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tasreborner · Senior Member

the precious lullabies painting method ???

precious_lullabies · Guru

LOL -- oh this is really a cute thread!!! *giggles*

now i want to state firstly that i am by no means an expert, and i know others have some very useful techniques of their own and also produce amazing bub's.

generally speaking i mix up my paints to said consistency. I then load a cosmetic sponge and pounce all over the sculpt. around finguers, toes, eyes/eyelids, courners of mounth, and any creases i'll often load a mop brush and paint this into these areas and continue to then pounce over the area with the sponge. This just makes sure the base colour paint i've chosen to use is laid into these areas fully also.

I've found the secrist kits don't need such heavy applications, but still work much the same way, with darker/orange/pink kits my initial layer is thicker than what i've foudn i've needed with secrist kits as i don't need to worry so much about colour correction. I still do my base coat though to ensure all my vinyl is covered, but the thinkness of this coat is probably a 1/2 of what kits of funny colours need.

I then continue to paint as normal with my other skin tone layers, blushing, crease detailing etc.

I'm taking so pic's as i work on a Sparow kit right as we speak... i'll have them up loaded tomorrow and maybe be able to do up a simalar visual as i did with the hair rooting.

tasreborner · Senior Member

THANKS NAOMI !!!! i really appreciate everybody's input... i just thought your method would be something to try considering i end up with a bit of vinyl show through !!! doesnt look good !!! Also before you paint base layers, what do you wash your kit parts with prior to painting ... ??? Also i am going to try a secrist zoe kit as it was recommended an easier sculpt for a beginner and then hopefully there is an a.stoete kit i would like to try too, does that vinyl require colour correction ?? Also with secrists kits roughly what colour is the vinyl??? thanks again !!! :o) VISUALS are GOOD Naomi.... i would really appreciate that ... i am a visual learner !!! ** does everyone find reborning this hard when they first started....??**

precious_lullabies · Guru

I'm deffinetly a visual learner also... i think many artistic people favour this learning method (ok here comes out my psych studies and eductational psychology unit LOL).

secrist vinyl is a very pail flesh tone - leaning slightly toward the "peaches n cream" complextion which makes it so wonderfully easy to work with. A.Stoete and DD little dreams collection is probably the closest to secrist with their vinyl colouring and so isn't too difficult to move on to after mastering secrist.

Allot of BB and other artisit kits are a weird pinkish, purple, brownish (hard to describe) colour with means they need alot more working to get trully natural complextions.

As with all things it takes practise and patience and persistance to develope skills... PRACTISE and PATIENCE... don't thow the towel in or be dischouraged when you start out... be patient with youself and don't ever hold up your first attempts to what other people have produced once they themselves have mastered it. You've not going to achieve perfection overnight. Instead of being overly critical of your first attempts, try and just be in the moment and enjoy yourself, play around, take risks, be relaxed and your skills and abilities will develope on their own.

to pre-wash my kits I just use warm water with a little soap in it (not hugely soapy) and towel dry. Some others recommend to wipe your kit over with some of your solvent first.

sara zata · Guru

Naomi, I,v read about this internal wash, Do you do this or is it just some one else idea. I do,nt see the point in it myself. I know I have a bit of away to go to get the perfection the same as on my Porcelain. But this one has me fooled. weirdface

precious_lullabies · Guru

there is no point in doing an internal wash on any other kit than secrist. Secrist vinyl is light and translusent so if you paint inside it it will radiate through the vinyl and look the way skin is - the veins ect visable but from below the skin surface. Other kit brands are made of differing vinyl or vinyl-silicone mixes and do not work in this same way -- paint the inside of these kits and you'll not notice anything on the outside.

I tend not to worry about this internal painting even with my secrist kits as i've gotten so use to surface painting and developed my own techniques to achive this same multi-dimentional look by working only the surface.

To be honest i've never even tried the internal painting. I tend to order 3/4 length limbs and this makes internal painting of the limbs very difficult/impossable (?) b/c of the bends in the elbows and knees (you could do it on the secrist preemie 3/4 limbs cause they're still really straight but the others are bent at the joints). I wouln't want to do internal painting just in the head as this would then throw off the complextion match to my limbs.

So yeah I've never done it and so can't really advise anything about it. But i feel that i've still be able to effect the same look with surface painting only.

tasreborner · Senior Member

thanks Naomi, i learnt something new today.... i have been doing a periwinkle internal wash... and its alot of hard work getting it all around evenly inside the limbs when they are bent ones..... its a drip and turn method and then that takes sooooooooooooo long, you are right it doesnt make much difference on other kits (other than secrist)
oh well there takes some hours off my next kit, THANKS !!! :o)

tasreborner · Senior Member

oh Naomi i forgot to ask, when you say you create that blue layer on the outside of your doll do you do a blue wash before your yoghurt consistency base layer or after ??? thankyou!!

precious_lullabies · Guru

not so much blue as a purple - not not a full wash either.
depending on the kit also, but on a secrist....

Using a piece of kitchen sponge (http://www.thegreenguide.com/images/boards/46/966/main.jpg) I punce a very very fine amount of a purple over my pieces - in a random blotchie way. I don't cover ever inch of the vinyl, but use this to set me up for some blotchi'ness to show from layers benieth the skin surface.

After cooking, i'll repeat this with a red.

then my veins go down.

thicker layer pounced all over.

than i start with my skin layers, creases, blushing, fine veins of eyelids etc, final skin tone wash layer (mixed to an extream dillution - just seems to blend everything nicely without taking away detail and skintone variations).

untill happy.

________________

my techniques are constantly evolving though. What i've mentioned above with the purple and red blotching bases before the skin tones and final blushings etc I'd not do on a kit that is that pinkie-purple-brown to start with (like the BB kits). Its more of an approch i've adapted over the last week or so since i've been back working on secrist kits. I think i'll probably use this approch also on DD kits as they seem simalar in their vinyl colouring.

sara zata · Guru

Thanks, that has made me feel relieved, Have you had a look at Vanettes babies for sale on her website. weirdface

June M

precious_lullabies · Guru

no i haven't looked at Vynette's completed babys yet June, but i will do

precious_lullabies · Guru

here is a link to all the pic's i took while painting "Sparrow" yesterday. I've not yet done anything formal up with explainations or anything... but in the mean time you can look at the pic's and progression.

https://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh29/preciouslullabies/baby%20in%20the%20making/?start=all

tasreborner · Senior Member

Hi Naomi !!!! i checked out your baby sparow in the making !!!!! IT was GREAT !!! i loved all the random blotchiness, it really taught me how its actually ok to *step outside the square* and not be afraid to blush here n there to create dimensions within the skin tones.... I love your completed sparow !!! just absolutely gorgeous !!! thanks heaps for sharing your knowledge and experience Naomi, you are a highly talented reborner who is not afraid to share.... also to all the other talented reborners that help answer my many many questions, this really is a fantastic forum thanks to all you fantastic people and i am so glad to meet other reborners with such passion in creating their little bundles also **hugs**

precious_lullabies · Guru

you are more than welcome, i hope you could figuer the pic's out and what i was doing or had done and was trying to show in each. I will at some point get round to writing my steps up and explianing each pic.

Cathy · Veteran Member

Naomi, that's an incredibly informative tutorial, even without the written explanations. It's like you've given us the privilege of peeking over your shoulder as you work. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this, not to mention your generosity in sharing your secrets for making your beautiful babies! smile

I love the way you use the purple to do an outside wash instead of inside the limbs. So much easier, especially when using 3/4 limbs. And very effective.

tasreborner · Senior Member

I agree with you, Cathy, alot of reborners hold onto their "secrets" and wont give away anything !!!! i think they seem to forget they were beginners once too !!!! We are blessed to have Noami and all the other ladies on board !!! Their input and advice is gold !!!!! :o)

tasreborner · Senior Member

Naomi, i will be looking out for the written bits !!!! cant wait !!!! ty so much!!!

TinyEarthAngels · Guru

do I set up another page Naomi??? hehehe

tianakaesha · Veteran Member

what a great tutorial!!

As if you don't have enough things to do... I'd love to see a newborn complexion tutorial done next time you feel the urge haha...

notalent111 · Senior Member

I was under the impression that the skin tone is added and then the blotches...but I noticed in your pictures that you blotched and then added the skin tone...Can it be done either way?
Thank.

Oh, and do the paints you use (skin, blotches, lips, veins, ect) are they rather watery or a tad thicker? I'm not too sure about the paints and consistencies yet.

precious_lullabies · Guru

Your all very welcome.

Nt - "traditionally" ppl do the skin tones then the blushing etc... i do both before and after... it seems to give more demention to the finished complextion. Looking at my own skin, the tones and blushing doesn't appear on my skin outer surface - it radiated out from deeper within as well as surface variations. So this is what i try to replicate.

If you stay within someone else pre-scripted way of doing things you never can really progress - if you play and take risks you may make mistakes at times but you will also develope and find new ways of creating truly "living" babies.

Dont stay within the square - break the rules and have fun doing so.

Its a shame that the camra flash has wiped out some of the details i was trying to show such as the veining and more subtle details. When i get a chance to write out the directions to go with the pics you might find you come to notice some other things in the pics that are so very light (due to camra flash) that they are almost invissable in the pics unless you know you'r looking for it.

Next time i have a pinkie/funny coloured vinyl kit i'll take more photo's showing my differing approch to this. I have only one kit left to paint up for the show, and its a DD so very simalar is vinyl colour to the secrist so there is no point really taking pics of this one.

It wont be till after the show that i do any other painting. The coming week is dedicated to naming and taking certificate pics, certificate printing, baby tranfer tag printing (i tag their backs with ID info), printing of order books, pricing tags, business cards etc etc. I've also some voice boxes to add to some of my babies so finding the *right* baby sound efx track for each of these takes alot of time also. I also have a breather box i'm adding to one of them also. and all the other last minute things.

notalent111 · Senior Member

Thanks Naomi! You are right about thinking outside the box! I usually am one to think outside the box, but I am just so new at this, it will take some time before I am comfortable.

What about the blood vessels on the eyelids...can you tell me how to do that?

Thanks a million!!

TinyEarthAngels · Guru

TinyEarthAngels wrote:

do I set up another page Naomi??? hehehe

did you miss my post hun?

precious_lullabies · Guru

i use a tiny brush - one with only a few bristles. using a little redand purple i paint tiny lines where the vessels might be.

If you have any real babies in your life, take a real close look next time your around them when they've got their eyes closed. some bubs have really red spider veins, others purple, and other blue. try to remember the patterns these are in, and replcate a simalar look.

get the finest brush you can from your art shop, and use a very dilute mix of colour. Don't load much on this brush cause as soon as you touch it to the sculpt if you've got too much wetness on the brush it will just spead out. If you have too much paint pigment it will be too dark.

ensure you've cooked the previous work, and the sculpt is completely cool... COMPLETELY... this takes some playing to get the right amount of pigment and how much is loaded on the brush... you'r going to probably have to try a number of time, and your going to wipe it off and start over... for this reason your sculpt needs to be totally cold so that none of this cooks on while your playing around. Keep a tissue near by and if you mess up wet the tissue with your solvet (the odorless solvent you use to mix your paint with) and wipe the eyelid clean and try again.... and again... and probably again. LOL when your happy with one bake it on and when its cooled again repeat process on the next eyelid.

Same goes really for painting eyebrows - you'll use the same kind of fine brush, different paint colours but mixed to a simalar dilution. eyebrows are another one you have to spend time on and make sure your sculpt doesn't have any heat left in it b/c they are another one where your probably going to paint them and wipe them off a dozen times before your happy with them.

precious_lullabies · Guru

Leah - your its probably worth while, but i don't know when i'll get round to writing out the steps by step explainations. Still you could just put on it "explaination to come" or soemthing and just set the pics up for now.

TinyEarthAngels · Guru

sure i can do that as soon as you send them to me (((hugs)))

TinyEarthAngels · Guru

precious_lullabies wrote:

i use a tiny brush - one with only a few bristles. using a little redand purple i paint tiny lines where the vessels might be.

If you have any real babies in your life, take a real close look next time your around them when they've got their eyes closed. some bubs have really red spider veins, others purple, and other blue. try to remember the patterns these are in, and replcate a simalar look.

get the finest brush you can from your art shop, and use a very dilute mix of colour. Don't load much on this brush cause as soon as you touch it to the sculpt if you've got too much wetness on the brush it will just spead out. If you have too much paint pigment it will be too dark.

ensure you've cooked the previous work, and the sculpt is completely cool... COMPLETELY... this takes some playing to get the right amount of pigment and how much is loaded on the brush... you'r going to probably have to try a number of time, and your going to wipe it off and start over... for this reason your sculpt needs to be totally cold so that none of this cooks on while your playing around. Keep a tissue near by and if you mess up wet the tissue with your solvet (the odorless solvent you use to mix your paint with) and wipe the eyelid clean and try again.... and again... and probably again. LOL when your happy with one bake it on and when its cooled again repeat process on the next eyelid.

Same goes really for painting eyebrows - you'll use the same kind of fine brush, different paint colours but mixed to a simalar dilution. eyebrows are another one you have to spend time on and make sure your sculpt doesn't have any heat left in it b/c they are another one where your probably going to paint them and wipe them off a dozen times before your happy with them.

for all interested im going to post a real life baby pic that i got of my photography friend in the artist showcase it shows the capiliaries sooooooooo well look for the post (((hugs)))

Tina W. · Guru

Naomi-
Wonderful pictures! I've been looking for a way to achieve more depth in my babies, I can't wait to give this a try (crossing my fingers hoping to come even close to what you've achieved) . I've been applying my flesh then blush and getting some depth but not quite what I'm looking for. Thank you so much for sharing your ideas. Do you apply more than one layer of flesh tones as well?
{{HUGS}}

Willa · Member

This was such an amazing thread. I learned so much from this! I didn't expect such forth comming technique and tips. How wonderful this Forum is. I'm so glad I joined. Thanks Naomi for all the wonderful information.

Willa

Buffington · Guru

Everybody loves to share on our forum :)

sara zata · Guru

Check on here to see if thisis what your after XXX June.