SO I have been just doing the same things with all the babies I make and I realized that a lot of my babies have the same problems so I’m here to see how to fix it.
The lips the look blotchy, how can I get a smooth looking lip, do you use Thinner, or Thinning medium?
I can’t seem to get creases, my babies all have too light of creases, I have tried darkening the color but then I don’t like it.
After I finish rooting the baby is shiny from the handling, how can I fix this?
What kind of varnish do you use to finish I can’t find one I like?
I will post more if I think of any
I often had the problem of parts being shiny. I didn’t like the idea of a sealer at the end, but I now do use a sealer and recommend it. I wish I could get the dewy look but one of these days I will.
For lips I use red with a little black. You have to make sure that it is smooth. I start early on and put layers as I go.
Creases I do the same thing using the crease color. I make sure that I blend the crease color outward and blend with the flesh. Sometimes toward the end of my painting I might go over it with a light red.
It all take practice and trial and error. Keeping asking and please share photos.
And it is not unusual to do three or four layers of creases… Amazing how they will “disappear” or fade after baking … It is always better to have to add another layer, than making it too dark… And blend, blend, blend, so they don’t look muddy or dirty…
For lips and creases I use a few (sometimes more) thin washes. I use red with a bit of blue. Varnish will help with shininess. If you do not like the texture of matte varnish, on my most recent one, I used a mix of satin varnish, thinning medium, and odorless thinner. There is still some texture, but it is not as rough. Someone else also uses that mix, I forgot who though. I tried it after she posted it and I like it.
I use air dry paints but maybe I can help with creases. For creases, I add some flesh to my crease color. I feel like it blends in better. So maybe the darker color mixed with whatever flesh tone you are using would give you a good crease color. I also do a flesh layer after I have done my details to sort of pull everything together.
I would try the folk art tile and glass outdoor matte varnish over your heat set varnish. It will knock out the shiny. Or the deco art soft touch matte varnish in the blue label container.
I am not awesome with creases, so I cannot help in that area lol.
For lips, I actually use almost straight paint with very little thinner. I do a dab of paint, and then I add a few drops of odorless thinner and mix it up…then I let it sit for a bit to evaporate. I do not like running lip paint lol. It pools and makes darker dots. Same with thinning medium , well for me. It can pool up as well sometimes or be blotchy. So I basically lint the lips with the more concentrated stuff and then use a very fine qtip or another one of my tools of the trade to blend that paint or to scrub at it to force it around rather than it controlling me, I make IT do what I WANT. And then it begins to act like a regular acrylic paint and you can actually blend and feather. No other way works for me. In this pic, her lips look blended out and feathered, versus like lipstick gone wrong. I hope this helps!
I trace the lips in that color I mentioned at the very beginning when I am doing veins and mottling and creases, and then I also do inside the mouth, and pull it from the inside to the outter after all the flesh is painted. DO NOT paint the center of the upper lip OR the fat of the bottom lip. I paint those parts with flesh08 and a tad of ultramarine blue mixed with thick medium. I also paint with the red inside the lines on the lips. I do them five times and THEN I bake. I dont bake each lip layer. I build them up and then I bake.Then to gloss the lips I mix 50/50 thick medium with thinning medium and paint like two layers baking between. I curve lines in the medium to give the lips some texture with a toothpick.
I use that same red color for my nail beds in the same method…almost straight paint and then scrub at it with one of my disposable eyeliner wands. The paint stays put but allows me to lighten it and move it without it running away from me and making a nasty mess.
