Aesthetics [UPDATES!] Subject P-01, aka Practice Lad

So, this guy is a white Akagi Doll Ban (I have a peach flavored one also, but his practice faceup chipped almost immediately), and I would love some critique as well as some possible answers from people who know more than me here goes! First, pictures:

Spoiler: Big images of dopey ginger guy in here

One thing I learned while working on Ban is that every single one of his features is asymmetrical and it's a little dramatic in some places, one eye is much larger than the other and his lips are pretty lopsided. It's endearing but trying to balance it takes some doing.

Some things:

He's unfinished, I didn't even get to any detail on his lips or around his eyes, to say nothing of eyebrows/lashes or gloss or anything. This is what I'd call a base texture, base blush, base contour, and the all-important Freck Layer. It started to rain inexplicably about five minutes into the fourth layer's drying process (my beautiful 35% humidity, 60 degree day I may not see another of you for months) and also if this was a permanent faceup I would do the headcap and the back and sides of the head too, I just thought it would be a waste of supplies in this case. The difference is kind of amusing though, I didn't realize how stark it was until I put the headcap back on

The fourth layer of sealant evidently didn't cure correctly so there are white spots, and his brother (not pictured) did not fare too well, in several places it all scratched off right down to the bare resin and I'm not even sure what he bumped against. I tested with my fingernail and a very tiny amount of pressure and yep, it peels right off. My main question is, was this all due to the humidity changing so quickly, or could it possibly be the MSC reformulation I've heard about? I followed the instructions from this forum for sealant application pretty carefully, so it seems odd that all four layers would come off so easily, I have a doll with a faceup that lasted ten years with the old formula and that was done when I knew nothing about the humidity range, his entire forehead was a huge white spot that I just hid with his wig.

I wash parts in Dawn soap the night before, only handle them with latex or nitrile gloves, employ the recommended spraying distance, etc. so I'm confused. The fourth layer also would not accept pastels while the previous three were almost too happy to, so much so that I'll probably layer a bit more slowly to dial back the contrast next time! I think the graininess may also be a result of the improperly cured sealant because the first three layers did not look like that.

I have three dolls to do for a friend this summer, as you can see the work is pretty extensive, I have great fun with this and could revamp my own dolls all day long but I can't have stuff that somebody paid for scraping off like that. I'm considering doing an experiment with Army Painter matte varnish with a final top coat of MSC for the UV protection if MSC is prone to kicking up a fuss like this nowadays.

Anyway, many thanks to anyone who read all that and I'm nervously looking forward to any input!

 

@Kimchi Thanks for the recommendations! I read the FAQ about sprays but it's always nice to hear, err, field reports? I would really love to try the ZM spray but it is indeed elusive. I have six cans of UV Cut MSC and five are still sealed, so I hope it's just the humidity and not the formula! Guess I could try selling or trading a couple in the MP.

@Mossmose Thank you! I ended up wiping them because pastels weren't sticking anymore, so thirty years from now when there's another clear day I can try again. I have some photos of this guy before contouring and freckification that I'll toss up here later. A couple of people preferred him before the contouring was added, it's not quite the right color because I just slathered stuff on instead of bothering to mix colors.

I do think there is too much red, you're right. I like bold contrast and redheads tend to flush easily but really I just forgot that pastels darken a little when you coat them, so, whoops! Definitely going to tone down the ruddiness next time. It looks really harsh under artificial light especially and I imagine most people don't have their houses outfitted with broad spectrum lighting.

 

These are earlier photos of the texture/blush by themselves (first three photos) and then the texture/blush/contour without freckles. Broad spectrum light makes a big difference too I didn't have access to it at the time I took the photos in the OP. There's also a pretty obvious difference between the layers that cured properly and the final one that didn't.

Spoiler: More dudeface pictures

Thanks very much for looking, I'm open to any suggestions

 

@PearlyDream Oh that diagram is really useful, thanks! I had heard of this but I haven't seen it explained so clearly. I'm gonna print that out.

I wiped these guys because the sealant had not cured properly and pastels were no longer sticking, humidity is good right now so I may try again today They were not finished, I never got to the gloss stage. It started raining while I was working on them and I think that's what ruined them the whole job was scraping off really easily and nothing was staying put anymore. I'm thinking of eventually trying some of that Volks primer that is supposed to help stuff stick, I need this to have serious staying power.

The greyish speckling is probably some of the blue veining, I screwed it up a bit by doing it on the same layer as the red and yellow and it mixed and kinda turned purple in some places. Whoops. Next try I'm doing a layer between each texture color and seeing how it turns out

Thanks very much for your input!

 

The Continuing Adventures of Practice Lad! I finally got a near-complete faceup on him (I did not tackle eyelashes.) I used the color placement diagram that @PearlyDream posted and I think it helped a bit. I'm not fond of how his eyebrows came out, I'll try my hand at acrylics next time, watercolor paint is just too blotchy and it was a crapshoot re: whether any paint was actually going to come off the brush or not. It works well for other things, though! I'm also not really happy with the eyelid crease that was part of the sculpt, it's really kind of dimensionless and hard to work with His lips actually are sculpted that asymmetrically, I suppose he has a Bell's palsy.

The makeup pastels (contouring around nose and eyes especially) starts to get grainy after about the fifth layer, especially with darker colors, and I'm not sure how to work around that. I'd really like to try the Zoukei-Mura spray, but it seems like Volks' store is down indefinitely. I'm still not sure if it's something I'm doing wrong or if it's the new formula, because the humidity and temperature were perfect, I shook it like I was mad at it, followed all other instructions re: distance and such, and still a faceup I did 12 years ago looked better in terms of smoothness of color fading even though I had no idea what I was doing at that time.

Supplies used are Angora watercolors, Sennelier pastels, a small amount of Faber-Castell watercolor pencil (the white), MSC UV-Cut Matte, and Tamiya Gloss and Semi-Gloss.

PS popping a bin over 'em for drying is a great idea!

Spoiler: The stuffs

I plopped a lovely FunnyLori wig on him (doesn't suit him, but quality stuff!) and put in some loaner 13mm Eyeco eyes in Frisco. Cruddy artificial light, but it makes him look a little more complete.

Spoiler: He looks a little unsure of his predicament. Serious side-eye going on.

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Thanks very much for looking, as usual any critique/comments/jokes about his goofy nose are welcome and encouraged