Q's about using pastel and watercolor pencil...

I've used pastel both wet and dry. For the light gradiation, I use it dry.

I use watercolor pencils for linework--specifically for eyebrows, which I think answers another question of yours.

Powdered pastels . . . you can use human makeup powder . . . since it's not oil based. I never had any luck with human makeup sticking, though. (Some people have.)

I have used prismacolor pencils once for Yukio's eyebrows, though I think I read somewhere later on that they do have a bit of oil in them so they really *should* be avoided.

I have no idea about other brands of colored pencils.

 

*****n/a*****

 

When I did Klaus's face-up and blushing for the first time (four days ago) me and Totchi just used the pastels and watercolor pencils.

For the eyebrows on our dolls we sketched the shape with a dry watercolor pencil, then once we were pleased with the shape, we used our brushes *super mega fine brushes, there's a useful tutorial in the "about face-ups" section in this section* to wet the lead of the watercolor pencils and painted over our pencil lines.

For the powder pastels (for my doll anyways) I used a fine wet brush to do his lips, and a larger dry brush to blush his face and body, applying the powder like I would make-up.

If you want to see how my first attempt turned out feel free to take a look.
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15968

It's really very easy, and so much fun once you get into it! Seriously though, read this section for a great tutorial by xiaomimi. It's very detailed.

Good luck with your first face-up when you get your doll! You know we'll all want to see!

 

What really makes a world of difference when using pastel, is coating the surface with Mr.Super Clear, or clear primer. (I think theres a thread about alternative primers somewhere) The primer gives the pastel something to stick to.

I use conte. Instead of using a razor to scrape color off of the conte stick, I rub it against fine sandpaper. ^_^ Less messy and just as effective - you can turn your piece of sandpaper in to a palette!

 

I use all my pastels totally dry. In fact if I accidentally forget and dip my brush like I'm doing a normal repaint, I curse all over because then I have to wait for it to dry!!

The most important thing is the base of MSC. Without that, your pastels will not adhere properly.

 

I use the watercolour pencils dry because I like the really fine lines for the eyebrows, more controllable than a brush, IMHO.

This was done entirely in watercolour pencils, dry (except for a tinny bit at the very edges of the eyes!) as a test to see how they'd work out. ^^ Sadly, you can't see the detail/eyebrow hairs.


I also much prefer human makeup to pastels, partly because I'm used to working with the colours, and partly because I find them softer and more vibrant than even the volks pastels. ^___^
(Of course, I have some pretty crazy colours of eyeshadow from cosplaying. Mmmmm, Ben Nye....)

Kika's face matches his body courtsey of about 15 layers of ben nye white poweder layered with MSC... ^^;;;

 

i did my DES face up with water colour pencils to

the lines around the eyes anf the eyebrows were done with dry pencil and the lips , i ran the pencil over the join in the lips then used water and a brush to fill in the lips, sealed that then i used dry pencil to line the lips