Aesthetics Journey into Faceups - now continuing!

Hello! Thought I would make a project journal to showcase my first faceup for my first BJD...

She's a Doll Leaves Hilo in NS, and this is her blank egg head from when she arrived.


From here, I wasn't really sure what I was going for... I have a little bit of experience with vinyl doll customization, but resin is definitely different -- and the 1/4 size was a bigger canvas than the Barbies I was used to.

I decided to just do some really basic shading to start off with.

Nothing super fancy. I'm using some mega budget chalk pastels and some dollar tree makeup brushes at this point, along with MSC.

From here, I went ahead and deepened the shading and started to mark out some features.


It was at this point (the eyebrows) I realized I sort of needed a real plan.....

With some consultation from my girlfriend, my plan for her was born! I decided on a more mature look to her face, and wanted to lean into my own art style and create a more graphic look while retaining the classic BJD delicacy.

Which leaves me to where I am as of right now...

I finally bit the bullet and bought some nice Tamiya brushes for detail. The eyeliner is just sort of marked out as of now in pencil; I plan to go over it in a really opaque acrylic. Lucky for me, I'm never in short supply of acrylic paints because my gf is a model kit builder and painter..

Just went and did another coat of MSC, and I'm waiting for her to dry before tackling another layer. The main thing I've learned from going through tutorials and watching videos is to go slow... so I am trying my very best!

Will update when I get further along... if you read this, thanks for reading!

 

Well... I got a little too ambitious and had to wipe everything... Laughing so I don't cry of frustration!!!


I could have lived with the uneven wings, but I had to go and try and add red acrylic because my red pastel wasn't pigmented enough... FOOLISH!!! Ended up being so patchy with trying to clean up my mistakes, I figured I'd just wipe her and take this lesson so I can redo her a bit more clean. And maybe invest in some panpastels.... And not junky offbrand pastels, lol.

 

@Seafoam Shade Ahh, thank you for that tip! I ordered them in both pastels and vibrants with a white too.. so I'm definitely going to be testing out some stuff before I go ham hahaha. And TYSM! Luckily I live in California so the humidity is usually really good.

@lachryphage Yes, definitely!! Thank you so much. I just want my new supplies to get here so I can practice more, LOL!

 

@- Tika - Thank you so much!! I really appreciate that aha.

 

With that in mind.... I do actually have some progress photos!! After my supplies being stuck in FedEx hell for an age, and then the weather being weirdly misty.... I finally got some time to work on my girl.




I'm going with a slow and easy approach here.. but I'm really loving these PanPastels so far! Already plotting the next colors I'll get.

I need to spray her tomorrow, and then my next steps will be:
- WATERCOLORS: darkening and defining eyebrows, eyeliner, lashes, lip lines... aaaaand the inside of mouth/teeth

After that, I'll see how she looks but will likely do some additional blushing in specific areas and/or darkening eyeliner once more with diluted acrylics.

And then doing the gloss and falsies haha.

 

Some more progress! Just want to try and get some highlight -- I got some shimmery pigment I'm really excited to try it out, but still figuring out how I'm going to fix it, haha. I'm thinking of maybe doing some sponge-on of the glossy variety? Or perhaps the shimmer will show through my MSC matte....

 

AAAAND She is finally done!!


It really amazed me how much just adding gloss did to bring her alive.. ahhh!!
Now I'm on to the next phase of my projects.. custom eyes and a wig. And then who knows, maybe I'll start to get her some clothes lmao.

 

@moonlightnocturne Thank you so much, I really appreciate that! Can't wait to start working on some more ^o^

 

@koi_brianne Ahhhh, thank you so much! Honestly though I was so surprised at what just the gloss did -- really made me feel like I accomplished something, LOL!

 

Soo I decided I am going to continue this thread with just more faceups as I work on them! I've been having a lot of fun trying things and just trying to refine my techniques, haha.

I had actually done another faceup right before the one in the start of this thread.... and then I chipped it really bad, tried to cover it up, and it was a total messup.


I mean like.. I was trying to go for something super dramatic, and in some sense it worked LOL but overall I just hated what it looked like and didn't fit the style I wanted for this girl. . . So I wiped it all back in Feb, and just now have completed her final (for now) form:


She's a Little Rosemii Blossom in NS! I can see with the magic of photography spots that could have been cleaner (behind her ear) but overall I'm very happy with the look of her, and as she's a personal doll I'm not too worried about anything her wig will hide LOL

And I've got some more photos I need to take but will be updating this periodically ^o^

 

OH shoot -- also forgot to ever post the 3rd faceup I did... I never took egg photos of her haha.


She's a MNF Alan in NS -- She's definitely on the amateur side but I felt like I was able to build a character out of her look, so I do plan on keeping this faceup for her!

 

I wanted to share another faceup fail as well...


I had gotten the first layer down and was really liking what I'd been able to do with just colored pencils and pastels.. and then as I was sealing her outside, I dropped her all the way down the back porch stairs T__T a full story........

Luckily, she only sustained damage to her faceup and a minor chip on the inside of her headplate -- I'm so happy they were old wooden stairs and not concrete ones, LOL! She was also completely covered in dirt and grass.

But now I know not to do my sealing ON the stairs... smh.

But luckily I was able to re-do her, and below is the finished product!

 

Ahhh, thank you so much! I'm really glad she wasn't permanently damaged T_T Gave me a heart attack practically lol