Face-up on your First doll; Brave Enough?

Been there, done that... Wiped it off and re-did it 3 months later when I wasn't happy. LOL. It started with wanting to save a little money when I figured out I had most of the tools already from school, but I also found I enjoy it. Don't get me wrong. I was definitely nervous the first time, I was so afraid of screwing up and having to start over. It's one of the ways I bond with them; seeing that blank shell take on a life and personality of its own. Sometimes the first face isn't the right one, but searching for that ONE is all part of the process.

 

I fully plan on doing the faceup for my first doll. It's not at all permanent, and I've decided to stick mostly with watercolors to start, which are really easy to wipe off in-process if I mess up. After I've experimented a bit and sort of gotten a feel for the kind of look I'm going for, I might commission someone to get a really good faceup and stick with it until the doll says "No, I'm ready for a change now." Because I know it will

 

My first doll is coming soonish (hopefully) but I don't have the courage to try myself at all... I'm getting a blank head though with the Lutz event so I might just try it on that one. I've painted custom My Little Ponies before so I have some detail experience (obviously not exactly the same thing at all though).

 

I would, but I'd have to remove her company face-up first. (Doll-love Anona with Doll-love Alice face-up) Though I have been thinking about tweaking her eyebrows a bit. Want them to be a bit whiter.

 

Definitely not! I am too afraid of staining or destroying my doll in anyway due to errors I make in the process. I also do not have confidence in my skills and I don't want to have a doll that looks horrible because of me

 

I wish i was capable of doing it myself but my hand is too shakey! Does anyone know where i can find a list of artists who do face ups?

 

Yes, i think i'm brave enough to do it. I'm currently doing it now. I already messed up two times (didn't turned out how I wanted it to be) but w/o practice how can i do it? :3 Though I would also commission someone to do it if i like his/her style of face-up.

 

I actually plan to do my own. I don't really have the money to commission one anytime soon and I think because I'm pretty handy with a brush I'll be just fine.

I am scared about somehow staining her face though.
Is there anything out there that can protect her face before the faceup?

 

Can someone delete this post please? Thanks!

 

Back when I got my first doll I was terrified of the thought of doing the face-up myself, so I got a default. After taking the plunge with my third doll though, I feel like I've gained confidence. If I had known it was so simple and fun, I probably would have done Hansel's myself back when I got him. His default looks alright for now though, so I'm not entirely sure if I want to mess with it for a little while. Granted, it is nice to know I can actually do face-ups now, it's taken away my fear of loosing the face-ups my dolls have, and in all honesty, I think attempting a face-up is something every doll owner should try. You might surprise yourself with the results.

 

I do all of my own face-ups.

When you first try it out, it's not that easy.
I have an artist's background, still going to school for it, and I had a few issues to work out.
Just don't expect it to be perfect the first time. xD
If you can get it, practice a ton with Testors rather than spending for MSC. That's what I recommend. I'm super glad that I did.
Plus, Testors doesn't have as much 'tooth' as MSC so you have to work harder to get the pastel even, etc. At least that's what I noticed. When I did my first MSC face-ups, the pastel went on very smoothly and even. I think it's because of the Testors practice I had. ^^

 

I love the default faceup of my dolls and i don't want to remove it.I would love to do face up on the blank faces I got , but not until I got some Mr super clear first.

 

I didn't actually do the face up of my first doll - Dollzone Hid, because he was a fullset and so came with a face up, but that didn't stop me altering it The only thing left of the original factory face up is the eyebrows lol. I did do the face up on me 2nd and 3rd dolls though.

 

I didn't do the faceup on my first doll... Or my second doll, for that matter. But it looks like I'll be taking a swing on the third doll, since the bare essentials at dollshe are rather pricey. The reason I didn't even attempt a faceup on the first doll is because I'd never seen a doll up close before that and had no idea what to expect besides the pictures. Now that I have a good idea of what needs to be done and what I want to shoot for, I feel a lot more confident about attempting one myself... But I'll probably still try to find a practice head before I do it on my new doll.

 

I'm really, really bad at painting. It would be different if my painting skill was up-to-par, but I know that my painting ability is basically nonexistent. I knew that if I tried on my first doll, I'd just get discouraged and wind up really unhappy. Thankfully, my first doll came beautifully painted straight from the company. :3 Otherwise I would have had to send her away for a faceup commission...I think I would have been really nervous to have something so expensive traveling around RIGHT after I finally received her!

 

That was the purpose of my first doll so yes ^___^

It helped a lot and now I feel I can do my own face-ups for most my dolls =D

 

Going to have to! That's part of the fun in getting a sist. There's always the marketplace if I turn out to be completely rubbish at it too. ^^

 

I'm definitely going to be doing my own faceup on my first! How entirely customizable these dolls are is a big part of the fun. ^^ I'm probably going to do faceups on any future dolls I get as well.

 

I've considered the idea of doing my own face-ups and I am not too bad on the artistic side, but I have seen more then one user (who I met in a waiting room or something) so excited to get the doll, ordered them blank and then did the face-up themselves. Less then 2 weeks later the doll is up for sale on the MP with the reason being: "I can't bond with her" and the face up is not looking so good.

I think that it is a great idea to do a face up on your first doll; but I think that if you do several times and just cannot bond (or don't like the way you did the face up), try sending it out to a professional and see if you can bond with them instead of just hastily selling.

 

I decided to do it first, too. As some have said, un-face-uped dolls arrive quicker, so that was a bonus. Also, I was slightly iffy about paying (what I thought was quite a lot) for a company to put a default on my doll that I didn’t really like/didn’t suit him. That and I stupidly thought (since I loosely term myself as an artisty-person) that I could do it ok myself.
That's all it was though: ok. I wiped it off a month or so later when I got desperately annoyed with reminding myself of how bad it looked. Rinse repeat and I'll be doing another face-up soon, too. The perils of never being happy with ones work.