Friday, December 24, 2010

The painting process

Life is super busy right now, so I haven't had time to completely update everyone! Anyway, Aleggraccia is completely put together and painted, so I thought I'd tell you all what I did so that those of you who can't find a good painting guide can get some advice. So, what you'll need is very thin paint brushes and by very thin I mean VERY thin. Aleggraccia has a very small head, as you can see from the picture, so I used a VEEEERY thin paint brush. The bigger your doll, the easier it will be to paint their head. Next, you'll need a color pallet, and the one I used was cheap and disposable so that is always an option. Of course you'll need water and acrylic paint if you have an Obitsu doll. If you don't have an Obitsu I won't be of much help, seeing as how the only dolls I can afford are Obitsu. For clean up and smudging have some Q-tips available.
      When you're painting your Obitsu you should test the paint on a piece of paper before putting it on the actual doll. Doing so you can see what thickness you want and add (or take away) water to change that. For Aleggraccia I made her eye shadow and cheeks very watered down and used a Q-tip to apply it to her face, because my paint brush didn't cover enough area and wasn't clean enough to make it look not smudged up. For her lips I used my paint brush and made the paint thicker so it was visible. If you want a lighter look, use water. Now, because Aleggraccia's character is magical I added glitter paint to her eyes, which is the dots you see in the picture. It looks really nice now, not too sparkled but just "different" enough. Remember, it doesn't have to take forever to paint your doll but you MUST take your time, or you'll stain and smudge the face up.
        Now, here are some things I found that you must NEVER do to your doll.
1. Do not use paint thinner. It will eat through your Obitsu's face
2. Don't use too much water or the paint will run all over the place. If you're not going for that "I just stood in the rain/cried my eyes out" look, be careful to not make the paint too runny.
3. Don't paint your doll in dim light. You can't accurately see what colors you're slapping on there and you might accidentally miss their tiny noses or the crevices of their eyes.
4. Don't be afraid to put some reading glasses on to make the face clearer, just because it is small and your eyes are only so good.



So, that's honestly all I did to paint Aleggraccia's face. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

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