Face-up on your First doll; Brave Enough?

Some people will tell you it's easy, others will tell you it's difficult, and all of them will have different histories with painting. Personally, I got a company default for my first. I have tried on my other dolls though, to give faceups, with varying levels of success - none of them great, though.

I think if you want a faceup to portray a certain character, or just want something unique, that finding a faceup artist who can accomplish it is just as difficult as doing the faceup itself ^^;

 

It took me a loooong time to muster up the courage to do my own faceups, and when I eventually did, my first two or three were horrible... But by now, I'm happy I took the plunge -- my faceups are never going to be perfect, but it's so much fun to do them!

 

I not only would do it, I did do it. And I've redone her faceup about four or five times now. My Elfdoll Ryung (Yoriko) came blank and I just bit the bullet and did it. Took three tries before I was happy but that was OK. That was a couple months shy of a year ago. She's been redone about two more times since then, with better tools, material s and skills. I've done faceups on 8 of my 13 dolls so far. The others came with faceups and I'm happy with them that way.

If I love the mold, I'll get it, faceup or no. If it has a faceup and the cost isn't too much more, I'll get the doll that way. Makes little difference to me. I decided with Yoriko to be brave and do whatever was needed to make her right and make her mine. I think I may redo her eyebrows but other than that she's perfect to me!

 

Oh, mercy, no, not me! I ordered my boy with a faceup for several reasons: suspect artistic talent, lack of safe outdoor space for spraying, possible reactions to chemicals, and a propensity for procrastination coupled with a perfectionist streak. In other words, I worried that if I didn't get him with a face, he wouldn't have one for a good year and a half! I hope to have an opportunity to experiment later, but the first doll was just too big a deal for me. Good luck to you, and have fun with it.

 

I'd like to, but I'm pretty nervous... It's true that doing the faceup myself would make my doll more unique, and it's less expensive to buy a doll without the faceup, but I don't know how well I could really do it. I'm pretty good at keeping a steady hand, and I've found good tutorials here, so I guess I could try it.

 

As soon as I can find some MSC I'm DEFINITELY going to give my girl a new faceup. Her factory faceup is lovely, but it just can't give her the personality that is so unique to each doll and their character. Plus, it could be a great bonding experience!

 

I was very seriously considering it. Being an artsy person I've always thought that with practice (and good tools) I could do quite well - however my first doll came from the marketplace with a gorgeous faceup, so the do-it-yourself thing was postponed to my second baby (of course it doesn't help that around here it's impossible to find MSC or Testors, but I won't give up!)

 

I was planning to do that from the beginning by myself. I've done only one face-up (for my lonely R. Dimo-head), but I like it. I know that I need practise, so I can hardly wait my first (whole) doll. I know that his face is gonna be a pain is the ass. I want it to be perfect. Well, then I'm getting the practise that I need :3

I don't hate all default face-ups, but I prefer to make them yourself if you like. Then you'll get very unique face-up.

 

Nu uh! I don't think I ever could. Dx
At least, not my first doll and not without practice.

 

Being an artsy person I was very excited about doing the faceup on my first doll and did so. It does take some practice even if your use to painting, but it can be a fun process.
If you want to do it yourself go ahead and give it a try, after all if you don't like the result you can always remove the faceup have someone else do it.

 

i'd be way too nervous. and anyway i can't order MSC here in canada so >.> also i would probably get really annoyed if it didn't look exactly how i wanted lol

 

I refused to try for my fist, mainly because I am not that artsy and pretty much useless with my hands(still am). That, and my mom was like "if you're going to pay that much of your own money, you should get something you know you're going to be happy with. So yeah. It wasn't till after I got my second that I got interested in doing a face-up. Mainly because my Chiwoo's looks kinda faded. But I still didn't want to do it because I knew I wouldn't be able to get the face-up back. So I used the NaNuRi head that had been sitting in a box for almost a year. XD;; My first attempt was a disaster. There was more troubles than I had anticipated. On my second attempt, I was more prepared for how it will look. And then another omplication came up(a stupid error). Even though I really liked the way it had turned out, it got messed up so I had to take it all off. I was pretty upset for a while, but I was ready to try again after a few days, but then the monsoon season came. X_x That was a no go. And school is starting again soon and will a full schedule of tough classes, I won't have enough time to try again. :\ Oh well.

 

I wasn't brave enough to order my first blank, but I quickly redid her face. Despite what others have told you it definately takes skill and patience. Good luck,whatever you decide to do.

 

Heck yes I did.

 

I did not do a first faceup until my 3rd or 4th doll Its not
that I was afraid on the first couple, but they already
had great looking faceups and I can't bring myself to wipe
something that was done so well.

Later when I got my 2 previously loved MSD I did their
faceups, defaults on the others still look better but it
was fun, and can be wiped and redone pretty easily
due to the choice of materials.

 

I voted yeah, but.... only because I had to, really. XD

I ordered my first doll blank, since I didn't have the extra money for a faceup, and thought it would be a lot easier than it actually is....

As for my other dolls, I won't touch their faceups. XD Unless they get ruined in some way, they're staying like that. And then if I do end up having to take the faceup off, the head will be shipped off to someone who can actually do a good job on it. ^^;

 

It's a lot of fun as long as you use the right materials! I have done four and one of them looks great--but I like the other ones anyway;-)

 

I didn't--at that point, I just didn't have the confidence to try it with my first doll, so I bought one that came with a faceup instead. Later I got braver, and now I enjoy doing my own faceups.

I say, go for it, if you feel comfortable giving it a try. It's a lot of fun, and since they aren't permanent (unless you forget to spray them first--always clearcoat them first ) so you can always redo it if it doesn't turn out ok. The're really a matter of practice more than anything else.

 

I did mine! ^__^ (Ichigo)
He was to be (and is) my favorite character (aka obsession), and I just couldn't leave the heartache of getting it wrong to someone else.
If it was going to not be quite right, I wanted it to be my fault only.
I was nervous at first, and it took, I think three faceups before I really got to liking it. (translated into time: six months)
I knew I liked it when I tried to tweak it a bit and change it up last time, and it went over like a lead balloon. Everyone but myself and one other friend hated it, so I worked hard to get it back to the way it was.
Which, I had to admit later, looks better anyway.

Um. I guess I just wanted to say: Do it! It's fun, and gives you another link to your doll. ^_^ And if you don't like it, you can always wipe and redo!
Or if you get reeeeally tired of it, you can send the head off to be done by someone else.

 

I did do the faceup on my first doll and I've changed it 3 times. The thing about faceups is you can always wipe them off and start over if you are unsatisfied or bored.