Help a Total Noob: Your preferred supplies?

Some background: I've got a Dollfie Dream girl, I've had her for years.  Her body is secondhand and has some stains, and I just bought a smaller chest for her.  I'd like to re-do the hideous faceup I did when I initially got the head (and perhaps darken her skin tone a shade or two using pastels since I'm scared of dye).  I'm also planning on blushing her body (mostly to give her muscle definition, since she is supposed to be StronkTM).

My question, as a total noob, is...

What tools and supplies do you guys like to use?  I'm talking brands, brush types and sizes, the whole nine yards.  Because if someone just says "small brushes" or "chalk pastels" then I spend three hours standing in the store or browsing the internet and wondering which to get and ultimately getting frustrated and giving up.

 

Here is what I currently own in my supplies:

• Sprays: Mr Super Clear Flat UV Cut and Zoukei-Mura UV Cut
• Pastels: General's Chalk Pastels in #4029, #4053, #4051, and #4089; Zoukei-Mura Make Pastels (basic set)
• A pile of various acrylics designed for miniature painting that probably aren't best suited for dolls
• Super cheap watercolor pencils that are worthless
• Tamiya Acrylic Paint Thinner X-20A
• A set of Army Painter mini-painting brushes

 

Clearly, my toolset needs some serious work (and perhaps a dedicated toolbox).  So please, suggestions!

 

Used both sprays, I like MSC better for watercolor pencils, I like ZM spray more for my pastels lol. Pastel wise, I was recommended Mungyo soft pastels and I actually really like them. I have both Mungyo and Faber Castell soft pastels, I prefer my Mungyo ones, personally. I've had better experience with them applying with more pigment in less coats.

Not much help for acrylics, I use the Volks ZM Acrylics Make Color set lately.

Used both Faber Castell watercolor pencils and Prismacolor Premiere watercolor pencils...The FC ones I find kinda finicky depending on the color. Sometimes they apply easily for me, other times it takes a lot of layers. I tend to only use the pencils for linework that gets painted over in acrylic anyway, so I've been leaning toward the Prismacolors since they apply in less layers. But I maybe wouldn't recommend them for being the final eyelines? They're sometimes grainy and they sometimes smudge a bit if I'm not careful. But I haven't been using them long, so that may be more of a me issue lol.

Of course, mileage may vary on these, everyone likes to work with something different. I hope it won't be too controversial that I personally don't love my Faber Castell products like the rest of the doll world does lol, it totally may be in how I use them.

Personally, I mostly use Liquitex liquid Matte currently. Though MSc etc give much lovelier results, with dabbing the Liquitex on with a sponge, I can quickly get a base for acrylic paints. (it won't give the surface the 'teeth' necessary to use Aquarell pencils, though.)

I then use cheap acrylic paint - with nail art brushes (very thin brushes, and I dip the brush into water before taking paint and do a few strikes on a paper towel to wipe excess). 

Admittedly, these faceups look better on Pic than in person (can be glossy), but for my personal use, it's okay, and I have fun doing it. 

That's the important part, as long as you have fun, go hogwild, try everything out - you can always wipe it off again 😉

Noxx, when you say Mungyo do you mean their base line, their Gallery line, or their handmade line?

Gallery line is what I use, I think. They're on Amazon under "Honsell" for some reason, but here's an image of the set I have

(the more I read the box, the more I can see why that's confusing actually... Lol. It sort of says everything on it.)

Edited August 21, 2021 by Noxxbunny

Okay, so the good stuff.  Got it.  Yeesh, those are pricy, but they look so good, haha.  Do you have any preferred brushes (brands/sizes)?

Went to my Friendly Local Art Supply and they didn't have Mungyo or Faber Castell soft pastels, but they did have another handmade, super-high-quality brand that they sold in singles called Jack Richeson.  It's so soft that it came off on my hands as I examined the sticks, and it doesn't seem to contain any oil at all.  I grabbed three skintones (for recoloring the body and then contouring), a black, a white, a red, and a greyish purple that I'm going to use instead of orange/brown as the draft line for the eyes (I'm going for cool tones and a mature look here).  I'll let you guys know how they turn out on another thread.