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 So You Want To Paint a 1:6 Scale Doll Face ?
It's a natural progression of the 1:6 scale action girl hobby , removing the stock paint ops in order to reapply a paint op of your own , or taking a blank head and adding the facial features , a seeming daunting task if it's something you've never done or think that your skills are too unpolished to execute . The whole purpose of this tutorial is to provide you some simple tips and techniques to get your face painting skills up to speed . Like any skill , the key is PRACTICE ! In this tutorial I'm working on Hasbro's Clear Jane headsculpt , which is a great practice template due to the fact that it has no skin tone pigment and is a simple and clean sculpt . For your own edification I'm still a novice face painter so I'm learning how to paint faces as I do them , and along the way I am trying different techniques in order to improve my final results ; this section of Geeb-O-Rama is your invitation to learn by doing the same as me . A primary FAQ is what type of paints to use , and that is really simple to answer , acrylics . The brand is not as important as you might think , the difference between Liquitex Artist Colors and Delta Ceramcoat is really in the finished surface and pricetag . Liquitex acrylics are a bit more flexible when dry but in 1:6 scale that is not nearly as important a feature as you might think , and factoring in the cost between the two , Delta is much more economical and will still give you excellent results . In practice both require thinning with water to improve flow , but once fixed with a sealant you won't really see any noticeble difference between an $8.00 jar of Liquitex and a $3.00 bottle of Delta . The main place to invest your money when it comes to painting faces is in the brushes , and again , brand is not as important as you might think . You will want to get natural hair brushes rather than synthetic simply because the synthetics tend to stain . I've spent $30 bucks on brushes and i've spent $ 4.00 , and truth be told , both performed equally well . Getting down to brass tacks , when it comes to your tools , buy and use what you are comfortable with .  Here at Geeb-O-Rama I want to make it easy for you to see the work that is being done , and to that end I tend to make the images large enough to allow you the opportunity to see every stroke , imperfection and medium being used . Online tutorials are all over , and most are adequately illustrated , but sometimes the pics are just too small to really effectively display what is being explained . By posting large images I hope that it will translate to you as almost being able to see the piece in person . To begin this repaint the first thing I did was apply a basecoat , since the Jane head was clear it was difficult to see the details , the basecoat was sprayed on with an airbrush , a light application of Delta Ceramcoat Ivory Cream done solely to solidfy the sculpting details in the headsculpt . Using the airbrush over hand brushing was a fast way to achieve the results needed and insured there would be no brush strokes . Is an airbrush necessary ? Nope , not really , smooth results can be achieved by hand painting with a brush provided you thin the paint adequately and apply the paint in layered washes ( thin applications of paint ) it just requires more time . I try out different techniques with almost every repaint I do and this project was no exception . Once I had completed the intial basecoat the next thing I did was apply shading at the temples , cheekbones and along the nose with burnt sienna pastel dust applied with a Q-Tip . I then layed down the initial fleshtone with the airbrush . After that first flesh color was dry I went back with the pastel dust and Q-Tips and applied a scecond layer of shading . Just to experiment , the next step I took was accentuate the modelling aroiund the bridge of the nose , nostrils and the eye sockets using Berol Verithin colored pencils , burnt sienna and dark brown , lightly intensifying the shading . The main reason I used colored pencils was control , it's a lot easier to define where you want with a sharp tiny point than with a big fuzzy Q-Tip . Another light dusting of airbrushed fleshtone helped to soften the colored pencil work and blend it .   If there is a single aspect of a face repaint that completely terrifies me it's the eye lashes , it takes me a great deal of "psyching up " to undertake this part of a face up . When I study face ups by other doll artists I am always amazed at the level of detail and control some of them are able to achieve and it is my goal to reach that same stage and level of skill . Chances are I may never reach that lofty aspiration , but that won't stop me from trying . I have yet to find a tutorial on the internet that shows " how to " execute eye lash painting in any real detail , and so this is just my personal method of achieving that result , and hopefully it will aid you in performing your own eye lash painting . A small bit of background first , my most " successful " shot at painting lashes came with my Hester VanWeiren custom , and I attribute that to the methodology with which I approached the job . Mapping out the job to be performed is always helpful , and when dealing with a subject with which you are completely unfamiliar with and are a " newbie " at , often makes all the difference in the world . With this paint up , as with Hester's , my first step was print out a copy of the face and draw the eyelash pattern on that picture . Each face sculpt is different , and while lash patterns are basically similar , there are always subtle differences in the sculpt that requires some subtle alterations in your lash pattern ; masters might be able to " lash on the fly " but I need to plan out the pattern for each individual face sculpt .  Parabox Japan's website has a fairly good face painting tutorial , and they suggested for beginning face painters to use colored pencils to execute a " base paint " when painting eyelashes . I tried that on Hester and it worked . For this particular face up I decided to once again use colored pencils to first draw on my lash pattern , and upped the ante so to speak and add a little more lash detail this time in contrast to the lashes done for Hester . The tiny little size of 1:6 heads tends to boggle me when I reach this stage of a face paint , considering some of the repaints I've seen , and so my first course of action is to put a really really fine point on my colored pencils . This is achieved by a regular ol' pencil sharpener and then using a sanding pad to get the point even finer . For me , the easiest way to initiate the eyelash pattern base is to start on the upper lid , starting with the last corner lash and working inward . This face has 4 main ( or long ) lashes on the upper lid and these are the strokes i do first , typically ending the pattern at the edge of the pupil . I then add secondary ( shorter ) lashes under the main lashes and then fill in as needed , which is really just a matter of " eyeballing " what looks best . This whole process is then repeated for the lower lid . I generally work from the inside outward on the upper lid as far as pencil stroke direction and a stroke direction from the outside inward when drawing the lashes on the lower lid . | Mail-O-Rama | Geeb's How To | Head Sculpts Using Polymer Clay | Customizing The Batcycle | 1/6 scale diorama | terrain diorama | 1/6 Scale Boots | Re-Rooting Hair | BimBott | Read_A_Book | WorksInProgress | Aki Ross Repaint | Gun-Bashing | painting heads | Diorama Technique 3 | | Return Home | Updates | The Archive | Gorby Site Map | Geeb-O-Rama's Model Workshop | Geeb's Toy Box | Geeb-O-Rama Goodies | Movie Madness | World Of The Bizarre | Cool Beans | |
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