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precious_lullabies · Guru

ethnic skin tones ?

Cuisle · Veteran Member

I LOVE your question. Unfortunately, I can't answer it as I, too, am looking for the answer. I have a brown-skinned baby, soft vinyl, that I would really love to reborn. Apart from knowing that the soles of the feet and palms of the hand should be rather pale, I don't know where to start! weirdface

I would really love to reborn my baby using Genesis Het Set paints - and don't even know how to go about picking the colours yet - I have a set of premixed colours, and have some more colours coming - but I am afraid to start just yet.

So I'll be eagerly awaiting your answer also. Best of luck to you.

Faye · Member

Well, sorry ladies, I can't give you an answer either as I also want to know how to paint a dark skinned baby. I'd like to paint Ming, but I'm not sure which colours to use to paint an Asian baby. Do any of the dvds show you how to do this?

I only have the premixed colours too, Caroline. You use the flesh 07 and flesh 08 to paint a white skinned baby, but I think we'd need to buy more flesh colours to paint a dark skinned baby. Have you painted a white skinned baby yet? You should have seen me when I painted my first baby (my avatar)... I made such a song and dance about it and I was actually so nervous about it that I got a headache! Honestly, I was worrying for NOTHING! It turned out to be lots of fun, especially when I got past the second flesh layer and could see my baby really starting to look as I pictured she would. So just go for it! I know the kits cost a lot which doesn't help the nerves, but you feel so proud of yourself when your baby is all finished! I've been working on my third baby today... and I've only been reborning since last month!

Looking forward to seeing a photo of your first baby (lots of people here use them as their avatars) and hearing how much you enjoyed making him/her!

Blessings,

Faye

Cuisle · Veteran Member

Thanks so much Faye for your encouragement. I'm looking forward to some more newborning materials soon - including a few extra paints and "how-to" books which might help, hopefully. I have painted pictures before, but never of a dark-skinned person. This is a whole new world I am venturing into now - a turning-point - and I am very excited about it. I'll have to share with you what I learn. I have a toy doll to finish reborning first (sanding the head was terrible), then I have a Lollipop baby to newborn - these two should get me used to the paints and oven timing thing (I'm also expecting the oven thermometer to arrive soon) - then, hopefully, I'll have the courage to go further?

LovesDolls · Guru

Painting an Asian baby is going to be the same as a Caucasian baby. I have several friends/coworkers/students who are Asian and you can not tell the difference between their skin color and mine.

You would not find a newborn infant of African descent with *very* dark skin. It takes close to a year for the pigment to fully develop. It is the same reason most babies are born with blue or grey eyes. If you are painting a toddler doll then a dark skin tone would be appropriate.

If you do some searches on the internet you'll be able to find instructions on how to paint a darker skinned baby.

-- Edited by LovesDolls at 02:40, 2008-05-17

precious_lullabies · Guru

thanks for the advise on the newborn dark baby. i had heard that somewhere else before, that a dark baby is often born alot lighter than thay'll be when aged 2 or so.

Buffington · Guru

If you want to know how to newborn a really awesome dark skinned baby just follow this link: http://www.secristdolls.com/inc/sdetail/34890

Michele has done a great job of showing how to do them. Also Asians. Her technique is very different from our Secrist method but really great! Danielle also shows how to do eyelid veins along with using the Berrymakers!!

Give it a try!

Most darker skinned babies are born with an almost caucasian colored skintone but it starts to change within a short time. I have lots of babies born in my family like that so I can tell you from experience!

My nephew was born like that, then got pretty dark, and now that he has become an adult he is getting lighter again. And both of his children are extremely light skinned.

-- Edited by Buffington at 05:38, 2008-05-17

Heather M · Senior Member

I have made a Native American reborn a few years ago and I mixed burnt umber in with my normal flesh color. It turned out just fine (at least I thought so).

Here she is: https://s122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/skjul/Hope/

LovesDolls · Guru

Beautiful job! She (?) looks great. I love her hair, too.

Heather M · Senior Member

Loves,

Thanks! I actually didn't like the hair very much. The mohair was too coarse. You really have to shop around to find decent mohair.

LovesDolls · Guru

Heather M wrote:

Loves,

Thanks! I actually didn't like the hair very much. The mohair was too coarse. You really have to shop around to find decent mohair.

Straight hair tricky since mohair comes from goats and the straight hair they grow is pretty coarse!

precious_lullabies · Guru

heather, thanks for sharing your pic's you did do a nice job of her. I' have bought the burnt umber - i figured that that is one of the colours i'd need to use. I guess i really just need to break out and just do it, play around and see how i go.

Actually i think i have some old knoops 1/4 limbs lying round somewhere - cold always play around on these before graduating onto a kit. I think i want to do a bi-racial baylee (boutiful baby) - he looks so sweet.

Heather M · Senior Member

OOOOPS! I meant raw umber not burnt umber! Burnt umber will make the baby reddish...though a touch of it might be interesting...

precious_lullabies · Guru

Well I jumped in and have now finished my first ever african baby - a little girl I'm thrilled with the result and it was no where near as difficult as i thought it would be. I had such fun creating this little one and i've shocked myself at how beautiful and real she looks -- ok yes i'm bias, but i was expecting that my first ethnic baby would be a bit of a disaster.

here is a link to her listing - would love to hear what others think

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=110256347469

heartme_4ever · Veteran Member

omg!! yur baby is beautiful..someone is going to be a very lucky mommy

Cuisle · Veteran Member

precious_lullabies wrote:

Well I jumped in and have now finished my first ever african baby - a little girl I'm thrilled with the result and it was no where near as difficult as i thought it would be. I had such fun creating this little one and i've shocked myself at how beautiful and real she looks -- ok yes i'm bias, but i was expecting that my first ethnic baby would be a bit of a disaster.

here is a link to her listing - would love to hear what others think

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=110256347469

I am truly awed by your gorgeous baby - what a magnificent job you have done. The beautiful paler soles of feet and hand palms. I am so blown away by the great job - truly inspired. OK - you have certainly given me the courage to try - but I can't see my coming close to your wonderful creation. I WILL reborn my "Jasmine goes to Grandma's" - an Ashton Drake baby. Beautiful, but a bit dark, especially bottoms of hands and feet. It will take a lot of work to come even CLOSE to your treasure, however. Congratulations!

-- Edited by Cuisle at 01:16, 2008-05-29

precious_lullabies · Guru

Thank you caroline - I am so very proud of my little Aizaylia. I never expected i could do such a job with my first attemp, so don't doubt yourself - yours may be just as beautiful.

Buffington · Guru

I do like the hair :)
Mine is a very dark brown and more straight. I'll try to post a link when she's done.

LovesDolls · Guru

I would redo her lips. Her skin is good coloring although a bit dark if you are going for a newborn look. But her lips should be much darker. More of a plum coloring. Her hair is beautiful.

This website has African descent babies of all shades. You'll see what I mean.

http://www.gbbb.org/

precious_lullabies · Guru

thanks for the constructive criticism, something i can work on for my next dark baby. I know she is much darker than many african-american babies - however i wasn't going for an african american look, but rather a full blood eathiopiean child. From research i found that pigments in darker skined nationalities can come in within 2 or 3 days or up to a full year or 2 from birth - it more depends on the heritiage and how storng the gene pool is. For an african-american there is often a lot of cross culter heritiage and so skin colourings lighten, one sibling may be alot darker than another, parents sometime are both lighter than one of their children etc.

Move your view away from an african american nationality to a pure eatheopian heritage and this is the appearence i tried to capture in my little Aizaylia. However there are things i'd still improve - maybe the lip colour as you suggested "lovesdolls", i was happy with the sole of the feet but the hands while lighter in colour are missing the pinkie tones. Little things like this. However over all i am so very proud with the look i created and cant believe that i managed this in my first try.