Anime face-up references?

Hypothetically speaking, if someone buys a blank Dollfie Dream because they think the doll is pretty, but that person doesn't watch anime - where would you direct that person for anime eyelid/brow reference photos?

OK. It's not hypothetical. It's me.

I've been looking at Google images of various anime face-ups. The problem is, all of the pictures I've been looking at have the wigs on, which conceals the eyebrows and some of the eyelid detail. Until now, I've been practicing semi-realistic face-ups on BJDs only. Anime face-ups are a whole new kettle of fish for me. And I see that a few lines make a huge difference in a doll's expression. Plus, anime face-ups appear to require a lot more precision. I don't think I can "fudge" eyelashes like I do with a BJD face.

So - how do you choose your face-ups? How do you create the eyelids? How do you decide whether or not to add bottom lashes?

Lashes and eyelids are all a matter of preference, so I'd say look at a lot of different anime face-up artists and decide what style suits you best! ^_^

I really like watching Hemi-chan even though I don't necessarily follow all of her style cues. You can see the process of painting an anime face from start to finish very clearly. And I follow a ton--a TON!!!--of face-up artists on Instagram. I'm going to link a few very different anime styled artists for you to peruse.

Watashidoll, who does very standard anime faces

Mimiel who mostly works on smaller dolls and does very ornate faces

Yume Primavi who does really bold and saturated faces

Heikoumao who does kind of a painterly mix between anime faces and what you might see a little more on semi-realistic BJD faces

I've been studying everyone's techniques and practicing combining traits onto a couple of scratch heads and forming my own preferences... For example, a lot of anime face-ups blush the forehead and chin, but I don't really like doing that. Some people really like drawing out a distinct lower lid, but I think it depends on the face shape. I hope these references help!

Edited July 12, 2022 by bananaaether

3 hours ago, bananaaether said:

Mimiel who mostly works on smaller dolls and does very ornate faces

Mimiel doesn’t do faceups AFAIK. She sources heads from other faceup artists. The most iconic ones (to me, anyway) are the ones by Chocomint and Kachikachi Zamurai.

Ah, right you are! My mistake, I forgot Mimiel doesn't do the heads.

4 hours ago, bananaaether said:

Ah, right you are! My mistake, I forgot Mimiel doesn't do the heads.

She definitely chooses the cutest heads though 😄

A lot of things like how to do eyelids and stuff depend on the style so maybe you should find styles you like from a face-up artist/anime/manga and try to see what you like and what don't.

Edited July 13, 2022 by Maia

@bananaaether - thank you so much! That was extremely helpful.

If y'all don't mind, I have one more question:

I found the "Intro to Super Dollfie Makeup" on the Volks USA website, but sadly, there is no Dollfie Dreams version. Just by looking at the thumbnails, that's exactly what I'm looking for. I don't suppose anyone knows of a similar book?...

I'm not a huge fan of blushed cheeks and chins on anime faces, either. This is the eye look that I really like:

 

I'd take a peak at Y!JA, many artists will take photos of the head with no wig on to show the full faceup 

https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/category/list/2084241345/?p=ドルフィードリーム

As for the eyebrows, they're generally just a line, unlike the feathered eyebrows a super dollfie would have. I know volks offers animetic faceups for SD (FCS recommended make), so I wonder if they have examples of that in the makeup book?

If they have any official stuff online, it'd be under this site most likely

https://dollfie.volks.co.jp/dd/

Best of luck! Sorry if this wasn't any help.

There are books on drawing anime faces and expressions, and of course you can gets tons of references images off of Google images. A person who doesn't watch anime should be able to find loads of examples of the anime look. 

oo lol great question, i'll have to bookmark this thread for myself as well

I follow jumbo_eggtart, they're one of my favorite faceup artists! They display their faceups without hair and sometimes show them at various stages. They also paint heads in all kinds of different styles, from simple and cute to detailed and creepy.

For me deciding which elements to include, how prominent to make certain features, how to stylize your features, etc. is a huge part of the pre-faceup phase. For example, the lower lash line can be a tool to indicate the overall shape of the eye, so they become more useful when choosing a faceup that doesn't conform to the original shape of the eye hole.

I think a lot of elements of anime faceups are stylistic, though. So whether you omit eyelashes, add blush lines, use gradients in the lids or whatever just depends on the style you want to go for.

There actually used to be a really old tutorial Volks had when they still ran the blog for their US shop! You can find the archived copy here https://web.archive.org/web/20110113172901/http://site.volksusa.com/sumikatimes/2009/06/03/create-your-own-dollfie-dream-girl/

A few things to note: Most people use putty to hold eyes in place instead of hot glue. Also, the notches they cut out of the headcap are no longer necessary since now the headcaps are much softer and easier to remove

Is the reason for the lighter brown layer just for the template? Like penciling a drawing and later inking it?

Edited August 11, 2022 by bahboh

19 hours ago, bahboh said:

Is the reason for the lighter brown layer just for the template? Like penciling a drawing and later inking it?

Yeah. It is :3

does that mean it'd be okay to draw the template in a light brown color pencil rather than brushing it in in light brown paint?

11 hours ago, bahboh said:

does that mean it'd be okay to draw the template in a light brown color pencil rather than brushing it in in light brown paint?

Yup! That's exactly what I do