Does anyone else here paint with air dry paint ? I’m just wondering because I dont know if I should convert to painting with genesis. If you do can you give me some techniques to make mottling look more realistic.also how does prisma colour pencils stay on the vinyl.
I love my air dry. I don’t have the patience needed to paint, flash, bake, cool before I can add another layer. With air dry, I start with the head and by the time the last limb is done the head is ready for the next layer. There’s no worries about fumes or melting a kit and I don’t have to bake outside when it’s freezing cold or blazing hot. I’m currently using Liquitex Professional Soft Body and Hard Body paints. I can’t help with the prisma pencil question. I paint eyebrows and hair. Tack sponges and sea sponges are great for mottling.
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I use Waterborne air dry paints. I also use prisma colored pencils. I have found that I need to sharpen the prisma pencils right before I use them otherwise they don’t mark the vinyl. I also let the doll sit for at least 24hours to cure before sealing or adding paint to the area with the pencils.
For mottling I use a cosmetic wedge I pluck with tweezers. I use more of the slo-dri for my mottling to give more work time. Mottling took some trial and error. I found it looked the best when I did multiple light layers. I also use a wide variety of colors for mottling, usually deep red, yellow, pale purple, green, pale rose.
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I have found with prisma pencils you have to dampen the point. I just tap it on my tongue to moisten it. But be careful not to get it to wet or you will have a heavy pencil line. Then I let it set 24 hrs and seal with air dry sealer with cornstarch.
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I just switched to these paints (I was using Luminaire). I have been using the soft body muted pink for mottling color (very light layer). I have not tried the hard body paint yet. So far I really like them.
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I only use the hard body when I can’t get the colors I need in the soft body. The only difference is the hard body is thicker with more pigment so I have to thin it more.
I use Waterborne air dry paints. I use prisma premier pencils for eyebrows. I sharpen and wet the tip a little bit and they go on smooth.
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I use air dry paints and have tried different brands, but Liquitex professional paints are my favorite. When I do mottling I use the cosmetic wedges with holes plucked out. I use deep reds like burgundy and sometimes make it darker by adding a tiny bit of black depending on the skin tone that I have created. The key thing for me was to make sure that I did not over saturate the brush or sponge with the paint mix. I use a 1/2 inch flat brush, swipe it against the top edge of the jar to get out some of the excess paint and then swipe the top of the wedge with it and pounce it on the vinyl. When the wedge gets too wet/saturated I switch to a new one. If it starts to smudge and you loose your mottling pattern it means your sponge is too wet. I use 3-4 sponges on each mottling layer. I do use other colors and it depends on what look I am trying to get.
I use prisma pencils for the eyebrows and I don’t apply them until 24 hrs after I have done the 1st layer of varnish (I use the soft touch varnish recipe which has the matting powder mixed in). For me it goes on easier and more smooth. It also is easier to correct the brows because I can take a damp pointed q-tip and remove small areas of the brows that I need to correct and it does not effect the paint underneath the varnish and tends not to smear when trying to correct. As an extra step after letting the brows set for 24hrs I take a very thin/fine paint brush and apply some varnish over the brows by painting it following the hair pattern.This is just an extra step to make sure those darn brows don’t smear when I add the second layer of varnish.
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I use air dry paints and have tested and research a lot of air dry paints and mediums over the years.
The brand of pre-mixed air dry paint I most prefer is RebornFX. I have some Ultimate Fusion paints for the brown hair tutorial and a few of their other colors. I like them using them to my own method, not necessarily the way they sell them to be used.
For artist grade paints I have used and like Golden Fluid Paints. They are super strong in pigments and do not fade. I recently purchased a few colors of the Liquitex Acrylic Gouache paints and I must tell you I really like those as well. They are as strong as the Golden Fluid Paints in pigments but a bit more matte. I also have a few Jo Sonjas paints and they are pretty good paints as long as you do not over thin them and you are sure to add in mediums to extend them more than you water.
I do not at all care for using Prisma Pencils. I will occasionally used them for brows but that is even rare now days. I find hair “painted” with them looks fake to me and I do not care for the way the colors have a tendency to go orange.
For good mottling patterns I like to use Equest Tack sponges cut up into small squares.
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