Shading, depth, detail and techinques~Painting

Although I don't really have too many pictures to show you on the blog, I have lot's of pictures on my free LDC tutorial on the Doll Dreams site:

~LDC Tutorial~

I wrote the tutorial about 2 yrs ago now and some things have changed...especially in the amount of details that I do now, however, there is nothing super drastic that has changed and it is still a good basic foundation for learning to paint, no matter what paint you use.

(I am not posting these topics in any particular order...for order, see my free tutorial)

Many ask: "How do you make dolls so life-like?". Well, it's all in the amount of painting that you do. Usually one layer of anything just is not enough.

So let's start with shading. This can be described as coloring the creases and folds but it's even more than that. To make human looking skin on a vinyl part, close attention must be paid to deepen those creases and folds and to "shade" them...bringing that color outside of the fold and softening it into the rest of the "skin". Shading provides for depth and also makes features, like noses, stand out and look more natural.

I typically can shade my babies 3 times, using a brush and wedge method~usually using the same color but not always. My basic shading color is burgundy, brown and black~no matter which paint I am using. Most babies do not have blood red creases~but rather creases that are more of the brown tone and "shaded". The finger creases usually are more red though. So change up color for them. I use red, rose and black mixed for those and for the ends of the fingers and toes.

Depth comes from layers and layers of different colors AND different application techniques. To start my tones and depth, I use a sponge that I can no longer find. In fact, I think I found this one at a yard sale in a bag of new sponges. It has oval pours and I just love it.

If you look very close, you can see the marks the sponge makes on the limb. This is my first color layer on this doll. Notice how I do not fully color the limb with this brown color? THAT is key to building skin like looking colors. It's important to not saturate the damp sponge with the paint (these are LDC paints here) as if you do that, the paint will just run together and the color will be monotone. Apply it very light~so light that you really do not have to pounce any in with a dry wedge (but keep one handy in the event that you do~I usually DO have to but many of my students to not. Each person has her own style).

I use the same sponge for the next layer, a layer I call newborn flush. It's a combination of red, brown and flesh.

Then I will switch to a less porous sponge for the remaining layers and colors. A new found friend sent me some sponges a few weeks ago...WOW was I excited! (I've told you I get excited about packages in the mail~no matter WHAT is in them~LOL) These are great sponges with different porous patterns and I can't wait to try them! I did not want to use them on my AA baby I am working on as I usually can't reuse sponges when using Genesis paints. I'll be starting a LDC painted baby soon though :)

Much of a dolls detail is painted on with a brush but, when using different sponges, you can achieve a lot of capillaries, blemishes and natural pigment as you build. But do use a small brush to add more capillaries, veins and blemishes in all the area's that real babies have them.

Color differences are a great way to bring life to vinyl. What I mean is that when I pain on veins, I don't make them one solid color OR line. I variate the color using blue and blue-green and have some areas more colorful and some almost not visible. When I do nails, not only do I do the tips and "half moons", I also take a fine brush and add more color to the nail bed right above the nail tip and just below the moon.

Angelica's hands:

Notice also a little mole on her finger? Just a little realistic touch.

Speaking of moons. On a doll like Angelica, yes she should have them for sure. But what about babies? I used to NOT put moons on babies~and on some I still do not, depending on the sculpt. I used to spout off that real, young babies do not have moons, which they do not. They might have one or two but not all five on one limb. However, I've changed my way of thinking. This is why: The goal of the artist to the collector is to make that vinyl look HUMAN. When an adult human looks at herself and the people around her, she sees nails and moons on those nails. This is normal to her. So with a piece of vinyl, when moons are added, the vinyl now looks more human~even if the moon is not fully accurate, the collector is going to relate the moons and the detail of the moons to herself, a real human being. Otherwise, on most dolls, the fingers and toes just look like a dolls. And I paint all five moons because even though more accurate to have just a couple, it would call attention to the lack thereof and look more like a defect.

To build more depth on a doll, I use blue~lot's of blue~in the "thin" areas of the doll such as the temples, bridge, inside corners of the eyes, around the nose, in the ears, behind the ears, at the neck, over the knuckles of both hands and feet, under the fingers and toes, in the arches and palms, behind and beside the knees and elbows and anywhere else that I think is too flat looking.

Sometimes I also use purple there.

And YELLOW! I love yellow! Yellow is probably the most important factor in finishing up the skin tone of a doll. It tones down reds where there is too much red. It adds dimension when applied with a sponge. I use yellow pretty much in all the areas that I applied veins~I basically go over those areas and then touch on areas that I think need more definition and also areas that need toned down just a bit. Yellow is the last color that I use on my dolls.

For added details, I will use Genesis Matte Varnish for hair strokes, eyebrows and sometimes milk spots. I will use Genesis Glazing Gel on nail beds to add nail lines and sheen. (When using LDC paints, I do all my Genesis work first and bake that in, allowing the vinyl to cool before painting.)

That is all I can think of for today! I hope that helps and hope that it's not too confusingly out of order!

Hugs!