dark spots on the corner of lips?

I find that it helps to bring out the lips from the face whereas without they can seem quite lost. Specially if the lips are quite light and you're a photo editing freak like me.

Though I cant say I'm fond of black. Brown or maroon usually works for me. ^^

 

My Judas came with ones and in some pictures it's really bothering me, because they had been made very messy...Dx

 

Lol I don't know and I don't like those spots either.

 

I don't care for them personally. Mainly because they're most often done in black and it just looks so odd.... If there were a shadow there, it wouldn't be that dark. It really takes away from the realism the rest of the faceup has.

I've seen some custom faceups that have added lip definition and it looks quite nice, much different than the defalut black spots.

 

I don't like them in black, but I do like them in a dark brown (or otherwise a complimenting darker shade than the lips) and subtley painted in - not huge bold lines or blobs. Just dots alone I think look a little odd - they have to be drawn in a little into the mouth and blended in to look good as as dots. I think it helps to emphasize a particular expression for the doll depending on how it's painting, whether it be a smirk, a serene smile or any number of frowns.

 

I've only ever seen those mouth dots done in a very dark color that looks really stark compared to the rest of the faceup. Honestly, if the corner of the mouth accentuating was done in a subtle and careful manner then you'd have a gorgeous pair of lips no matter how you look at it. In my opinion, just dotting the corners is much less effective and esthetically pleasing.

 

I don't care for the really dark spots on the sides of the mouth either, I most often do my own faceups and if I want to hint at a shadow at the sides of the lips I use a medium brown that's been heavily thinned out. My Notdoll Ligaya came with those "cookie pieces" at the sides of her mouth and I fixed it.
To me it kind of goes along with the trade mark airbrushed splotch of color in the middle of the lower lip that looks like they have a bruised fat lip..my MNF Marcia came with that and it really turned me off...so I redid her lips..

 

On top of helping to emphasis the natural shading at the edges of lips, well done spots on the corner of the lips can also help create a different expression, I think. Volks YoSD Ryo has the cutest little smirk due to one corner spot being a bit longer and in a diff direction to the other. You can also make a naturally smiley doll look less smiley if you dot in the right direction.

I personally like them and most of my SDs do have the corner spots when i repaint them; but I guess it depends on whether you feel it suits the doll's character.

 

I don't know why or when they started, but in my dolls....its an accident >_< hahaha I redid their face ups recently and had trouble cleaning up the corners and then when I crushed a little Graphitint into the crease and some fell in the corners darkening it up....oops....it was too hard to clean out without ruining the lips so I left it. That's why mine have kinda spots in the corners >_>;;;

 

I also agree that it's all about how the effect is done... a subtle line/accentuation in a natural color can emphasize the lips if done very well. (Like the Bory icon posted earlier, and Tenshi's beautiful Cristal).

However, I personally dislike pale lips with black lines or spots. To me, in that case contrast is too great and it no longer looks like a natural shadow. I think in that case it looks like face paint.

 

I love those dots. I'm not sure why because if I look at it from a non-doll person perspective they are a bit odd but I find myself adding them to my dolls if they come without them. I guess I like there to be defined part between the lips and dark shadows at the corner of the mouth. The one thing I can't stand though are those vertical white lines some people put on the lips. I hate them and they drive me crazy but I know alot of people like them.

 

That Kid Delf Cherry surely looks odd like that...

I noticed these dots on a few sculpts a while back and simply figured them for the artists adding tonal depth, but badly.

I know the default faceup for MNF Shushu has them, and I hope when I get her they're subtle. I like subtle, heck, I LOVE subtle....but I hate big globs of paint that don't even follow the lip line. I'm scared now.

Oh well, thanks to the tips in here I guess I can remove them if I hate them too much and they look like oreo bits.

 

Thanks for the tip! I may get brave enough to try this.

My NotDoll Princess has some that don't bother me too much, but they are there. Actually, they seem to be showing up more in this photo than they do in real life:



But, whoa, my Notdoll Ligaya has some serious gunk in the corners of her mouth. I like her faceup, but have really thought about having those lips redone:

 

Can't. Stand. Them. Maybe 1/500000000 actually turn out nice-but they are a trend I've noticed and hate. The rest of them look like the doll was eating Oreos on a good day, and like they've got the plague the rest of the time. I can't count the times that I've seen a doll with them and my mind has IMMEDIATELY gone to all of those movies where someone is injured anywhere and blood trickles out the sides of their mouthes. To me, that's what the dots look like-they gurgled up blood and someone wiped it away, but couldn't quite get into the corners there to clean them.

 

Yeah I've noticed them. I don't really think about them but I have seen them a little too thick on some dolls.

 

I saw another tip on her how someone else fixes them, but would like to ask how you fixed your Ligaya? I have one and really want to fix her myself, if I can.

 

I never really cared for the corners of the mouths that were painted in black. I think it looks like they could drool out the side of their mouth... XD