Feeling bad after repainting

I would like to ask anyone who repaints or who has had a girl repainted if you feel disconnected from them when you get a repaint. I have had to repaint Autumn many times, especially as I am never quite satisfied with her face-up and every time I do, I feel like I need to re-bond with her, almost as if she's a new doll. It leaves me feeling disoriented and depressed, almost as if I've lost her for a while until I get used to her again. I've been thinking about doing it again, especially since I feel I did Sakura's face-up much better than the last time I painted Autumn, however, I am worried. So, does anyone else get this feeling? And if so, how do you deal with it? Thanks in advance for any replies

That has totally happened to me. Not every time, but most times. I look at them and feel dissatisfied, like I can definitely paint it better this time, and I wipe them and repaint with cleaner lines. But it never turglns out exactly as it was before but this time with cleaner lines, so they look different and it's upsetting at first. I have to sit them there for a while to remind before I decide if I'm happy with the new face up or not. Usually I am happy again for a while, til at some point I look at them again and decide I can do it better.

 

There is only one redo I've done where I was so happy with the way it turned out that I never had a disconnect and never wanted to redo it again, and that's my 04 Kotone.

For me, that disconnect has more to do with the faceup no longer matching how I view their personality down the line--best word I have for it is "dissonance".

 

First time it happened, it was because I realized the first faceup I did for Agatha was too grouchy for her, so I wiped her and redid her with a more noticeable smile, less long/broad eyebrows, and more upturned eyelashes--helped a ton. Her next faceup I did because I *had* to (paint was rubbing off in some very unflattering ways), so I kept the overarching features I liked, but refined the execution and added some subtle mods. I'm pretty damn happy with her currently, even though she's had this look for over a year now.

 

Miku's the one I have dissonance with now. She's too innocent--my image of her is as a total troll and flirt, so she's going to be pretty drastically different from both her default faceup and my other girls. I have a game plan for her new one, but. . . blugh, I'm in the middle of organizing my craft room, so right now I can't find s*** and don't even know which paints are viable versus dried up boogers. XD Hopefully I can finish the organizing before the month is out.

 

But one thing I took away from my experience with Agatha: give yourself some time between attempts so you can really ponder what it is about the faceup that you like, and what exactly it is you don't. It's *not* just about the cleanliness of the lines, or even the symmetry, but about the feel and emotion. If the attitude the faceup conveys isn't right, no amount of crisp brush work is going to make you happy. Jezrah touched on this too, but definitely get brutally specific about what you do and don't like about that last attempt before you wipe it for another go.

But one thing I took away from my experience with Agatha: give yourself some time between attempts so you can really ponder what it is about the faceup that you like, and what exactly it is you don't. It's *not* just about the cleanliness of the lines, or even the symmetry, but about the feel and emotion. If the attitude the faceup conveys isn't right, no amount of crisp brush work is going to make you happy. Jezrah touched on this too, but definitely get brutally specific about what you do and don't like about that last attempt before you wipe it for another go.

 

I pretty much feel exactly like this too.

 

It happened to me once when I repainted Kaito. He came out looking super mischievious and snarky, which is not like him at all. I totally felt disconnected from him for a bit and it was upsetting. I totally had an initial rejection to him like that. Like "This isn't my Kaito." and I almost wanted nothing to do with him looking like that. After letting it sit for a few days, I finally pinpointed what was wrong. The arc of the eyebrows were every so slightly in the wrong place and the sharp points of the eyes were a smidge too far out. So yeah, the lines were clean and I did some good work, but it was totally the wrong emotion that came out of it.

 

So I can third that advice. Really ponder every detail and eventually the part that's really bugging you about it should come up. Hopefully you can go from there and be on the track to being happy with your girl. I know it can be frustrating, so I hope you can find the motivation to keep trying.

The arc of the eyebrows were every so slightly in the wrong place and the sharp points of the eyes were a smidge too far out. So yeah, the lines were clean and I did some good work, but it was totally the wrong emotion that came out of it.

 

Yup! Sometimes the subtlest thing is what screws it up. With Ags 1.0 it was mostly her eyelashes, and to a lesser extent her eyebrows. With 2.0 I got that part mostly fixed, but wound up just kind of "eh" towards her mouth, so that's what changed the most on 3.0.

 

With Miku, there's a whole damn laundry list that's 'wrong', lol--she's gonna look pretty damn different when I get to her.

Thanks everyone for your replies! I've found all of your advice very helpful and its helped me figure out what to do. Thankfully I have pictures of Autumn's previous faceups, so I've been able to pinpoint what feels right and what feels wrong. You've all helped give me the courage to redo her faceup, hopefully in a way I'll be satisfied with it. Unfortunately it's been really rainy right now where I live, but once it clears up I hope to get started.

Thanks everyone for your replies! I've found all of your advice very helpful and its helped me figure out what to do. Thankfully I have pictures of Autumn's previous faceups, so I've been able to pinpoint what feels right and what feels wrong. You've all helped give me the courage to redo her faceup, hopefully in a way I'll be satisfied with it. Unfortunately it's been really rainy right now where I live, but once it clears up I hope to get started.

 

That's great to hear! At very least this time sounds like it'll be way closer to what you want. . . . and it sounds like you know where your supplies are. >.> *glances at her own craft room in dismay*

That's great to hear! At very least this time sounds like it'll be way closer to what you want. . . . and it sounds like you know where your supplies are. >.> *glances at her own craft room in dismay*

Ehehe, thankfully I've been more organized about my craft stuff lately, so yeah, I know where everything is. Only thing is I want to experiment with watercolor pencils, so I might need to buy some before I start ^w^

That's great to hear! At very least this time sounds like it'll be way closer to what you want. . . . and it sounds like you know where your supplies are. >.> *glances at her own craft room in dismay*

Ehehe, thankfully I've been more organized about my craft stuff lately, so yeah, I know where everything is. Only thing is I want to experiment with watercolor pencils, so I might need to buy some before I start ^w^

 

See, I just moved to my new place in November, and the craft room was kind of the least essential room, so it's been the last one to get organized.

 

Yeah, watercolor pencils are an interesting tool to add to your faceup arsenal. Personally, I use them in an early planning stage, and then paint over those lines once I"m satisfied with the layout, but I know there are other people who actually use them for their final line work. Both techniques are valid and probably worth giving a shot to find what works best for you.

Took forever, but I've finally gotten around to finishing Autumn's faceup and taking a picture. I think I need to refine some details, but I'm generally happy with it.

For reference, here is her previous faceup

IMG_20161008_123632131_HDR by Celia the Pikachu, on Flickr

TBH, now seeing the comparison, I feel a bit torn, so critique?

Congrats!

 

I think she looks much better now with the new face up. She has much more delicate and soft details to her than before. This makes her look a little older but also more refined and pleasant. The colors work well with her eyes and wig too so don't worry, you did just fine!

 

 

 

Billy