to look more like them.
Since he's still a "child" his make-up attempts are still pretty sloppy

This head started out as a Fairyland MNF sleeping Luka, who's eyemod I failed to do properly after I slipped with the scalpel.
Finished the mod of his proper eye, added a plate to cover the old one, added more details and airbrushed him in several layers.
Afterwards painted on his clown make-up.
Here are links to the WIP photos I took:
http://i.imgur.com/ZXawUyL.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ggVm9lT.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ByM2GV7.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/7pCKGXZ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/hYMCdhF.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/zadxGVE.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/yE8NiZY.jpg










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Iplehouse light brown Tedros, face-up and scars.
The character of the doll is a young, but serious man who has endured a lot of bad things in his youth.
I was asked to make him look stern but at the same time not too old.
His beard is supposed to look like he's very regulary shaving it off, not too long and full and more like a three-five day one that was neatly trimmed, so I kept the single hairs small and left more space between them.











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Loongsoul Farkas, for Berlinhedgies.
Complete package with face-up, airbrushed parts, scars and body blushing.



















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Luts centaur body for Roterwolkenvogel.
Was asked to give him an Appaloosa-like blushing minus the lines on the hooves.









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The dear Raouken gave this head to me a while ago and he’s truly a gem.
It’s a Dive Seimei and he’s back from the days when artist dolls were far from the polished look we are used to nowadays, so he has a lot of little casting faults like bubbles, black specks, holes and a rough inside.
I first gave him a good scrub and cleaned him completely, afterwards I airbrushed the areas with the most specks to get a cleaner surface.
I didn’t fill up the holes (since Raouken likes him the way he is and it kinda adds to the old-school charme), but I managed to cover up a lot of them with the eyebrows and lashes.
Colors requested were brown and gray and a X scar across his face.









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Obitsu head I rescued from Mandarake.
The former owner had tried to open the eyes without luck.
I opened them up myself and modded the philtrum to curve in more and made her lips smile, afterwards she got a face-up.













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Ringdoll Shelly for Shchel.
Modded eyes and nose, face-up and bodyblushing according to the included reference, airbrushed tail with gold/bronze.
Head comparison to a 1€, to see the size.













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Face-Up (and fixing already modded eyes) for Zerocchi's Michi.
Michi - Souldoll Paris, heavily modded







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Face-Up for a Volks Ian.
Special girl, unfortunately the sculpted eyebrows and eyeliner made things a bit difficult.
Doll owned by Roterwolkenvogel and Khell
Picture of the head blank.







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Big, big commission.
Spiritdoll Cedar in custom gray skin named "Psi", who got the full package: sanded the existing apoxy moddings (not made by me), airbrushed them to match, blushed the parts, added scars, painted the face-up AND added something special.

More WIP pictures here and here, incl. gifs!






















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A part of Soom Eliv/Iv parts that got to me all stained and with paint residues.
Airbrushed them to have a pearl base with pearl blue shadows, fading into transparent tips.
For more airbrushed parts have a look at my Tumblr too









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A pretty unusual face-up for a Granado Hansel.
Blushing made with airbrush, textured "shaved" part, big burn scar.
White on white concept, with light gray shadows.

WIPs and more explanation here on my Portfolio Tumblr











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Doll-Zone Shoyo (limited ver.) for Feralia.
Eyes and corners of her mouth were closed via epoxy, chin and nose sanded shorter.
Afterwards mods were airbrushed to match the rest of her face and a face-up added.

More pictures here in my Portfolio Tumblr







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Volks Emma for Khell, something a bit different than usual









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LUTS Jamong centaur body, airbrushed for Roterwolkenvogel















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Soom Dorothy helmet for Roterwolkenvogel







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Iplehouse Bane, peach skin, loosely based on Luke Evans in Dracula Untold.
Owned by PacificBlue.

Face-up with beard, torso body blush and scars.




















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Les Enfants Terribles Dons, for ChocolateDecadence (who also sculpted them)
One NS guy with a natural face-up, and a second in tan with a beard and scars.







Two finished photos can be found here and here.​

A nasty scar for Nidi's Lima.

New watermark too, wanted something more sleek and with an up to date URL of my portfolio Tumblr.







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Iplehouse Isar pauldron, Soom Ior horns and Withdoll Dark Elf Angela armor&mask for Roterwolkenvogel.
The horns are dark to light brown with golden lines, that are supposed to look like they were painted on. Forgot to post those, hence the old watermark
The pauldron is a copper and gold mix with white highlights.
The armor&mask are rubbed of gold on black base, to show a battered armor that lost all its prettiness only to reveal darkness underneath.

There's a hammer that belongs to the set too, can be seen on a picture taken by Roterwolkenvogel herself here.









And the Withdoll armor&mask:














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A Dollzone pumpkin lamp and mask for Zirkusdolls














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Two face-ups for @HorrorVacui, on a DZ Chen and a Dollshe Aramis.
Both have a similar concept, with the Aramis looking a little more malnourished and pale.















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A pair of horns for jana_bananah (Instagram).
Horns are Soom Migma and Silky, made of black translucent resin.
The base is a flat black, tips are glossy transparent with purple areas here and there and purple iridiscent paint sprayed all over.



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Two new airbrush commissions!

One Luts Bory scythe blade for Roterwolkenvogel.
Vallejo Chrome, metallic black and black for the base; metallic red and lots of painted scratches for the details.
Everything was sealed with MSC gloss, sadly the effect and reflective surface isn't really visible on photos.











A pair of Dollzone Ivy wings for my giveaway winner asilehbackwards on Instagram.
She wished for a bright green to warm gray gradient and a soft golden shimmer on top.









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Resinsoul Sui parts for @Roterwolkenvogel.
Transparent red resin with red, yellow and iridiscent gold on top.
Hands are dark red/red gradient with iridiscent gold on the tips







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Doll Chateau William for Roterwolkenvogel!
She gave me total freedom on him and I whipped something up inspired by the creation myth of her story's world and 2001 - A Space Odyssee.

Explanation and WIP shots here on my Tumblr.














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Leekeworld Goral horns with rust brown to dark steel gradiant





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A Doll-Zone Renata, made in collaboration together with @ChocoDecadence.
She sculpted the headback, I did everything else.

Her gallery thread can be found here.























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5th Motif Venitu for @PacificBlue
Ear mod made by bans_boutique on Instagram.

WIP before gloss (shows best how he looks like in real as well):


And the rest:






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Painted a LET Ryan head for @ChocoDecadence (who by the way still has a couple of those guys for sale), he's supposed to look like Trevor from GTA V.







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Modded Bluefairy Kyle for @Aurelius.
Opened up one eye, modified the inside to hold an s-hook, sculpted the scar and painted the head afterwards. Already painted this character in 2013 on an SC-Doll Kaka head, for the curious this is the old version









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Roterwolkenvogel for...@Roterwolkenvogel!
Bird wanted a Mini-Me made out of her Seedarts Peabody, so I sat down and got to work.







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Commission for @AyuAna, of her LLT Ludwig.

Tried something new with him, he got a layer of semi-gloss MSC at the end for a more realistic skin shine. Very happy with how he turned out















Extras:





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Commission for @Shchel, her DZ Mo Raphael







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Commission done for @Nats of her Easternlight Studio Eclipse head
Drilled holes in the ears, scar, beard and full face-up with painted on cracks on the forehead/around the ears.











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DZ Lulu for @ChocoDecadence






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Two new finished commissions for @Darkling
LLT Ahaz and Iplehouse Noel:











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Raccoon Doll Henry for @Khell.
He got his eyes modded smaller and a face-up based on the actor Zack Ward. Very pale ginger aesthetic, on a tiny tiny head





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Miracledoll Jing for @AyuAna
They asked for a forest demon, with moss growing on his forehead and hands.















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Dollshe IM Hound in pale tan, was my own doll but sold it now to a new owner who asked for a face-up with him.
His face is yellow, which I hid with the face-up.





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One of my own heads, a Granado Enoch in bronze







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Due to Covid-19 am currently closed, but I am still doing some private projects on the side like those two customized Furbies:
IN TENTATIONEM

Please check out my Instagram for more recent updates

 

I spent the last months painting heads for Granado! Here is a photo of each of them, check out my Instagram for more
The heads are Barry (2x), Noah (2x), Cain (2x), Shadow and Ninth. Except for the drag inspired face-up, which was a request from Crocus, all of them are artist choice by me.
They are now on their way back to Granado.















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Volks DWC 01 head, own collection







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Two recent commissions.
Dollshe Adonis, with elf ear mod, and Granado Dark Lord Enoch.
First time sculpting elf ears for me

















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Something from my own collection, Granado Evol Andrew
Compared to his old Andrew head on the left:











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Something else from my own collection, my three Iplehouse Lawrences.
Two FID, and one EID

All three together:



My EID:







And the two FIDs:













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I am opening slots for scar and airbrush commissions!
Please check out this post for more information: Login • Instagram
Feel free to write me here or [email protected]

I do NOT offer face-up/head work at this point in time!​

 

Iplehouse FID Tedros from my collection.
He's the Gentle version, with slightly modded eyes, to achieve an in between look between this version and the regular OE version





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Two more from my collection, and more of the chess pieces.
My Granado Enoch, and my Iplehouse Rebecca.















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Soom Beryl, also from my collection, and another of the chess pieces.
She had my oldest surviving face-up in the household, from 2012, so I guess it really was time for something fresh!









Close-up of her skin texture and gold shimmer



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Last own head, before I have to focus on commissions again. My Granado Uranus







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Dollshe Saint SA and OE faceplates.
I already did this concept once years ago on a SA faceplate, and the new owner of said faceplate now asked me to do a fresh attempt (with a matching OE this time).

The OE was pretty yellowed, so he got airbrushed to match. Sadly the surface is pretty grainy because of that, but oh well.





















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Next project for PacificBlue, Fairyland Rick wings with a red galaxy theme. Outside has red interference paint for a shimmer effect on the glossy black base















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Crab people, crab people!
Commission for a Soom Bix arm, on a Ringdoll body.





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DZ Anubis full body commission. Added claws to the feet to match the hands, dyed him half black, and then airbrushed him all over as well













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Another full body commission.
Dream Valley Sylves, fully dyed/airbrushed and then painted. This took foreveeeer!



















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