[Beginner here!] Need help with a face up!

Hello! I have never done any doll face ups before or anything like that, I need help with a face up for a custom Splatoon BJD [Splatoon as in the video game about squids]! The face looks like this: [The last image is from the game, and I want the doll face to look just like that.]

The face plate [which is tan] has holes for the eyes, so I will get resin ones, and the eyebrows will be purple. I don't want it to have any blush. I have looked up doll face up tutorials, but non of them are for something simple like this. I am thinking of buying Derwent watercolor pencils to draw the eyeliner, eyebrows, and mouth, then spray it with Mr. Super Clean, but am I doing it right? How do I practice? The face plate is being shipped, so I cannot practice on the inside, and I have seen people talking about using paper cups to practice on. People online also talk about using pastels, but what are those used for? I also have shaky hands when it comes to drawing small details on things, how do I prevent this when I do it? 

Sorry if these are dumb questions! I really don't know how to do this, and will GREATLY appreciate any help at all, thank you!!!

Ooh, this is a thing I can actually help with! So I personally opted to practice on cheap Monster High dolls. They are a slightly different material and much smaller than a Dollfie would be, but I felt like it was a much easier place to start since if I screwed one up I wouldn't feel dreadfully bad about it.

Depending on the material you are working on, you'll want to clean the surface with rubbing alcohol, acetone, or soap and water - please make sure you know what material you are using, and choose an appropriate prep solvent. Acetone and rubbing alcohol can both melt certain kinds of plastics, and that would be a terrible way to start your project. Once the face is cleaned up, you'll want to spray a few coats of MSC. This can vary - one coat may suffice, you may want several coats. If one coat feels like it is too smooth for your colors to stick, you can add a second one. The most important thing is to let the coats dry!! If you spray a second coat over a tacky first coat, neither coat will dry very well and it makes the whole process much less enjoyable.

Since you are doing a very simple design, I would probably approach it in two stages; eyeliner, then eyebrows + mouth. So you'll do all your prep, and then tackle the eyeliner! Based on the references you provided, I would honestly recommend using acrylic paint for the eyeliner and eyebrows. You can also use watercolors; acrylic is more pigmented, but watercolors can be removed with water if you make a mistake so they both have their merits. If you use acrylics, I recommend thinning them with water so that they are a bit easier to work with - you don't want them to be gloopy and chunky on the doll, your goal is super thin layers that don't really seem to be *on* the doll so much as *part of* the doll.

An aside here - you can use chalk pastels or watercolor pencils or whatever you'd like. Chalk pastels and watercolor pencils tend to be much less pigmented though; they are very soft, and require a lot of grit/texture to adhere. You'll likely have to do more layers, which means more layers of MSC, which in my opinion creates more room for error since spraying the sealant is honestly where you're most likely to make a not-easy-to-fix mistake. This video showcases how pastels are used in the first few minutes, and I think showcases why they are better suited for adding soft details than the eyeliner/eyebrows you're going for. There's lots of videos on youtube showcasing varying mediums and how they are applied/where they are used that will probably help you decide what mediums you want to use for your project.

After you've got the eyeliner looking the way you want, you'll re-spray the head with MSC and let it dry again. Then you can go in and do eyebrows and mouth. Depending on the mouth you want, this would likely be a good use for watercolor pencils; the brows can be done a zillion ways with a zillion mediums depending on your desired outcome. Once you're happy with the results, you can also touch up the eyeliner if you think it's necessary, and then re-spray the face with MSC again. I'd do two coats for the final spray just to be thorough, but I also come from a background in automotive painting so I'm a little bit biased haha.

As far as your concerns about shaky hands: I get that so much. I recommend having a good stable resting place for the face while you are working on it, and having a separate, slightly elevated surface to rest your hand on; I like to hold the doll head on my desk, held in place with one hand, and I'll rest my other hand on top of a thick book while I work. That way, any tremors don't involuntarily move the face while you're working, and if your hand starts to shake you just need to focus on moving the brush/pencil slightly away from the doll. Remember to take breaks frequently and stretch out; this is not a rushed activity. Cramps and subsequent mistakes are a lot more common when *you* are tense and worried about making them. If you're working with paint, I recommend using super duper tiny brushes. It is much easier to clean up a streak the size of a hair with a qtip than it is to mop up a giant glob of paint. It will be slightly more time consuming, but that is the trade off for not making mistakes imo.

I'll give my two cents here too. I also have super shaky hands, definitely seconding bracing your wrists/arms against the edge of your work table or book or whatever. I also rest my pinky against the doll head if possible.

For the eyeliner, I'm actually gonna suggest using acrylic paint markers/pens, such as POSCA. That's the brand I use and I love them. I have not had any staining issues on a properly sealed doll. Using the pen/marker is way easier for me to get cleaner lines for whatever reason. But make sure they are ACRYLIC markers. Not ink, not alcohol, or anything else. In this case, I'd use them for the eyebrows too, for the opaque/cartoony look. (I choose btwn the pens or watercolor pencils depending on what I'm doing)

I have also used them on lips but in this case, I would use your watercolor pencils. You can also use them to map out your eyeliner before going in with the paint. I recommend sealing the mapping layer, but I'm not your mom.

Pastels are typically for blush, eyeshadow, and other softer colors. You do not have to use them ever if you don't want to.

If you have a beauty supply store near you, I suggest getting the cotton swabs meant for nails. They have one round tip and one pointy tip! The pointy side is super helpful for cleaning up lines without ruining everything.

9 hours ago, kagamik said:

Ooh, this is a thing I can actually help with! So I personally opted to practice on cheap Monster High dolls. They are a slightly different material and much smaller than a Dollfie would be, but I felt like it was a much easier place to start since if I screwed one up I wouldn't feel dreadfully bad about it.

Depending on the material you are working on, you'll want to clean the surface with rubbing alcohol, acetone, or soap and water - please make sure you know what material you are using, and choose an appropriate prep solvent. Acetone and rubbing alcohol can both melt certain kinds of plastics, and that would be a terrible way to start your project. Once the face is cleaned up, you'll want to spray a few coats of MSC. This can vary - one coat may suffice, you may want several coats. If one coat feels like it is too smooth for your colors to stick, you can add a second one. The most important thing is to let the coats dry!! If you spray a second coat over a tacky first coat, neither coat will dry very well and it makes the whole process much less enjoyable.

Since you are doing a very simple design, I would probably approach it in two stages; eyeliner, then eyebrows + mouth. So you'll do all your prep, and then tackle the eyeliner! Based on the references you provided, I would honestly recommend using acrylic paint for the eyeliner and eyebrows. You can also use watercolors; acrylic is more pigmented, but watercolors can be removed with water if you make a mistake so they both have their merits. If you use acrylics, I recommend thinning them with water so that they are a bit easier to work with - you don't want them to be gloopy and chunky on the doll, your goal is super thin layers that don't really seem to be *on* the doll so much as *part of* the doll.

An aside here - you can use chalk pastels or watercolor pencils or whatever you'd like. Chalk pastels and watercolor pencils tend to be much less pigmented though; they are very soft, and require a lot of grit/texture to adhere. You'll likely have to do more layers, which means more layers of MSC, which in my opinion creates more room for error since spraying the sealant is honestly where you're most likely to make a not-easy-to-fix mistake. This video showcases how pastels are used in the first few minutes, and I think showcases why they are better suited for adding soft details than the eyeliner/eyebrows you're going for. There's lots of videos on youtube showcasing varying mediums and how they are applied/where they are used that will probably help you decide what mediums you want to use for your project.

After you've got the eyeliner looking the way you want, you'll re-spray the head with MSC and let it dry again. Then you can go in and do eyebrows and mouth. Depending on the mouth you want, this would likely be a good use for watercolor pencils; the brows can be done a zillion ways with a zillion mediums depending on your desired outcome. Once you're happy with the results, you can also touch up the eyeliner if you think it's necessary, and then re-spray the face with MSC again. I'd do two coats for the final spray just to be thorough, but I also come from a background in automotive painting so I'm a little bit biased haha.

As far as your concerns about shaky hands: I get that so much. I recommend having a good stable resting place for the face while you are working on it, and having a separate, slightly elevated surface to rest your hand on; I like to hold the doll head on my desk, held in place with one hand, and I'll rest my other hand on top of a thick book while I work. That way, any tremors don't involuntarily move the face while you're working, and if your hand starts to shake you just need to focus on moving the brush/pencil slightly away from the doll. Remember to take breaks frequently and stretch out; this is not a rushed activity. Cramps and subsequent mistakes are a lot more common when *you* are tense and worried about making them. If you're working with paint, I recommend using super duper tiny brushes. It is much easier to clean up a streak the size of a hair with a qtip than it is to mop up a giant glob of paint. It will be slightly more time consuming, but that is the trade off for not making mistakes imo.

Thank you SO much!! This was very helpful!! I never thought to use a cheap doll to practice on! I will look into what to use to clean the face, and about the acrylics, I think that I will use Grumbacher acrylics.

2 hours ago, GirlWiththeDragoonTattoo said:

I'll give my two cents here too. I also have super shaky hands, definitely seconding bracing your wrists/arms against the edge of your work table or book or whatever. I also rest my pinky against the doll head if possible.

For the eyeliner, I'm actually gonna suggest using acrylic paint markers/pens, such as POSCA. That's the brand I use and I love them. I have not had any staining issues on a properly sealed doll. Using the pen/marker is way easier for me to get cleaner lines for whatever reason. But make sure they are ACRYLIC markers. Not ink, not alcohol, or anything else. In this case, I'd use them for the eyebrows too, for the opaque/cartoony look. (I choose btwn the pens or watercolor pencils depending on what I'm doing)

I have also used them on lips but in this case, I would use your watercolor pencils. You can also use them to map out your eyeliner before going in with the paint. I recommend sealing the mapping layer, but I'm not your mom.

Pastels are typically for blush, eyeshadow, and other softer colors. You do not have to use them ever if you don't want to.

If you have a beauty supply store near you, I suggest getting the cotton swabs meant for nails. They have one round tip and one pointy tip! The pointy side is super helpful for cleaning up lines without ruining everything.

Thanks SO much! I had seen people talk about using makeup supplies, but I didn't know it could be used for erasing!

Just a word of caution because of your reply - makeup brushes and stuff are totally fair game to use, but make sure not to use actual makeup! The oils in it can eat at the sealant and sometimes the doll itself, depending on materials and whatnot. 

I only work with soft pastels and watercolor pencils.
And while it can depend on what brand you use, it is like @kagamik said - you'll most likely need to work in many layers.

But here's how I do it: Brush the pastels on in the general shape you want the eyeliner (for example) to be. (So it doesn't matter how shaky your hands are!) Then just use a good kneaded eraser to smooth/even the area out. But work in between more layers than less. The more you erase the more sealant you might scrub off, so keep it light and simple and work your way up. So just apply a light layer of pastels at the beginning to get the shape you want.
The pastels will then also work as your guide for the pencils. (or acrylics/gouache if you decide to go that route)
Watercolor pencils tend to stick better when you've got pastels underneath too, and vice versa - they work well together!

A layer of pastels, sealant, and then drawing with watercolor pencils is usually enough to get a good opaque layer going, then sealant and another layer of pastels on top to hide/blend the scratchy pencil look.

But some word of caution, be careful with pastels as the powder might get "flung all over the face" when you apply it, so try not to keep a lot of the pastels on the brush. Try to catch it with the eraser and keep a ball of cotton nearby to wipe off any excess, but try not to smear it outside the area you are painting, as an eraser might not be enough to remove the pigment after a while, especially if you work with dark or vibrant colors.

But yeah, that's the gist of it. Test it out on a non-doll first and see if it's for you!