Painting Doll Faces
This is a free lesson for you from me. All that I ask is not to publish this in any form, even if altered, other than for personal use. More importantly....I would love to see your finished doll!!
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Directions for using latex or acylic paint:
I prepare the doll like it says on my website: http://www.heirlooms4tomorrow.com/preparing a doll.htm
Here is an example of my painted dolls:
Note* If you have never painted a doll before and you are not confident enough to paint right on the doll, start with a 'pancake' type doll. (a two piece doll like a raggedy ann or basic rag doll) Trace the head on fabric, prepare the fabric like above and paint that. You can use an old embroidery hoop that is bigger than the head to keep it tight if you want to, this just makes it easier to paint. Then sew the face on when you are finished painting and sealing it. Make sure you use masking tape where you are going to sew. It is very difficult to sew through the painted part. I prefer to paint a doll that is finished with the sewing though.
I have used Plaid's Apple Barrel craft paints for this example, they are non-toxic.
I use the messy mix unless it is a small doll--10 inches or less sized doll I just use gesso.
Then I put the base coat of a flesh color and let it dry. If you mix a color for this, try to mix enough to use later for goofs or to mix with other colors for shading. (flesh here means what ever color doll you are using, black (actually brown) or white (a peachy brown/flesh), ect.. For the black doll I used Apple Barrel's Nutmeg brown and for the white doll I used Apple Barrel's Flesh mixed half and half with white...it was just too orange for me! I usually put two good coats. I use a blow dryer on a cool setting to speed up any drying on my doll when using latex. To store the color you have mixed, add some extender or water and put in a small container with a tight lid.
Here is an example:
While it's drying, I look for a face I would like my doll to have. I don't actually copy it, but use it as a guide for expression or coloring... something that attracts my eye.
When its dry, I lightly sketch (you can do it!!) in the facial features by painting with a mix of flesh color and a little brown...just enough to make a color difference. You can use pencil but I have found that pencil either makes the paint 'crawl' off of it, or blends in the paint and makes a yucky mess. I compare the picture of the face I want to paint with the doll to see where any shading would go. For the black doll I use a darker brown or dark purple.
Note: If you have never drawn your own doll face before, Here are a few rules of thumb: The face itself should be an imaginary triangle, upside down. Draw your hairline first starting at the top/center. Then place the eyes with just a line across....they should 'rest' just above half of the doll's face...slightly above half. Go down 'one eye's width' and draw a small centered line for the bottom of the nose where the nostrils will 'rest'. All noses are different but I make mine slightly smaller than the eye. Now go down half an eye's width and draw the mouth's center line....fill in the eyebrows, nose (for the nostrils, imagine an elongated and sideways figure 8) and lips.......so it looks like this:
For a white doll: I mix a pea-sized drop of light brown with a touch (tipping your palette knife into the paint just to coat 1/2 of the tip) of purple on my palette (I use waxed paper for latex) then I add just a touch of this mix to a quarter-sized amount of flesh color. I add more brown mix to the flesh color as I go along. I think the purple keeps the tan or brown from looking 'flat.'--Gives your shading some color.
I make a 'wash' of these colors with water or Plaid's extender to give them a transparent appearance and make them blend easier...be careful not to get it too runny!! Also be careful and wipe off the 'silver part' of you brush when you use water because it will run down the brush and drip on your doll....it is not pretty!...lol. If I need an area darker, I use the blowdryer to dry what I have so far, then apply another light coat or add more brown to my mix. Generally, you start at the darkest side and work outward into a fade. Blotting on a paper towel helps to get rid of excess color and water.
This is a good time to experiment with color! Sometimes a touch of yellow or green or even orange will 'liven' up a flat looking face! I find that if a color is too bright, you can 'muddy' it down with a darker purple as opposed to brown.
For a black doll: I use black or really dark brown instead of the light brown.
Then I mix a touch of the same brown mix with a quarter-sized amount of coral or pink color. Then I make a mix of this, half and half with the flesh color. (for black dolls, just use red because the white in the pink will make it a brownish-gray muddy color.)
Now that I have my colors mixed, I wash in the colors on the doll using whatever brush will do the job I want... a round brush applies a wash easier--a shader blends easier... so I use a combination of both. I wash in the darker areas first, then the lighter and blend. If I am painting the hair, I shade around the hairline at this stage.
For highlights like the bridge of the nose, I use beige and the flesh color mixed
If your doll is a young child, try not to use too dark of a shading, I find this makes them look old.
Go light to begin with! You can always make it darker.
If your paint is drying too fast, I use a drop or two of Plaid's extender on top of the color I am not using at the moment, Wal-mart sells it.
Prop your doll up and walk away and look at it. Does it look right? Does it need more? or less? If it needs less, I add water or extender to the original flesh color and 'wash' over it to lighten it.
Next, I add a touch of red/burgundy...not a bright red! or (crimson in oils) to the brown-pink mix and shade the darker areas of the lips. Then I wash the bottom part of the cheeks lightly, just to give the cheeks roundness and any area that I want blushed. I use a bigger #3 round brush for this. ( If you only have a bright red, try mixing a touch of dark blue or purple to it) If you get heavy spots, dry off your brush a little and dot over it. I also wash a little bit of this mix in the inside corners of the eyes.
If you are happy with what you have so far (remember, you haven't defined the eyes or lips yet!), let's move on to the eyes. I hardly ever use white straight out of the tube for this--it makes them look popeyed!! I mix a touch of brown to it. I put a coat or two of this on where the white should be, then add just a touch of more brown or gray to shade under the eyelid on the eyeball. Then I shade lightly near the tear duct and the outer edge of the eyeball to give it roundness.
Paint the eyeball the color of your choice. I usually shade the upper half that would be shaded with the eyelid by adding just a touch of black. For these, I add water and make a wash. I add a touch of brown to whatever color I am using. For the pupil, I use a really dark brown almost black then outline the eye and make 'here and there' spokes coming from the pupil. When the whole eye is dry, I put in the off white highlights of the eye. take a toothpick and dip it in an off white color and highlight the eye ....off center to make the eyeball look wet.
Then I do the eyebrows and 'here and there' outline the eye. To outline the nose 'here and there,' I sometimes use a tan. I wash in the dark outline color on the eyelids, lips and around the nose--very lightly!! Too much outlining will make your doll cartoon-like.... so be careful! I usually like to use a lighter color than I have used on the white doll, but it wasn't showing up well in the pictures so I made it darker. I kind of like the darker though....lol.
I take a beige or off white and highlight areas like the upper lip, the roundest part of the bottom lip, the roundest part of the eyelid... or the place just under the eyebrow...any 'higher' part. I try to go light with this.
If you plan to glue mohair or other hair material skip down to the finishing stage.
To do the painted hair:
For the white doll, I put two or three different shades of brown and black on my palette. For the black doll, I used the same colors but used black as the predominate color.
I used a #3 round brush and loaded it with the lightest brown and swiped both sides of it with some of the other colors...one for each side. The I started in the back and made large sideways 'commas' strokes all the way to the nape of the neck. Then following the 'bangs' shadow, I painted semi-curved lines to just above the eyebrows. Then in a row, I painted more sideways 'commas' strokes down each side of the face.
Don't' forget to sign your doll!! I usually sign, date, and put my town and state on the doll.
I prop up my doll and stand back from it again to see what it needs...or not.
Sometimes for me, it helps to get away from it a half-a-day or so... or just go do the dishes and come back. I leave my doll propped up so I can look at it from time to time and decide if I like it or not.
Finishing:
When I am happy with what I have done, I use a matte clear spray to seal it with two light coats. If you go too heavy with clear spray it will run. Holding the spray can too close will make it heavy and run. My favorite brand is Dutch Boy. Or you can use a brush on varnish. In this example I used Delta Ceramicoat Matte Interior varnish. Please, Please, Please make sure your paint is dry before you seal it!!
For a brush on varnish, apply it carefully by not trying to put too much on at one time, it will run! Before putting your doll down to dry, check it for runs....then check it again after a minute or so. Runs can mean disaster to your lovely work especially if you want to antique it--it outlines the runs!
Here they are varnished:
Notice how the color really comes out when you seal it.
To make a doll look older/aged, I like to 'antique' some of my dolls using an oil based ceramic staining technique... I will have to find out what products are available to anyone. I usually use 'early american' brown wood stain but I can't remember what brand--Any medium brown wood stain will do...try not to use mahogany, it is just too dark and yucky looking!!
If you like the look that your doll has now and don't want to antique it and it is too shiny, apply another coat of sealer then lightly .... very lightly!!... rub it all over with extra fine steel wool. The steel wool will dull the finish. Please be careful not to rub too hard!! If you rub too hard you will rub off your wonderful paint!!
To antique it: I seal the paint first and let it dry completely! I put two coats of varnish on to make sure I cover all of it. I use a sponge brush (or a rag taped to a Popsicle stick) to apply a thin coat of wood stain all over. Then before it dries, I wipe off (with a soft cloth like torn up sheets) any areas I don't want to leave it on--wipe off just the highlights--and blotting out any brush strokes. This dulls the paint and blends it nicely like an antique doll. If you take off too much for you liking, you can do it over, remember, what you see is what you get!! Follow the manufacturer's drying time. The one that I use takes at least 4 hours to dry so I leave it over night. If it's not completely dry, your water-based sealer will crawl from it and make a mess! So please be patient!!
Then I seal it again after I am happy with it... you can't take off more stain once you have sealed it! So check it to make sure you like what you have. I apply 3 coats to seal it. Then to remove the shininess, I lightly rub it with extra fine steel wool. Go very lightly or you will go down to the paint!! Then I wipe off the steel wool fibers with a dry big brush.
Now... how many times did you go over the doll with a brush?..LOL... amazing huh????
Now you have a lovely doll that will outlast you!! All of us have different styles of painting so please don't expect to be perfect!! If you notice, I forgot to put eyelashes on my white doll, so I went back over it even after it was sealed. Also notice that one eyelid is wider than the other. I think things like this make them unique to you and give them character!!! So don't be afraid to make a mistake because the wonderful thing about painting is that you can always paint over it if you don't like it!! Everything you do will give it character...a larger mouth...eyes that don't match...flared nostrils.... all makes them wonderfully unique to you..... there is no other on the planet like your doll!!
If you have any questions at all... please feel free to write me!! Your feedback will help me do a better page, thus doll makers can paint better dolls!!
Painted Dolly Smiles!!
Here they are finished:
I usually glue a braid around the painted part to finish it off nicely. I use acid free glue by Elmer's.
Click here to see them totally finished!!!!
Hope you enjoyed it!! Now...please take a picture of your doll and send it to me!! -- Linda Johnson
Please do not use my email address for spam advertising!!
Painted Dolly Smiles!!