Looking for opinions about my first face-up

For a first faceup its not bad at all. I think one of the things that might help is changing up the colors just a little bit so it doesn't look so monotone. Mixing a few various browns in for the eyebrows should help, it provides a bit of depth and variation so the eye doesn't see it as one object. As for the eyeshadow, I think watching a makeup tutorial might help, again it appears to be very 'one note', with one color smeared across the eyelid a little unevenly. While the black lines are an artistic choice, I think with the dark eyeshadow it almost amplifies the uneven distribution, if that makes sense? I really like the cheek blushing, it looks natural and smooth, I think something like that on the eyelids (different color but same subtle application) might fix the visual issues with the eyelids.

Overall, it is a great first attempt! The eyebrow shapes are similar, although I think the right one (as you look at it) might be a little higher. The lashes are also rather symmetrical, especially for a first face up. There are a lot of positives as well as improvements that can be made. I do like the lips, they look great for a first attempt! I don't want you to feel as if I am tearing it apart, you just asked for opinions and I am coming from a place of improvement and not of negativity.

As for pencils, I think I've read that people seem to continuously sharpen them to a point when doing a face-up in order to get really fine lines, although you may have an easier time with paint if that is a more familiar medium.

 

Not bad for a first attempt! I've also had some troubles previously using a pencil for eyebrows/eyelashes, and have found it easier to use paints. My personal choice is gouache watercolors, but acrylics would probably work as well. My best advice for getting nice thin and whispy lines that are good for hair is to use a super fine brush (nail art brushes work really well for minifee and MSD size heads) and to dilute the paint using a few drops of some flow aid (I use Liquidtex).

The pink on the waterline and the lips look really nice for a first attempt, and I like the blushing on the cheeks too. Practice does make perfect, and I think you're off to a good start.

 

I'd echo a lot of what @errinreynolds stated, but I do agree there are a lot of positive successes for a first try! I think when starting out with face-ups, it's important to experiment and try different techniques to find what works best for you.

When I first started face-ups, I was more comfortable with dry media so I used pencils as well, but I could never get those fine wispy lines, or fine details with a pencil. There are some artists who can, but I am not one of them... so I switched over to paint (which I didn't use a lot at the time) and started practicing brush work, etc. My quick tips are to... invest in good materials. High quality script brushes are a MUST.

Practice diluting paint. Too viscous and you're still going to get fat blobby lines. Too thin and it can run and look faded. On your practice head just practice painting lines over and over again to see what types of effects you get. I also started doing a technique where I would paint lines, and then use a piece of magic eraser and gently scrub towards the ends to create a nice wispy fade. This was especially helpful when doing eyebrow hairs.

Lastly, don't seek perfection just progress! Probably within the first year of doing face-ups I got so discouraged because I didn't feel like my work was good enough and just stared at all my mistakes on a faceup rather than enjoy the process. So allow yourself time to learn, and make mistakes. All faceup artists start somewhere! Best of luck to you, and great job

 

Also look at lots of photos of faces. I wanted bushy black eyebrows for one character & the more I looked at photos of the actors I was thinking of the more I realized my imagination was far different from what the actual eyebrows looked like!?!
Most of the coloring on your faceup suggests a ginger or light to medium brown coloring for your doll. If you look at photos you'll find in that case the lashes will be light to medium brown. Black eyelashes will most likely be found only with black hair & eyebrows. Even brown black hair will tend to be dark brown rather than straight black for the eyelashes.
These are just my observations from trying to communicate well with faceup artists as adding color to dolls is beyond my comfort zone. ;}
The blush on the lips & cheeks look great.

 

Flow Aid does work with watercolors! The nice thing is, if you have dried watercolors on a palette, you can use a little flow aid to reactivate them. As for brushes, nail art brushes aren't super expensive either, if you want to just give them a try.