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painting on primed surface; even skincolour?

Apr 3, 2012

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    1. Hi!

      I'm a total noob regarding sculpting BJDs so please forgive my cluelessness ^^"
      I have read through a lot of threads now about materials and techniques and so far I have decided that I want to try and sculpt a BJD with an air drying clay, La Doll / Premier / Premix, whatever is easiest available here in Germany or Europe ^^"

      Ok, there are lots of threads about primers, Mr. Surfacer, Gesso etc., but I couldn't find a satisfying description about painting on a primed surface / doing a face-up on it.

      I only want to make an OOAK doll, I don't want to make molds of the original.
      Most Primers seems to be grey or rather, the are best suited for the task because imperfections show well in grey.
      Question 1: If I use grey primer (I would probably choose Mr. Surfacer, seems easy enough to buy it through Ebay), how can I give the doll an even skin colour? Do I have to paint the complete doll with flesh-coloured acrylics? (I don't have airbrush-equipment and have no intention of buying any at the moment) What's best to seal the acrylic paint afterwards? (body and head, please tell me some brands, would MSC suffice?) Or could I mix flesh coloured acrylics with Gesso, which I've read is also good for smoothing the surface? What are the alternatives?

      Question 2: If I paint the doll's head with an acrylic paint on top of the primer and seal it with MSC, can I give the head a face-up like I would make a face-up on a BJD with pastels and watercolour pencils, will the colours stay? And if I remove the face-up with Mr.Color Thinner, will the flesh-coloured acrylic paint come off, too?

      Question 3: I have also read about Mr. White Surfacer, although members on here aren't convinced of it because little sratches etc. don't show well (but white would make a nicer skin colour than grey, I think :dead). If I would use it, could I paint directly on the primed surface with pastels and watercolour pencils or should I first spray the head with MSC? If I remove the face-up with Mr. Color Thinner, will the Mr. Surfacer come off, too?

      Question 4: Or could I skip the primer and sand the original clay sculpt until it's smooth and then give the head a face-up? But the sculpt would still have to be sealed, right, to make it resistant to water etc.? Is a primer neccessarily needed to seal the surface, could I use something else to seal La Doll Clay? What I hate about MSC on a doll's body is that it discolours easily from the clothes the doll wears...

      Well, lots of text, lots of stupid questions, but I'd be happy if someone could answer them ^^
      Thank you!

      PS: Probably lots of spelling/grammar mistakes, too, I'm sorry ^^"
       
      #1 MuhKuh, Apr 3, 2012
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    2. 1. If you prime the doll (gray or white), you would have to paint it all over. Using a brush, it will be hard to get the acrylic paints on evenly. (I can vouch for this!) The Japanese dollmakers who make OOAKs out of LaDoll, finish with gofun (sort of a primer with ground shells in it) and oil paints. I've tried white gesso, painted with acrylics. The gesso was painted on with a brush and I had to do a lot of sanding to get it smooth. You could probably mix color into the gesso. Or try to find spray gesso.

      2. Yes, you can give the doll a faceup on top of the paint/primer, but even sealed, I think it would be hard to remove the faceup without taking off some of the skin color.

      3. I have no experience with Mr. Surfacer, but you would need MSC or something similar, to give it some tooth so your pastels and pencils will stick. This would be true of any smooth primer.

      4. Since you don't plan to mold and cast your doll, priming is not really necessary (its main purpose is to make the surface ultrasmooth). All you really need is a way to waterproof the LaDoll. I used clear matte Krylon spray varnish on one doll, with good results. It left a nice hard water-repellent surface. With a clear finish like that, you could tint the paperclay itself. LaDoll says you can mix watercolor or dry pigment directly into the clay.

      Hope this helps a bit. Good luck!
       
      #2 Alewife, Apr 4, 2012
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    3. #3 MuhKuh, Apr 4, 2012
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    4. Try the first one. :)
       
      #4 Alewife, Apr 6, 2012
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    5. having messed up a few ooak face ups im my time if you go the painting acrilic root really take your time, try and find the highest pigment paint you can get your hands on and paint in thin layers!
      not sure on the size of your doll but its its small anough you might want to try model acrilc paint, the kind they paint warhammer figures in, it is expensive but it has really high pigment so you use less :)
       
      #5 JetpackJumper, Jul 11, 2012
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