Your FIRST face-up

Kaz (pictured at left) was my first faceup, and it came out pretty okay. It was the way I wanted her to look, but it was my first try at the whole thing and much sloppier than I wanted. I'm planning to redo her faceup eventually but...I don't know. I like it enough that I'm afraid if I take it off, I might not get it back to the way I want it.

 

Tammy Faye Baker

 

wow theres alot of pretty face-ups ^_^ i would attempt but im still learning i am trusting my friend to do mine when she arrives lol

 

Yup, my first wasn't far off that, either.

I am, more and more, strongly convinced that some people are born with a special gene that allows them to do face-ups, and some people are not. I have been at it for over a frakkin' year, and I am still lingering at Tammy Faye Baker stage. Growl.

You! You face-up artists! Give me your genes!

 

I've been painting porcelain dolls and barbies since I was very young, but I never did eyebrows. O_o They are the bane of my existence! I would be okay striking out and doing my first face-up if it weren't for those... Blegh. Besides, I want my first doll to have a pretty face already, instead of making me wait around nervously wondering between a million looks and worry and tension about getting started.

I'm very much a cycling artist, I'm bad and low work esteem for weeks, then suddenly slam back into it with inspiration, doing things well I never dreamed of before, then lose it again, then start over.

What if I was in a creative slump when she came? I wouldn't even want to think of starting and it would deter the bonding process. Maybe, if I ever spring for a second doll, I might order her blank. On my porcelain dolls, though, I've had some very successful re-paints. ^^

 

My first face up doesn't seem nearly as good as the ones who posted pictures. I don't have any official pictures of my very first on my AOD Ni Ni, she was the first I redone a faceup for.. Definitely disliked many of the ones I've given her.. xD It really didn't turn out and was wiped again in a week.. (Heck she'd looked better without a wig with the faceup). Her second had a fantasy feel and she kept it for a while... She was a blind little nymph. Just wiped it yesterday and redone it.. and now she looks relatively normal and I like it. Even if it looks like she wears too much eyeliner. >.>

I think I'm better at the SD faceups though xD I got Jat blank and did a great-ish face-up that only needs to be redone because of the lips and perhaps a bit less thick eyeliner. I had to redo Lesley's default faceup after it got ruined by a faceplant and I'm very happy about it. I'm definitely getting better!

Considering.. before BJD's I've never touched art supplies before. >.>;;

 

I think it turned out alright; I need to work on lashes and I'm going to try using acrylics instead of all pastels and wc pencils next time. People who've seen Josslyn have been very polite at any rate, so I assume that means I haven't made her look hideous! XD

 

Let me cast my memory back, back, back in time. Gosh that was a loooong time ago. Let's see. . .

The first couple of faceups/body blushings started out well but went wrong when I transitioned from pastels to acrylics. Blushing went well but the detail work was kinda chunky. Sigh. I've gotten lots of tips since then and I hope to grow more skillful.

 

Let's put it this way: Best friend looks at picture. I haven't said anything about my having done the faceup so she has no clue who created the disaster. "Wow, you're gonna re-do that, right? get the eyebrows somewhere in the same state as the eyes?"

Oh was I crushed. I then went back and redid her (several times) and actually really liked the one she had on just before she went to her new home.

That was probably 3 1/2 years ago and while sometimes I luck out and it comes out well -- I'm still definitely an amateur in spite of getting good tools and materials. I think my main problem is my eyesight, actually... and I'm too stubborn to not do it myself, so I take what I can get. Out of me, that is. Very slowly, I'm improving to the point where I say my faceups are "serviceable" (but definitely not spectacular).

 

There's no way a faceup can look that horrible O__O

 

*lol* what I'm noticing is that everyone seems to do lips pretty well, even if it was their first try...

MY first face-up I didn't even have any MSC. so it was painted eyebrows eyeliner and lips for my first boy Ryo. I don't' have any photos of it ^_^;;

 

yeah lips are easy lol I wish the rest of it were that easy...

 

It wasn't that bad! I kept it simple though. I found that doing simple things, and setting yourself up for success, makes you more confidant for the next times

 

My first face-up on a LW head was a failure. My second was also a failure but it was slightly better than my first. I guess practices make perfect and I still have a loooooooooooong way to go. I'm planning to redo my LW faceup some time, but first i need to get some very fine brushes >_<

 

Mine went pretty darn well. Not as good as I'd like but as good as I expected I'd do. Thing is, I used to paint my boyfriend's warhammer 40k miniatures (even did some LOTR hobbits with are half the size of a reg. miniature!), so for me the doll's head was like ENORMOUS. LOL. I want to practice and keep improving though, there's a lot to learn. My advice would be to practice before you do your first one, so you can get a feel for what your skill is. Even if you're just having a go on an old Barbie head or something, you know. It helps.

Here's the link to my first and second faceups.

 

Here I think the lips are the hardest part about the faceups! Hehe, I've only had good luck with them once on my best faceup given so far on my Lesley.. but on my other two.. the lips bother me. XP

So much that with Jat I'd removed his lips and just gave them the quickest brushing of pastel before a dollmeet.

 

My first attempt was at the NY DOLPA 2008. Luckily, they give you professionals to teach you and also to help you when you start going wrong. This is my first and only attempt. As you can see, I mostly went for too light because darker would have shown up the shortcomings too much! Eyebrows uneven, don't like the eyelashes and the lips are rather nondescript. I like the understated blushing, though. I've been afraid to try on my own since!!!

 

My first face-up attempt was actually a very entertaining experience for me. As with all my other attempts, it ended up as a horror story, but that wasn't really surprising because I've always known I'm one of those people who were born with no sense of art. Before trying that first face-up, I hadn't used a painting brush since leaving primary school - literally, for I spent all highschool in the music class so I didn't have to go to the arts one. So it surprised me that I did have lots of fun with the first face-up... until the very moment I messed up the last coat of MSC. Go figure I'd fail at the basics of the basics.

 

I'm okay with my first face-up. It was done on a SD Megu and only used pastels in subtle colours, and for lower lashes used watercolour pencils. It's a natural face-up and looks better than the default methinks. She looks more alive.

 

I do a lot of art and like very very small details. (I like to draw incredibly detailed dragon sketches) and I also faceupped a lot of non BJD type dolls. (Although in a very different style to how I faceup my BJDs. The other ones were VERY stylised) SO it wasn't TERRIBLE. It's okay, and suits her fine. It's super light though. But that's okay. I am kinda scared though about doing a faceup that's not supposed to be really light. :/