Black Gouache Paint?

Hi! Might be a dumb question, but will black gouache paint stain a doll? I did very watered down chalk pastels for my DDH-03's eyelashes and brows for her original faceup, but I wanted to darken the lashes somehow, and have seen people use black paint on their dolls. I had also heard some people say it stained their dolls, and that I should avoid red, blue, or black paints or pastels. I know this is probably a complete noob question, but I'm just a bit scared to do it and ruin the faceup!

Not really related, but does anyone know good techniques to do natural size and placement freckles? I haven't done them on her yet, so I just wanted some tips before I began! Thanks!!!

As my experience with other BJD's, Gouache paint are water based so they are not as agressive as other kind of paints, but make sure to apply a few MSC layers before using it, just in case. For the freckles you can use a brush going totally handmade, search some pictures for reference, it can be useful ^^

I'm not sure if gouache would stain, but why not use watercolor pencils? You can get bold, dark lines in a layer or two with them! :]

For the freckles, it depends on what kind you're going for. If you want realistic, random, all-over-the-place freckles, you can use the flick method. Use either a paintbrush or toothbrush in thinned acrylic, and either scrape your thumbnail down the toothbrush bristles, or brush the brush bristles over your thumbnail, aiming at the area you want the freckles on. The toothbrush covers a wider area, but in both instances it's difficult to control.

If you want some larger, less random freckles thrown in, just go carefully and make sure to spread them out and vary the sizes.

Gouache user here! As long as you’re using an appropriate amount of sealant, gouache shouldn’t stain. It’s basically just a more opaque water color since regular gouache generally use the same type of binders like gum Arabic, and I know that watercolors are also definitely a popular choice in faceup materials. If you’re still concerned, Holbein has a line called “acryla gouache” which has the kind of water mixing properties of gouache but with an acrylic polymer binder, so when it dries it behaves similarly to acrylic paints. (Though that means that you can’t re use palettes like with regular gouache since it doesn’t “re-activate” by adding water)

Edited January 3, 2021 by Mainframe110

7 hours ago, DreamDollDesign said:

I'm not sure if gouache would stain, but why not use watercolor pencils? You can get bold, dark lines in a layer or two with them! :]

For the freckles, it depends on what kind you're going for. If you want realistic, random, all-over-the-place freckles, you can use the flick method. Use either a paintbrush or toothbrush in thinned acrylic, and either scrape your thumbnail down the toothbrush bristles, or brush the brush bristles over your thumbnail, aiming at the area you want the freckles on. The toothbrush covers a wider area, but in both instances it's difficult to control.

If you want some larger, less random freckles thrown in, just go carefully and make sure to spread them out and vary the sizes.

I think I just got really cheap watercolor pencils or don't know how to use them properly, they don't really give me any smooth lines, and with the lashes around the eyes, I have shaky hands, so the watercolor pencils typically don't work for me!

That's such a good tip with the freckles, thank you!!!

4 hours ago, Mainframe110 said:

Gouache user here! As long as you’re using an appropriate amount of sealant, gouache shouldn’t stain. It’s basically just a more opaque water color since regular gouache generally use the same type of binders like gum Arabic, and I know that watercolors are also definitely a popular choice in faceup materials. If you’re still concerned, Holbein has a line called “acryla gouache” which has the kind of water mixing properties of gouache but with an acrylic polymer binder, so when it dries it behaves similarly to acrylic paints. (Though that means that you can’t re use palettes like with regular gouache since it doesn’t “re-activate” by adding water)

That is insanely helpful!!! I have fairly shaky hands, so the reactivating part of gouache is the reason that I wanted to use it, so I could fix any errors! Do you have any brands you would reccomend? I found a fairly cheap set at Michael's, but I'm concerned that it might not be high quality. Do you know of any way to just buy a singular tube of gouache? Thank you so so much!

12 hours ago, HannGS said:

As my experience with other BJD's, Gouache paint are water based so they are not as agressive as other kind of paints, but make sure to apply a few MSC layers before using it, just in case. For the freckles you can use a brush going totally handmade, search some pictures for reference, it can be useful ^^

Ok, thank you so much!! I tend to get a bit stressed placing each individual freckle, but I'll give it a shot!

1 hour ago, AveragePigeon said:

That is insanely helpful!!! I have fairly shaky hands, so the reactivating part of gouache is the reason that I wanted to use it, so I could fix any errors! Do you have any brands you would reccomend? I found a fairly cheap set at Michael's, but I'm concerned that it might not be high quality. Do you know of any way to just buy a singular tube of gouache? Thank you so so much!

Honestly I think with doll painting (that isn't done with airbrushing), there's diminishing returns on material quality at a certain point, and it really comes down to practice and technique, and trying different things out.

 I used to work at an art supply store and we would classify paints by "hobby", "student", and "professional". I would stick with anything that is more directed towards students or artists- you can usually tell them apart from cheaper paints because they list the pigments used. (Like a tube of titanium white paint would note "PW6" somewhere on the tube) 

Since you have access to Michaels- generally avoid the "artist loft" brand if you can, that's Michaels in house brand. It looks like on the site they have gouache sets from Liquitex, Windsor & Newtown, and Royal Talens, which are all good. If you can get to a Blick Art Materials store, they have individual tubes for sale and not just sets. It also looks like you can buy individual tubes on the dickblick.com site.

My personal preference for gouache is Holbein (since you like the ability to re-activate the paint, definitely go for regular gouache and NOT the acrylic gouache), Windsor & Newton, and Schminke. I think it's also worth checking out the less expensive brands, at least on the Blick site I tend to trust their reviews since they market more towards professionals rather than DIY crafters and kids. Definitely there's no shame in buying less fancy stuff either and wrestling with it to make it work for you, that's pretty much the story with all the faceup supplies I've ever owned haha.

Edited January 3, 2021 by Mainframe110

1 minute ago, Mainframe110 said:

Honestly I think will doll painting that isn't done with airbrushing, there's diminishing returns on material quality at a certain point. I used to work at an art supply store and we would classify paints by "hobby", "student", "and professional". I would stick with anything that is more directed towards students or arists- you can usually tell them apart from cheaper paints because they list the pigments used. (Like a tube of titanium white paint would note "PW6" somewhere on the tube) 

Since you have access to Michaels- generally avoid the "artist loft" brand if you can, that's Michaels in house brand. It looks like on the site they have gouache sets from Liquitex, Windsor & Newtown, and Royal Talens, which are all good. If you can get to a Blick Art Materials store, they have individual tubes for sale and not just sets. It also looks like you can buy individual tubes on the dickblick.com site.

My personal preference for gouache is Holbein (since you like the ability to re-activate the paint, definitely go for regular gouache and NOT the acrylic gouache), Windsor & Newton, and Schminke. I think it's also worth checking out the less expensive brands, at least on the Blick site I tend to trust their reviews since they market more towards professionals rather than DIY crafters and kids. Definitely there's no shame in buying less fancy stuff either and wrestling with it to make it work for you, that's pretty much the story with all the faceup supplies I've ever owned haha.

The artist loft brand set was the one I was considering, so I'm glad I asked! I'll definitely check out that site and those brands you recommended, thank you so much!!!!!

5 minutes ago, AveragePigeon said:

The artist loft brand set was the one I was considering, so I'm glad I asked! I'll definitely check out that site and those brands you recommended, thank you so much!!!!!

I was definitely lost the first few years I was getting into faceups, it definitely helped me out a TON to work with all kinds of art supplies. For anything else like brushes, or even acrylic paint, artist loft is fine and gets the job done. Gouache is just a little trickier since you need a stable binder to work with water and retain opacity and pigment, which is why I recommended the brands I did. But while the materials certainly help, they don't make the artist, with enough practice anyone can be great at faceups  

Edited January 3, 2021 by Mainframe110

1 minute ago, Mainframe110 said:

I was definitely lost the first few years I was getting into faceups, it definitely helped me out a TON to work with all kinds of art supplies. For anything else like brushes, or even acrylic paint, artist loft is fine and gets the job done. Gouache is just a little trickier since you need a stable binder to work with water and retain opacity and pigment, which is why I recommended the brands I did. But while the materials certainly help, they don't make the artist, with enough practice anyone can be great at faceups  

Thank you so so much!! I found a tube for semi cheap on that site that's one of the brands you recommended, so I'm really excited to try it out! Do you reccomend getting brushes from there?

20 minutes ago, AveragePigeon said:

Thank you so so much!! I found a tube for semi cheap on that site that's one of the brands you recommended, so I'm really excited to try it out! Do you reccomend getting brushes from there?

With brushes it's a bit more up in the air, if you can find some really small ones they don't have to fancy or anything. Synthetic bristles work great, and in theory natural bristle brushes would hold more paint on the brush and would work better for long lines- But you mentioned having shaky hands so I'd say start out with synthetic (or anything you can get your hands on) and work on your own techniques. If you find a way to get long, smooth lines, natural fiber brushes might be worth checking out in the future but I don't think it's necessary right now. If you have absolutely no brushes right now, I'd look for a pack that has a ton of different shapes and sizes. But for eyelashes you do need a very small round brush. Something like these are the ideal size, the ones that are 10/0, 20/0, 30/0, etc, and the longer the bristles the thinner your lines will be: https://www.dickblick.com/products/princeton-mini-detailer-series-3050-synthetic-brushes/

And for big shading areas (cheeks mostly, but even around the eyes) I like to use mop brushes, they're basically shaped like makeup brushes:  https://www.dickblick.com/products/simply-simmons-goat-hair-mops/

(Note that these were just the first ones that popped up, I've not used these exact brushes before- just wanted to give an example since you were looking on the Blick site)

But if you can find something comparable at michaels, even the artist loft brand, I'd go for it. It's mostly the size/shape that matters.

Edited January 3, 2021 by Mainframe110

I've used gouache on vinyl and resin dolls with no staining. I also made sure there were at least 2-3 layers of sealant down before using them. The brand I use is Reeve's, which is more of a student-quality, but they're very smooth and are well pigmented so I have no issues with them. As for brushes, I have a 10/0, 20/0, and 30/0 from the brand "Reaper" that are sold as miniature painting brushes, but they work really well so long as you take care of them. I got them off of Amazon. Testors also carry the same size brushes and those might be easier to find in store, usually in the hobby section (die cast cars, etc). Wish you the best of luck in your endeavors!

Hi! I have not done a face up on a vinyl doll just yet (shes still in the mail) though I love gouache on resin dolls! It's super easy to wipe away with a damp q-tip though just like others have pointed out make sure to do it over-top multiple layers of sealant !! 

for my brand I use arteza! I really love their gouache :))