Faceups Paints for Face-ups

Working on a resin doll will be just a little different than the vinyl dolls. IMO, the resin takes the paint a little bit easier.

You can buy Mr Super Clear through a shopping service or through places such as Hobby Link Japan. (Other members might be able to recommend additional sources)

My process for doing a faceup is to first clean the head with detergent or Bon Ami. I let the head airdry and then coat it with Mr Super Clear...maybe a couple light coats. This helps in the next step...

Using a brown Prismacolor pencil and a white eraser I lightly sketch in the eyebrows...sketching and erasing until I have them even and the shape I want. The coating of Mr Super Clear helps make this possible. When using the white eraser I tap it on the pencil lines repeatedly rather than rubbing. I also use a soft brush to clear away an dust so as to avoid getting excessive oils from my hands on the primed resin. Once I hae the eyebrows the way I want them I tap the eraser on them until they are very faint. Then, using a tiny brush and acryclic paint thinned with acrylic retarder, I careful stroke on the eyebrows.

Obviously this technique works for feathery eyebrows but there are other styles and techniques!

I use the same tiny brush, cleaning it often, to paint the lower lashes.
I use a tiny filbert brush to paint in the rims of the eyes and the tear duct.

Here's an example. This is how Cordelia looked once I applied all the paint but before I started blushing...



After I have the paint on as I like it I give the head at least two good coats of Mr Super Clear, making sure I spray at different angles for the most coverage.

For blushing I use artists soft pastels. Specifcally Schminke because that's what I already have but probably any soft pastel will work. I take the color I want and rub it on a piece of fine sandpaper to make a dust. Using a soft brush I tap it into the dust and then blot it on a piece of toweling so the color is not so intense. I do the major blushing first, sort of blocking in areas along the hairline and cheeks, before moving to a smaller brush and starting in around the eyes. Sometimes for the larger areas I will use a cosmetics sponge but I seem to have the best luck with a brush. Keep in mind that it will appear that the pastel is hardly covering and that there is a lot of excess. That's fine! Gently blow away the excess (don't rub!) and reapply until you get the depth of color you want.

Props to Anika who helped immensely me through my learning-to-blush phase!

The best thing about this is if you don't like how the blushing is moving along you can simply wash the face very gently and start over without ruining the eyebrows and lashes!

Once I have the blushing to my liking I apply several light coats of MSC, again trying to spray from various angles.

At this point you can add gloss to the lips and eyes if you wish. I use some stuff called Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze but there are a lot of products that will give the same effect.

I've been using Aleene's Tacky Glue (a white glue) for eyelashes. Eyelashes need a lot of patience to apply and it helps to have tweezers and a few toothpicks at hand to help position them.

Here is Cordelia after blushing and having eyelashes applied...

Everyone has different techniques so if you are struggling with one way of accomplishing something there very well could be another way to do it! Hopefully this board will be full of tips before long.

 

The only thing I've been able to find thus far is "medium- gel or matt variety. I have a gel retarder, but I've never found anything close to what you're mentioning. The people in the art shop eventually suggested "medium" once I'd kicked up a fuss, but I'm not entirely sure if it's the same thing. It looks to be, but maybe you're the person to ask, rather than the "experts" in my local art shop...

 

Don't worry Lyn, that will work just fine! ^^ As mentioned, retarder is just to prevent the paint from drying as fast as it normally would and to make it easier to get smooth, fluid lines as you paint. Adding water will do the same thing with arcylic paints, but the problem with doing that is that is will also alter the hue and intensity of the color. Thinning with water will also make the paint less opaque as well, meaning you may have to apply the paint several times to get it as dark as you want it. Retarded doesn't do that. Though I didn't realize it would make it bead up on resin, but then again, I've never tried paitning on that sort of surface as of yet. (Not for long though!) >D

(Thank you, printmaking class!) XDD

 

I was hoping it was - the name changes can get confusing over here! Since most of the products are either called something else over here or aren't available at all, it's really annoying. Btw - PM me and tell me about Shikai!

 

I did some searching and came upon this place which seems to have a good range of product...

http://www.artsupplies.co.uk/

Search for "Liquitex Flow-Aid Flow Enhacer" (misspelling intentional)

"Liquitex Fluid Matte Medium" will work in a pinch as well.

Or go Online Store> Paints, Mediums, Accessories> Mediums and Accessories (Acrylic)
(This brings up the Winsor & Newton Galeria range of supplies. W&N is a UK-based company and it might be easier to find than Liquitex or Golden. It is also a good artist-quality product!)

The key word is 'fluid'. The gel mediums extend but do not thin the color. They are intended for effects where you want the paint extended but to still hold peaks (like meringue on a pie).

I probably should mention...so it doesn't appear so much like I'm just winging all these suggestions...I've worked in an art supply shop for going on five years now (as well as being something of an artist myself). ops: These are the kinds of questions I get all day so I'm happy to be able to share my experience here as well!



For anyone who is having a hard time finding the paints and mediums they need locally, here are a few good online sources...

Ye Olde Dick Blick...hard to beat these prices.
http://www.dickblick.com/

Cheap Joe's - I don't know much about this place, honestly. Apparently, cheap.
http://www.cheapjoes.com/

Dan Smith - Pricier but extremely reputable.
http://danielsmith.com/

BAF - If all else fails call my place. We are just a local shop, no official mail order, but we ship stuff out on occassion. Prices usually about 20% less than suggested retail. Ask for Sandi, Mike, or Adam. We also have those Princeton 3050 brushes I mentioned above.

Claire> Prismacolor pencils are wax-based. Have you ever burnished a dark color and then noticed that it appears to lighten after a few days/weeks? That's called 'wax bloom' and it's caused by the wax binder rising to the surface of the burnished area. Turps, Bestine, and mineral spirits break up the wax binder in a similar fashion as with oil-based pencils.

Faber-Castell and Lyra Polychromos pencils are oil-based. I'm not sure about Derwent (W&N) pencils...I think they are oil-based.

Options would include any of the watercolor pencils by Prismacolor, Faber-Castell, Lyra, or Derwent (to name some common brands). In fact, this might be even better...I just don't have any! ^-^; The binder in the watercolor pencils is, as far as I know, simply gum arabic. Pastel pencils would work as well but they are softer and thus more difficult to get and keep a nice point. They'd also smudge easier.

In my technique the role of the colored pencil is just to give me some faint guidelines over which to paint. The pencil lines aren't visible on the finished faceup. Some people have had good luck using colored pencils for a lot of their faceups though! In fact, when I received my Petite AI Gabriel her eyebrows and lashes were done with colored pencil.

I hope this helps clarify things!

 

Is anyone using Golden Fluid Matte Acrylics? Golden varnishes?

The regular varnish says to thin with turpentine or mineral spirits.

I also bought their varnish that is water based and can be removed with ammonia.

I'd never use turp on a doll - vinyl or resin. would mineral spirits hurt resin or vinyl?

My painting background is oils and watercolor (Chinese paint chips, ink sticks) so using acrylic is new to me and painting on resin and vinyl is also new. (but a lot easier than transparant rice paper!)

 

I haven't tried the Golden Matte Acrylics but overall Golden is an excellent line of paint so I'm sure they're great. ^^

I'd avoid any varnish that says thin with any sort of solvent. I have the Golden varnish that thins with water and use that on the rare occassion that I paint a 1/6 head. Otherwise, I just depend on the Mr Super Clear to seal everything and then add a gloss coat to appropriate areas afterwards.

 

Brushes--I went to a local Dick Blick storefront & they had no tiny brushes.

But the A.C. Moore, a northeastern Craft (not art) store, had quite a selection, and the brand I found first was on 50% discount.

While these are probably not the highest quality brushes in the universe, I expect I'll do something stupid to ruin them well before they'll wear out.

Ann in CT

 

I've decided to try to give Kai a faceup... I don't know how it'll work, but at least I can take it off if I hate it! ^^;. From reading the tutorial I gather that you're supposed to do the faceup in acrylic paint. Do you have to get the really expensive kind that's supposed to be for professional art, or can you use normal craft acrylic paint? Thanks. ^___^

 

Get Liquitex brand!
I unknowingly used a cheap brand of acrylics on a 1/6 dollfie and it almost permanently stained the face when I tried to take the paint off, whereas the Liquitex came right off with no residue.

Liquitex is professional grade, but it's not overly expensive. 2oz bottles range from around $2 up to $10 (for expensive pigments like Cadmium red)

 

Is Tamiya a good acrylic paint? I hope so, because that's what I bought >>

 

I like it for my horses. It dries nicely... and I think it's better than Testors Aryl paint.

I've heard a lot more praise for Golden Acrylics, though.

 

I just got a bunch of free liquitex paint samples because the art store where my friend worked when out of business. I have like 5 of them and the tubes are about as big as my thumb. There is the "Matt" paint and the basic paint. Which is better? Oh and if anybody wants one of the samplers - they come with 3 tubes in Red, Yellow, and Blue. Pay for S&H and I'll send them out. I have 3 I can mail off right now (2 regular and 1 Matt), I may have more hidden somewhere. I also picked up a bunch of plain white shirts, frames, brushes, pencil sets... I was giddy with freebies.

If you don't have pastels, do Prismacolor colored Pencils work well? I'm planning on going to a Michael's or JoAnns next week for more supplies.

2 cents worth... I don't think the type of brush matters so much if you have really good control. You know those horrible brushes that come with Crayola water colors? I used one of those for everything on a thumbsized porcelain doll that I painted and got teensy lines for the lips and vines. Ignore the eyebrows... I was only allowed one hour in which to paint... I saw I guy paint an entire cel painting using a 4 inch wide brush once as a demonstration of control. It was inspiring.

 

Im *so* scared to redo Dolmani's faceup... I already played with it some and tried to make some minor additions to the faceup he came with, and I apparently didnt do something right and then I took off his bottom lashes... T_T I tried to use my black eyeshadow as eyeliner on his eyes, and all looked amazing but I found that the eyeshadow didnt stick to a couple of places on each eye so it looked stupid... -.- The only part Im seriously scared of doing is the eyebrows... @_@

Liquitex question: Is it the stuff that comes in the tubes? I have liquitex gold pant that came in a tube, but I wasnt sure if that was the right kinda stuff... hmmm maybe Ill be brave and go run out to michaels and pick up some paint tonight... roflmao the only money I have is in coins... poor poor cashier... XDDD

Edit: Oh bah... nevermind... I dont have MSC and I would so scared to touch my boy without any of that handy. x_x;;; I need to get more money... ^^;

 

Don't be scared of doing anything! Unless you're using harmful materials, nothing is permanent, and if all else fails, there are lots of very talented artists on this board who can give him whatever faceup you'd like. ^^

The kind of Liquitex you want is medium viscosity, and it comes in little pots. (Avoid the glossy kind; it doesn't have the right consistency. You can seal any color with gloss after painting to make it shiny.) You may also want to buy some retarder to thin out the paint and give you a bit more working time with it.

Good luck getting your hands on some MSC! It seems to be a rare and precious commodity these days. Which is bad, because I'm running low. o_O


~Kalmia

 

You might try Michael's, (I'm assuming you're in the US--oops, maybe you're not!) or AJ Moore. They actually have pretty good art supplies.

Otherwise, I would go online to
http://www.dickblick.com/zz006/23f/
http://www.dickblick.com/zz006/28h/

I'd email them to check whether these dry with a matte or gloss finish. I don't see that specified on their site, and I don't remember. Hope this helps.

I am an artist with experience mostly in oil paint & watercolor, but as for acrylics, the gloss is called "gloss medium". (It also comes in matte.) You can do several coats until you get the amount of shine you want. You can also use it on the inner eye corners an along the bottom rim of the eyelid to give that moist look that our eyes have near the eyeball. For boys lips, you can thin the gloss with water for a lesser amount of shine. Sometimes for boys, you see an extra bit of gloss in the outer corners of the lips. (On vampire Chiwoo, those spots of gloss look green! Ugh, what is that?)

Liquitex is a brand name, and so I would assume it's the same formula, just different packaging in different countries.

Someone was asking about viscosity in the paint. That refers to the slippery-ness of the paint. High viscosity is really going to glide on fast. It's also meant for a more highly textured surface. If you're a skilled and fast painter, you might want that, but I think medium would be better.

I agree with the other person who recommended water-based rather than laquer acrylic. Also, laquer is toxic to breathe.

Hope this helps...

Do you have Lowe-Cornell brushes in the UK? They are excellent and long-lasting.

By the way, I don't recommend Windsor-Newton brushes. They break down quickly and don't hold a point, IMO. (their other products are excellent though.) 8)

 

I decided to do my own faceup for my boy when he gets here..(CP Chiwoo special, so face up on both heads, one awake and one sleeping..)and I'm really looking forward to it, I love painting..but it's still scary! I hear all these horror stories about resin melting, paint staining and everything..+_+ I think I'm going to try it out on his hands first..(he comes with an extra set, and I want his nails a funky colour anyway..)so if it explodes or something, it won't be his head

Any tips? I've read this thread, I don't think I can get the liquitex stuff, any other acrylic paints that are really nice? (I live in the netherlands, mind you, american brand names won't help much ^^'')and any brands on watercolours/pastels? Any other tips, as on how many layers if MSC to use? I've read you should do a layer after every thing(like: eyes-layer-blushing-layer-lips-layer)..is this true? And the games workshop stuff, as a replactement of MSC, does it work? Or will it hurt my boy? And how about the eye lashes? Do they come with glue? And if not, what kind of glue should I use? Is there anything I could use to practice? (like, a normal doll face..a barbie or something...or is resin so different that it won't help much?)

I'm sorry, all these questions probably have been answered somewhere, I'm just still confused and need some clear answers..to make it less scary ^_^

Thanks!

 

I can't answer all of your questions, but I'll try a couple. =^^=

Mr Super Clear is definantly your best bet. It can take awhile to ship, and it may cost a little more, but it's the easiest thing to handle, and seems to cause the least amount of trouble. If you're willing to work a little more, though, there seem to be quite a few other brands people use:

As per layering MSC, at least one coat before you start painting, one after blushing, one after paints, and one to finish off the job. You can always do as many layers as you want, but try to keep them light and not too thick... Or else it can get gummy, bubble, and take a long time to dry ( if it ever dries... ) Always make sure it dries inbetween coats and before you start painting, though!

For eyelashes any simple white glue that dries to clear should work fine, just use a toothpick to apply in small amounts and be patient with it.

The best practice is using a paper template, and from there trial and error with your doll. Just don't be afraid to mess up and try again.

Hope that helps at least a little, otherwise try using the forums "search" function to find out specific things. ^^

~ Sabashii

 

What a great thread! I am not confident at all about doing a full faceup----based on my experiences with vintage Barbie, I am not a genius with lips---but my soon to arrive Nabee will need darker eyebrows IMO, and I am going to do them!

Since what I will be doing is essentially darkening her existing brows, rather than removing anything or changing the rest of her faceup, do you think I should be doing the MSC sand and spray thing? I don't want to harm the rest of her faceup!

Thanks!

 

If you have good hand skills, you can just try darkening them by delicately stroking darker colored pencil lines over her existing brows. You can add "hairs" with your colored pencil, as well as going over existing "hairs".

You're welcome... and if you do try the brush, try doing a darker wash over the existing brow, instead of only painting hairs. To make the wash, mix the acrylic with gel retarder, or water (blot your brush on a cloth a little so it's not drippy-wet before you paint.) I've also heard that Rachel from Evenstar Designs uses a Q-tip to blend in the brushstrokes on brows...

hope that helps, good luck!

 

I'm in the process of ordering my first ABJD a SoulDoll-Kids Tiffee and I want to know as much as possible before she gets here. So here goes:

1) I was wondering about using certain kinds of paints on the resin. I read the entire thread and I knda got the idea that anything oil based was bad. Is this b/c it stains or simply b/c the oil dosn't stick well to the resin. I paint and I recently began using Windsor Newton's Artisan line of paints known as water-mixable oils. Would these be bad to use? I have a ton of Liquitex lying about that I could use as well and they seem to be highly reccomended on this thread so if the Artisan paints are a no-way I'll just use my Liquitex.

2)As far as pastels go are there any specific brands that would be reccomened. My art professor reccomends Rembrandt soft pastels for class and I really enjoy using them but they are very costly 3-4$ per pastel and when you are looking for a range of colors it can get costly. Also I don't plan on using very much of the pastel so I don't want to pay a lot for something that might go to waste. I've had problems with pastels in the past where they have gotten old and the binder has stopped binding and they flake and don't stick properly and I don't want this to happen to expensive pastels. Are there any cheaper ones that would be of similar quality.

3)A few people were asking about using auctual make-up to do face-ups and I seem to have missed the answer. Would there be a problem with these possibly staining the resin or would an undercoat of Mr. Super Clear or a simlar product prevent this. The reason I am asking is that I might sometimes want to do a specific face-up for only one occasion and want to get it off without much difficulty, and it would be a situation where it wouldn't have to be particularly well fixed.

4) As far as eyelashes do you need to buy special doll eyelashes or would the ones meant for human wear be okay with trimming and such. Would it be best to buy the eyelashes that come on a band and glue them on as a strip or the ones that are groups of 2-3 hairs clustered together and gluing them on one small goup at a time. Or are these just things that would depend on personal preference.

Whew....that was a mouthfull. I hope I clearly stated what I wanted to know. I'm just so excited to be getting a Tiffee and I want to make sure I give her the best treatment when she arrives.

 

Nothing to add about face-ups, but I work at an A.C. Moore. The store carries quite a few Liquitex products, good brushes, and some other things I noticed people mentioning in this thread. (Along with a ton of other crafting things.) I get an employee discount (20% off my purchase) and can often get other discounts as well (there's a 40% coupon nearly every week, sometimes 50%, good for one regular priced item). If there was something you would like me to look for, I'd gladly check and put the item aside for you (a.k.a. hide it in my work locker XD) and get a price. You would have to send me the money of course ^^;; and pay for shipping, but, with the discounts, it shouldn't be so bad.

Weekly ads and some of the items the store carries can be viewed on the website.... I don't think they have much in the line of products up there though >.>... I haven't really looked at it much. http://acmoore.com/ Please bear in mind the products carried vary by store and what one place my have, the store I work at may not.

PM me if you'd like to look for something for you or have questions. ^_^... I hope it was okay to post this, I'm just trying to be helpful.

Oh and for those who would like some kind of... reference? I have good feedback on eBay as trico1986.

 

Does anyone know if gouache paint works will with resin?

 

I don't have a doll yet so I can't say for sure, but I do know that the binder in gouache is gum arabic, the same as in watercolor, so if people have been using watercolors successfully, I would expect gouache to behave similarly. Better confirm with someone who's tried before, though, of course. :-)

 

So. I bought FolkArt paint.

But generally speaking.. Isn't acrylic paint just.. acrylic paint, when it comes down to it? No matter what brand you get?

And I can use Winsor & Newton brush cleaner to thin out the paint, right?

 

I'd like to know also. Is there any brand imparticular for face-ups?

 

Acrylic paints definatley arn't all created equal. Some stain, some are thin, some are thick, some scratch off resin easily, etc. Its best to test your colors on the inside of the head pate of your doll to see if it stains. I use liquitex and havent had any troubles with it. I do have a couple of Folkart paints in light colors and find them pretty good too for mixing once there thinned.

Ive never tryed brush cleaner for thinning. I just use an extender or retarder so Im not sure how that works.

 

White Folkart is evil.

It is.
I use to paint cusotm MLP and it was just, bleh! It didn't stay on, it cracked, or lumped up... even watered down! I don't even use it to tint apoxy anymore.

 

:/ Great. Sweet...

My only problem is that Liquitex is WAY too much for what I need it for, and $5 for a bottle I'm not even going to use a lot of ... just don't seem right to me.

Blegh.

Anything else that works good? >_<;

 

I like Liquitex. The color load and the texture are very nice. They are concentrated, so they need to be thinned a little before use, but they're lovely to work with.

 

I know how you feel about liquitex! I used like one one-hundreth of the bottle in the end! But I ended up using mostly pastels for the face-up so I only had to buy two bottles of acrylics.
liquitex is definitely good quality so I'd have to reccommend it. Like tasha_neko said, not all acrylics were created equal, and I just didn't feel comfortable using a student-grade paint.

 

I've used the cheap paints, thinking I'd be saving myself some cash but I ended up throwin about $10 worth of bottles of cheap acrylics away.

I've bought a small palette of Liquitex and mix them if I need a specific color.
I, too, use more pastels than paints for faceups. Mostly I'll use white for teeth, black and brown for eyeliner or brows and the rest is pastel.

 

I used Americana brand paint for the lips on one of my dolls. I keep wondering whether that was a good idea. It looks nice so far and hasn't cracked at all, but it has only been a month since she was painted ... . Americana brand paints are about as cheap as Folk Art paints, so I'm guessing they must be about the same quality. If her lips start cracking in 6 months or so, I guess I'll know better next time.

 

Ugh.. I have "Miracle acrylic tole paint" that I bought in many colors at a dollar store (Yeah, you can see this coming).
Slightly thinned and before it begins to dry (it does so quickly) it's -okay-, but a few minutes sitting there? Gunk. Awful...
What I'm wondering is where to find the slightly more expensive acrylics..

 

I've had pretty good luck with the cheap paints like FolkArt (well I think I've been using Delta, but many of my paints are ten years old). No chipping or flaking or anything. Sometimes the red paint stains a little, but it's no big deal and can be removed with a magic eraser or some sandpaper. I have a few tubes of Liquitex laying around too, and I think Liquitex + extender has better flow and control that I might care about if I painted eyelashes, but I prefer the look of real lashes anyway so the cheap paint is fine for lips and eyebrows. I'd say that whatever works for what you want to do is good.

 

I'm going to try it out.. I bought it on a whim, it won't kill me to use it. It's only one bottle of black.. It seems that no one here has complained about FolkArt staining, just doing weird clumpy things. I should be fine...

If that fails, I'll try to get a small Liquitex bottle of black. :/

 

Paint tends to be one of those things you get what you pay for. I use 40cent paint on 40cent clay pots.

Personally for black I got a set of watercolor pencils and swipe a wet brush over the black 'lead' part. If you want to go with acrylic I'd look for the 2oz jars. http://www.dickblick.com/zz006/16/

Also, I would not use brush cleaner for thinning acrylic paint. For liquitex use a liquitex medium.

 

I've used some folk art, but mainly I use two local brands (they're made by the same people) called Regal Realms and Howard's Hues. They're supposed to be for warhammer minis. They come in many many colours, and with some extender added I've had good luck.

The best folk arts I've tried are the metallics and the glosses (good for eyeshadow or nail polish) I've painted a good deal of several resin garage kits with the white, and I didn't have clumpy issues. (I keep buying Sailor Senshi, go figure) and that should be compairable to our dolls.

I'm not sure how they'd be for eyebrows or eyelashes, I used watercolour pencils and pastels for most of my boy's faceup.

 

I use liquitex, but as an art major I had a TON of it lying about my house anyway. For faceups it really is the best thing unless you want to buy the cheap stuff for mixers. I suggest buying medium viscosity liquitex at some place like hobby lobby and buy colors you can reuse or MIX to be what you want. Probably a brown, black, white, pale pink or red (to mix with white)... so on and so forth. With the black, white, and brown you have a good start... and then maybe just buy one or two paints over the course of a few months. Or have someone that lives near you or is friends with you go in on it with you. If you have friends with dolls you can have faceup parties!

I also suggest using prismacolor water color pencils, or some sort of watercolor pencils for the eyebrows. its MUCH MUCH easier. If you need examples, just do a search for my name, or any of my doll's names on DoA (Frankie, Georgie, Mafi) I do all of their faceups and blushing.

The winsor newton paint acrylic thinner works for REMOVING the faceups all together, I use it instead of acetone to preserve their resin/vinyl. I use the liquitex acrylic retardant... I think is what its called. It's a "slow dry" liquid that allows you to thin your paints down. Its helped me SAVE a ton of money. I bought most of my liquitex paints about a year ago... and I'm not even down to half a bottle yet.

Hope that helps!

 

Hi,

I'm sure others have chimed in but I wanted to put in my two pennies on this one.

As a rule, with all art supplies, you totally get what you pay for. As far as paint go, the more expensive the better the medium the color is in and the more difficult to obtain is the pigment. A 2.00 tube of industurial sized acrylic paint will not do half as good of a job painting anything as will the small (as in "I paid that much for THAT???) tube for 20.00. In the art world, you still get what you pay for.

Same with brushes. The better the brush, the more it will cost.

~torimiko

 

you summed it up nicely!^^ yeah... liqutex (spelling issues) is very nice I don't have a doll yet but I used a few times and it's very nice as far as brushes go I took a couple from school but they're pretty good

 

Though Liquitex and such products are costly, here's one way I look at it. Should you ever need to redo a face-up or do another face-up you'll always have them in supply as long as you keep the paints in good condition (making sure the lids are firmly in place, not leaving them open or breaking the tubes, etc.) That and you can also use them on other projects, whether for your doll or other crafts.

 

I never knew my thread would attract so much attention. It seems that liquitex is STILL the favorite... I suppose I should go take a look at it at Michael's again.

Thank you all for helping.

 

*holds up the sign* I use Model Master! lol it's cheaper than liquitex and if you can't find sealent (which it's hard as crap out here with one hobby shop that carries it) it doesn't come off easily! I've had my boys take face falls and it doesn't come off... OO (unless you scrub it w/ a magic eraser!) But that's my two cents if you haven't bought paint already. xx'

~suppi

 

Good. So Liquitex is at Michael's? Looks like I'll be doing customizing the faceup for my doll when I get her.

 

I was searching artist supply stores on the web, and something I noticed was that the Liquitex brand Medium Viscosity acrylics are no longer called by that name, they're now called "Soft Body Acrylics". Hope that helps for people looking for paints!!

:Edit: More info! I searched on google for the brushes that Panzerfaust uses, and I only found one store that carries them:

 

half a tip and half question....
having not been able to get hold of liquitex or another retarder i was at my wits end 'cos my paint was drying too quickly.
until my big brother came to the rescue, he has made models (the d&d kind) for years and when he came back from Korea he told me that if i couldn't get hold of retarder to use KY jelly, sounds VERY strange but it works if you don't add too much.
what i'd like to know is........
has anyone else tried this?
what were the results?

 

Okay - I got one.
I have some acrylic inks I got to play with (not necessarily for dolls - I'm an artist, and I tend to collect things like that). Has anyone ever tried these for doll face-ups?

I got a Gretel (a resin head is my next trick - if I can afford it) head to practice on, and while I /do/ have things like acrylics and pastels, I am going to try watercolour/gouache (personally, not a fan of the super-dark faceups, although I see many lovely examples - so drying pale doesn't bother me a bit) because I have a better selection of colours. ^^;

And on pastels - I don't like oil pastels, and don't use them - the ones I have are Pro-Art, and fairly cheap. Still functional?

I got my Mr. Super Clear from Junkyspot, so I'm good for that. *grin*

 

Ah, I've skimmed through and the search function gave me waaay too many results to find what I needed in a timely manner. Anyway, what I am looking to know is: What is the best kind of paint to use for quality faceups? And some followup questions:

- Where can they be bought?
- Can they be used with an airbrush?

I suspect this has been asked a lot, so if this needs deleting that's fine x_x Hopefully I can get a cross-reference on quality faceup products as well.

 

There is no real best paint to use, what people use mostly just ends up being a product of availability, price, personal preferance, brand loyalty, or what they know other people they respect use.
For Faceups I use Createx airbrush (acrylic) paint. I have used it with and without an airbrush. I got it at Blick art supply store and Michaels craft store.

 

I don't use an airbrush but I DO use Liquitex Acrylic medium viscosity paints. They can be used in an airbrush with a retardant. I currently use Liquitex paints along with Chalk pastels to do my faceups!

Most liquitex paints and chalk pastels can be purchased at hobby lobby, michael's and or college bookstores (that have art students. they ARE expensive paints depending on the color (i.e a cadmium paint will be about 9$ for a 2oz pot, but most range from 5-7$ for 2oz pots.)

The pastels I use are mungyo or Faber Castel. I use both and mix back and forth. With pastels, and paints a like you will get what you pay for. The quality of the paints and pastels will make a difference when it comes to texture, drying time, and even pigment. I'm not saying more expensive is definitely better, but you will get what you pay for. I usually will pick up my basic acrylic starter colors (brown, black, white, red, deep portrait pink, dark pink or red) and a thing of pastels. If you need more its always alright to buy "mixer" colors from the cheaper brands. I use a random brand of chalk pastel to mix with my expensive ones to help them last longer!

hope that helps!

 

ryou- as far as i know, and am planning on doing on the next doll i need to do a faceup on, you just use either acrylic paint or pastels for a softer look, and then paint a shiny coat over that of tamiya x-22 for really wet looking lips, or gamesworkshop glossy varnish for a regular glossy look. ^.^

 

So my dad got me this art set for christmas ((yeah late gift, but it's the meaning behind it now isn't it....yeah w/e)) Anyways, so he got me this artset and I'm thinking "Cool, it has paints, maybe I can use this for my doll's face up n_n. But then I read them and froze... Which one to use.

Acrylic, Watercolor or oil color?
Under the paints it says the ingredients.

Acrylic=
acrylic resin- 5.76g
extenders- 3.96
pigment- 1.68g
pure water- 0.60g

Oil color=
liseed oil- 42%
extenders- 21%
pigment- 37%

Watercolor=
pachgum- 50%
extenders- 17%
pigment- 8%
pure water- 25%

I heard using water based products is a no no for resin dollies, so does that ake away acrylic and water color? But I also saw many people used acrylic paints? I'm just confused heh...I thank you for any help!

Also** Sorry for the double post, whenever I try to edit my computer makes this weird noise...

Using pastels and water color pencils could I just use the normal say...crayola colored pencils or something more profesional? This set came with I'd say more professional colored pencils and I just want to know if it's okay to use on resin and not damage.

 

Definitely steer clear of the oil paints, oil + resin = bad.

Just make sure you coat your doll first with something like Mr. Super Clear (MSC), Testors, Citadel Purity Seal (Otherwise you can stain your doll!)

Acrylic is good for solid colour, and watercolour is good for lighter, more washed out coverage. I find using watercolour pencils is a good method.

 

Eek, I'll stay away from oils, I'll just used that for painting normal pictures n_n

Yes, I've been looking at sites with Testors and MSC, really for MSC, but I never knew about Citadel Purity Seal. I don't want to stain my doll >.<

Thanks for telling me the difference, and I hope I can make a really decent, would say good but it will be my FIRST faceup on my FIRST doll.... thanks again^^

 

I've never heard of a special sponge, but I'd be curious to hear about it, Rawrninja.
I use pastels and liquitex acrylics for my girls. I do have a badger airbrush however and as soon as I get a compressor, It's as good as redone.
Mimi's tips were great for pastels! I will try her techniques in the meantime, however I wonder if there is someone available who has experience with airbrushed face-ups.
I did buy the book "Ball Joint Doll Arborarium" (SP?) from Haute Doll And it has wonderful tutorials, but I defiately have questions that the book didn't answer. I highly recommend the book for patterns, info and stringing/face-up info!

 

Very helpful info here. I am just trying to gather the courage to do my first face up. I ordered the Mr. Super Clear and will go look for the other materials at my local art store this week. One question I have is, Do you experienced face uppers think it is better for me to start off with acrylics or pastels? I am definitely drawn to the softness of the pastels, but how hard are they to work with compared to paint. Or should I look at the colored pencil route?

 

i use a combo of all three actually, pastels for shadow, lips and blushing. acrylics for liner and lashes sometimes, and then pencils for details, lower lashes and detail in the brows and lips. ^^