My Very First Faceup w/Progress Shots <-Done!

So I finally decided to bite the bullet and try to do my own faceup. After a mixup with hikaru I'm at the bottom of the waiting list for a commission (guess he didn't see my original message? dunno.. but now I'm 5 spots behind I think where I woulda been). But, that's no biggie, I'll try my best first then if it still doesnt work out I'll send it off to be worked on hehehe.

 

So for those curious here's some progress shots!

*edit* BTW once this was all said and done, I took from 1am-4:40am roughly... trying to take my time, let stuff dry, goof off on the compy, yknow. Vacation is fun when you can stay up super late heh*

 

The stage is set!

 

After a coat of ZM Spray I started making some plans with the Make Pen. I'm sorta a control freak, so I also have the Precision Q-Tips and dip them in water, then blot it on a paper towel and go in and try to refine the lines... especially since the Make Pen is... well, great for removing lines but not so great at actually making the lines... :T

 

Okay, so symmetry is really difficult... esp with 3d objects, took a little while but this is a symmetrical as I'm going to get at this point lol. At one point I even got a straight edge and tried to make sure that things kinda lined up well. Thankfully with the HDD-04 head there are some indentations, (prolly the other heads have them too? I'm that much of a n00b) so that really helped.

 

Now I'm startin' to paint over my lines. I'm using the TAMIYA X-20A Acrylic Thinner with Liquitex Paint. I also got really tiny brushes. 20/0 and 18/0 multimedia brushes. I got one of the 03 Zoukei-mura face brushes from VolksUSA but when I looked at it it seemed like the brush tip was thin and small but really long, and I sometimes am heavy handed, so was too afraid to use that one.

 

While I'm painting I still use the Precision Q-tips that are just barely damp (I stick them in water then blot them a few times on a paper towel). With the thinner and the paint thankfully its easy to wipe off mistakes or areas that you kinda go outside the guide lines... ^^;

 

So, yay - first coat of paint done, and I spray it with ZM Spray and it's sitting in the kitchen drying. When I look over the pictures the lines seem a little thick.. but maybe that's also b/c I have the camera 2 inches away from it? lol Trying not to expect factory airbrush/masking on the first go 'round.

 

Things were going pretty swimmingly at first, then I got too confident so I messed up on her lower lashes - tried to fix it as best I could then tried to make the other side look the same.. bc at least they'd be matching lol. Added just a wittle bit of white/pink with thinner just so i can have some base before i do pastels. Sprayed it with ZM again and waiting for things to dry.

 

edit* Later that night...

 

 

Ok, so in between this photo and the last I went back and checked on the face and noticed, ugh the pink had kind of collected into two dark spots on her lips - so I tried to go over it with another pink and some thinner, then it ended up being too dark, so i tried adding a little bit of white (was going to add highlights anyway) and then tried to add some pastels. Added pastel everywhere really b/c it did soften the colors of the face up. Really dont know if I want to use gloss now. kinda like matte finish

 

Added some faint cheek lines and a shine spot ;D

 

Pastels really help soften out the brown, thank goodness!

 

Yay!!! All done! The eyes really make her face pop. The wig looks absolutely adorable on her, but I think i will have to trim it a little bit... XD

 

Tried to take a closer photo in natural light. Looks better I think in person... ^^;

 

That was super fun! One of my friends asked me if I might do one of her faceups.. but hers are resin bjds.. I think anime style and realistic style are two diff animals... lol

 

Lemme know how I did, is this n00b doin' alright? XD I'd like to hope so hehehe

 

Keep bein' awesome guys!

Edited July 20, 2012 by Guest

Looks nice, I really like the lips. You're quite good with matching the sides to each other. That was something I failed at when I tried to do my own faceup.

She looks very cute, particularly for your first faceup!

Very good on your first try. I always have trouble getting the brows to match and i know how you feel when you made a mistake and then try to fix it. I have done Kaori at least 8 times and in the process got better at it.

Yeah o____o I totally had a stream of unpleasant words when I tried to fix that one mistake. Then I just though, well... maybe if I make it match it'll look intentional and maybe it can be softened up with pastels lol.

 

Sometimes I get too obsessed with things being absolutely perfect so I tried to stop myself from trying to fix it too much cause usually that just makes things worse heh heh XD

She's such a cutie! Very nicely done for your first faceup!

Kawaii~! >w<

I really like to look at her.. You did a good job there..