Face-up on your First doll; Brave Enough?

First..I'm not good with art.. I'm bad with drawing..and screw painting..
I have a good imagination..but I don't trust myself.

And besides..I always fall in love with the default face up..haha..it's true really.

 

I did the face up on my first doll and all the face ups after for my other dolls. I had a default face up on her so I could see the work in person but I re did it. All the other dolls I purchased were either ordered blank or if they were limited I wiped the face within days of receiving them.

I think it is a great idea to do your own face up. What worked for me was thinking of my first as practice. Meaning I repainted from scratch my first face up about 6-8 times. The first 4 were just awful but with time I got better. I was repainting for about 2 weeks on the same mold. At the end I had something I could happily live with!

Good luck and have fun painting.

 

If you're confident in your painting skills in 3 dimensions, I think it's a good idea.

When I got my first doll, I ordered her without a faceup and read a bajillion tutorials before I finally got her. I gave her two faceups on the second day I had her, but I didn't like them, so I did it again the next day, and I was temporarily satisfied.

Recently, I wiped her faceup and did it again. And the sealant ran... ;____; So I tried again, and I liked it better than the first good one (except her lips, on which I drew too many lines...)

I intend to do an even better one (or more) this summer, and possibly even try using acrylics instead of just pastel and watercolor pencil.

The moral of the story is, if a new dollowner intends to do faceups in the future, and is patient, and can take a few failures, I think it's a really good idea for them to order their first doll blank and give it a try.

 

hell yes i did it! and not only did i do my first's doll faceup, but i also dyed him!

i dont see why so many poeple are nervous about making the faceup on their first doll. so what if it's the first or fifth doll? it'll still be your first faceup. and if you miss it, IT IS VERY EASY TO ERASE AND SEND THE HEAD TO SOMEONE ELSE TO DO THE FACEUP. simple as that ^^

 

I did mine- and I thought the same thing you did- that it didn't really look that hard right? To be honest though, doing it wasn't the hard part, getting it to look decent was what took awhile. And I'm still working at it- over a year later. The important thing is to be satisfied. In the course of learning how to do faceups, rather than focusing on the critique (I started out that way and it didn't help.) I ended up just doing what I wanted to make my doll look how I wanted, and keep improving. When I wasn't satisfied I wiped it off and started again- and as a direct result of that, poor Maika's had around 15 different face-ups in one year. Still, it's fun, and it's one of my favourite parts of the hobby, so I say go for it!

 

I bought my first with faceup but screwed up a month or 2-3 after xD I didn't like the way his lips were very colorless so I took some pastels and colored them a bit. It only started to go wrong at the sealer xD I only had a normal sealer for paper with me, and I thought it would be fine. Until I saw the reaction the two sealers had xD Filthy spots and marks everywhere.
So at a fair a few weeks later, I took my boy (without faceup xD) and bought some MSC

I learned the hard way the days after but after all it became fine again and I'm happy that I got started with faceups :p

But if you want to do the faceup on your first doll, just start doing it especially since you are a bit handy If it goes wrong, just do it over again. You only learn by trying and trying ^^

 

No way. I realize I'm not talented in this area. I have no desire to develop the skill either.

 

After lots and lots and LOTS of research, I attempted Yoru's original faceup just to see if I could do it. I'm really not good at faces, and I was really intimidated when I started, but it actually turned out all right and wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. The commission I got months later was far better though. XD It was kind of like what I'd done, but, y'know...good. Basically I don't think it's anything to be afraid of; it just takes some experience to get good at it. And if you don't like what you end up with you can always get it redone!

 

Oddly, I have redone just about all my dolls faces except my first dolls. I love the DOD default face up and I'm waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to nervous to redo it myself! At some piont I'd like to remove it and do it myself but not yet! XD

 

I guess this is an after the fact vote for me. I did the faceup on my first doll, and after watching a friend of mine do a face up. She is really good tho and I used her materials. She was right there watching me and giving me tips as well as doing a practice head at the same time for a display. It was really fun and if you think you can do it I'd say go for it! Just be sure of the materials you have before you start any painting or coloring, you don't want to stain the doll permanently.
Also, if you know what you have in mind, it's sometimes easier to just try it yourself then explain it to someone else. I guess that's part of the reason my friend had me do it I couldn't describe it, but I could paint it. It took almost as long telling her about how it would look as doing it myself! I think it took me like 2 hours, but she is a small doll so not to much room for detail..

 

My first faceup was on my first doll in 2001. It made me really nervous to wipe her factory faceup and then paint her myself, and tutorials weren't as readily available as they are now. I did a terrible job, but it opened the door for a lot of experience and practice. I'm very glad I took the risk.

 

I chose to buy my first with a default faceup. I wanted to actually see a good one in person before attempting to do one myself (as the standard is very high), and I liked the faceup he had. I think this was really the best choice for me. The second purchase I made was a practice head for working on faceups, which was ALSO an excellent choice for me.

Now I do nearly all my doll's faceups (unless they're secondhand and have something awesome already done, or are limited with special faceups) and am taking commissions. But I would have probably not stayed in the hobby very long at ALL if I'd attempted a faceup on my very first doll. I'd have been ashamed to show him to anyone! My first few faceups were not very good, and I really wanted to be able to enjoy my first doll from the moment I got him. Now I prefer my dolls to come in blank and don't mind if they take a little time to come together, but the first I wanted perfect right out of the box.

 

I did mine, and It was crap. But thankfully dolls are forgiving, and I managed to get it right... The third time around. Eh, third times a charm.

 

There was no way in heck I was about to try my own face-up, I knew from the start I'd have to commission or take factory default. I lack any artistic skill or coordination so I would try, fail, get mad (bad temper >_> ) and probably end up selling the doll because I couldn't get it to look nice. I'd get customs but like chaos_zebra I wouldn't know what to ask for or how to explain it. :S It's frustrating because I love a few SDFs for example but their defaults do them NO justice half the time.

 

"I would but I think the default or someone else could do better than anything I could think up."

I've just ordered my first BJD and i picked default faceup
I'd love to do my own faceups but since I'm new to BJDs id be too nervous of accidently marking the dolls face permanently, and/or using the wrong materials.
I've seen lots of gorgeous faceups and tutorials online, but i want to see what a good faceup it looks like in real life before trying one myself, and in the meantime im perfectly content with commissioning faceups from others.
I actually want to buy a spare blank head and use it to practice faceups before i apply anything to my 'real' dolls face.

 

Before I had a BJD, I had practice painting 1/6th scale Dollfies, so I was apprehensive, but sure that I would probably get the hang of it! XD Mind you, back then there weren't a ton of tutorials, so I just winged it and after a few more times it became easier. I still check out tutorials today and learn tons, but most of my dolls are faceupped by me. I have one with a default company faceup and two artist faceups though (they were too pretty to remove).

 

I might try.
(I'm in the process of saving for my first one as well. Once my Guitar sells I'll have enough. ><)

I've seen a lot of tutorials as well. Also my mom is strongly encouraging me to XD
She wants me to learn how to mod too so I can take commissions.
My mom loves it when I make money from all the artsy stuff I do, something none of my other family members really had the talent to do.

ANYWAY.
Yeah, I'll probably try to face up my first doll.
If It doesn't work the first couple times though, I'll probably get a custom faceup from other person. And then buy another cheap head to practice on until I get good. lol /shot/

 

I bought my first doll with a default faceup.
Like AmyAngel, I'd like to see a professional one in person just to have a good idea what it is like.
But the default faceup did not suit any of my needs so I decided to wipe it and tried it myself.
Since then I've been buying dolls blank and do their faceups myself. The key is to keep doing it until you find it perfect... if it takes many tries, so be it! It took me a year and a half and many faceups to finally nail the look I want for my first doll. :> But boy, it is so nice I look at her now and she is exactly what I wanted in every way. :> It is so satisfying. And she, now despite of all her flaws, remain my favourite doll. :>

 

I'm still working on getting my first....but I have soooo many face-ups drawn out. Plus, not to brag, but I'm a really good artist Oo I know what she's going to look like and I feel that no-one else will be able to capture her like I could o////o I do wish I had a practice head though......-sighz- But I feel confident in myself ^^

 

i did the faceup for my first doll actually. the main reason i did it was because i was to poor to afford having it done. and it was a disaster! i spent probably 6+ and i had to wipe the whole thing off right before i left for my first meetup the next morning OoO i felt so embarrassed although no one said anything to me, most likely out of politeness.

i have since become really dedicated to doll customizing and really enjoy doing it. but it kinda took me about 3 years to feel secure enough to say that.