Out of practice

When one doesn't do face ups in a few months, they get a bit out of practice and forget how to do simple things. When I'm doing them every other day (or on something like a regular basis) there are things that I remember to do or not to do.

As I mentioned in the last entry, I've begun to get back on a doll kick again. (in no small part because I have an incoming head that I have been looking forward to for months). So I've been spending time with the various dudes and ladydudes, mostly being more pleased with them than I remember being when last I was doing a lot of doll stuff.

The major exceptions to this have been Theorin and Defliel. Theorin's solution probably includes eye mods, but I'm not sure how to do additive mods on a doll like him, given the translucency of his skin. Defliel's issue was the face up I gave him months ago that I never was entirely sure I liked. After a while of trying to get used to it and even hanging out with him on a more frequent basis, I finally just let him sit on the shelf and tried to forget him for a while, hoping when I came back to him I'd be okay with it.

That was not the case, so today I wiped his face and proceeded to go about giving him a new one. Since Testor's Dullcote hates winter, I busted out the handy dandy airbrush (my sealant method of choice anyway) and decided it was about time I make his ears match his skin tone anyway. I've been lazy about sanding them smooth so that they mesh better with his head, but since they're mostly covered by hair it's not a big deal. Now, at a glance, they look like they match.

I tried about three or four times (I forget) to do his face up with my airbrush. I got better with each try, but I really need to just assault a head I'm not in any hurry to get done with this method so I can figure out how to do it right. I can get the left side of the face right almost every time, but for some reason I just cannot tell where I'm aiming the thing when I do the right side and this results in all kinds of weirdness.

So I finally gave up on that and decided to just go the pastels and acrylic paints route. This is where being out of practice comes in. I was just having at his head with the colors. This is something that often looks decent to my eye without eyes or a wig on the head, but the minute those things are present I'm like "OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE?!"

I actually felt like the first attempt wasn't too bad, even with the eyes and wig, but it just was not Defliel at all. I tried leaving it for about thirty minutes, and sometimes when I looked at him I liked it. Other times I hated it. In the end, hating it won out and I wiped it (mostly) off. I was fairly pleased with the lips and eyebrows, so I left those.

I re-did the blushing with subtler colors and was much happier with it. Until the wig and eyes happened. Again.

Here are two shots of the new face up. They helped me realize the eyebrows weren't quite even so I have fixed that since. But didn't bother to take after pics.(It also is painfully obvious that his body has not aged anywhere near as well as his head. Not that the two were a perfect match to begin with but it wasn't quite that bad.)

Of course, I say that and then feel compelled to take more pictures...

So here is another shot of Defliel. I actually think I like this shot the best. I also feel like my major problem with this face up is that he looks too pretty. I mean, he's supposed to be pretty. He's Illaiea's brother and half the cast has a crush on her.

Things I'm happy about: while Def looks like he walked out of a Japanese 3d animated movie, he also looks less depressed and miserable than before. Unlike Lyric, Defliel is not constantly in a state of feeling tormented and uncomfortable. I feel like he can pull off a reasonable degree of confidence now and this pleases me.