HALP! Colors for Boy Faceup

It is getting close to 6 months since Tamayuki arrived on our doorstep letting me see his adorable face everyday. It took less time than I expected for him to get used to me sticking a camera in his face almost daily, but it has bothered me that he has remained unfinished for so long. I have figured out more on what shape to paint his eyelashes, eyebrows, ect. but I'm still really stumped on colors because that is one thing that drastically differs between boys and girls.

 

To make it easier, here is a Tamayuki picture where his hair is actually accurate but his skin is a bit washed out. Much of the time he looks a bit blond (even after photoshop alterations) because his hair is a pure gray and the lights in the house have a severe yellow cast.

 

Tamayuki Moppet by Sister Kyoya, on Flickr

 

He was having a big hair day...

 

Then at it's 'worst' he can look like a complete blond although I do try and avoid this.

 

Daydreamin by Sister Kyoya, on Flickr

 

So my first problem is figuring out what color to even use for his eyebrows since his hair color changes a lot.

 

Then there is a similar issue with eyelash/eyeliner color as well. I know that most of the faceups have rather dark eyeliner, and it works with girls, but I didn't want his eyelash color dominating his face because his eyes are already big and dark enough as it is, but he normally wears rather light colored clothing. I surely don't want him to look like he's wearing makeup, but I didn't know if something like a lighter medium brown would still look alright.

 

Next is the blush, but I think that should be more easily dealt with if I use a bit more orange/flesh colors instead of more pink based like the girls use. Even just a little bit would give more depth to his face.

 

And lastly the one that has me thoroughly stumped is his lips. I know that he needs some sort of color, but I'm at a total loss to figure out what direction to go. So far I've done Rainie's mouth which is completely painted because of her face being resculpted, and Naiomi has her lipstick painted on and that's perfectly fine for her. But for Tamayuki I just don't know. I have a vague guess that 'blushing' his lips with chalk probably would work but I haven't figured out how to do it (I tried with Naiomi). Again I at least know sticking to flesh tones would help, but I'm still afraid that it might look like lipstick. Painting the color on I know would guarantee that it would look like lipstick...

 

As a slight side note, what exactly do people use to get the lips to look glossy? Naiomi really needs some before I feel like her faceup is finished, but all I have is clear fingernail polish that I'm sure would yellow over time or goof things up somehow.

 

If anyone has any suggestions to ant of the above stuff, I would greatly appreciate your input.

 

~Sister Kyoya

My first thought for the eyelashes/eyebrows is dark brown, partially to keep it from looking like female eyeliner and partially because he's supposed to be so young. If you're nervous, you could start with a middle brown, and then do finer layers in gradually darker tones--Volks did something similar on Mariko, and then with purple instead of brown on Sakuno and Miyu. It gives you some fudge room, and adds a neat bit of depth too.

 

Lips is going to be hard, but I'd guess a more desaturated peachy color? Possibly something only a shade or two darker than his skin. Luckily ground-up pastels usually go on pretty light unless you layer them bunches with more sealant in-between.

 

I'm totally not sure on the gloss either though. Vinyl gets weird around certain substances, so whatever you get I'd test it on his headcap first, just to be safe. (Maybe I'm paranoid though, after spraying Testors on a custom MLP once. Their vinyl feels a bit like DD vinyl, and after the Testors said pony was a sticky goo blob. However, I know now that Testors is particularly bad with vinyl compared to many other products.)

I think that his eyebrows should be a few shades darker than his hair. Even though the pictures show his hair looking very different shades depending on the lighting... I believe that it would be best if you did it a few shades darker of what his hair is actually like, regardless of what photos show.

 

I'm unsure of what kind of eyelashes you were planning on doing for Tamayuki, but I believe that a medium to dark brown would be just fine if you choose to not have too many individual lashes, rather than a darkened line.

 

In most anime I have seen, the boys do not really have defined lashes, they just have basically "eyeliner" for lack of better description. If that's the style you're going for, I believe those colors would work. If not, perhaps use a bit lighter color to avoid him from looking too feminine.

 

I think if you used a pastel color in a shade 2-3 darker than his skin, it would work fine. Just grind it up and layer it on until you find the amount of color that you like. ^_^

 

Tamiya gloss is what I believe many people use. I bought it from eBay when I got my first doll and was going to do her faceup. I gave it to hikaru on flickr though, since I ended up not needing it.

I know it has been a wile since I posted this question, but I can't tell you how much I appreciate the feedback from the both of you. It was very, very helpful and Tama-chan's face is done! I don't have a pic yet (because it's 3 am) but I am so very happy with how he looks. The medium brown color worked really well for his eyelashes/liner and by sheer dumb luck I ended up mixing the exact color I needed for his eyebrows to match his hair. I'm still stunned about that one. The most fun out of all of it was doing the 'blushing' (no, he has no actual blush) to give some depth to his face, and even his ears. I love staring at his cute ears!

 

I can't thank you guys enough for answering my questions, your straightforward answers did a lot to help me not panic. I have never painted a doll's face before we had DD and rarely had I used a paintbrush. I'm sure someone will want to hit me if they see Yuriko's faceup after reading this... she is stunning.

 

~Sister Kyoya