Through an Artist's Eyes - Kiriko Moth

Through an Artist's Eyes - Kiriko Moth

I'm Kiriko Moth, and I am primarily an illustrator, working mostly in ink and digital 'painting'. I first learned about BJDs through the websites of other artists who collect them. They seem to have a strong draw for a lot of artistically inclined people who wouldn't otherwise collect dolls, and I can definitely see why. I admired them for years before I even considered buying one of my own.

My first doll was assembled from parts, a body purchased on eBay and an unpainted head bought from an online merchant. I was really drawn to the appeal of customizing this base model, and even my second doll, a limited edition Volks Tohya who came completed, has been sanded and repainted to something entirely different from the original doll. I'm up to five dolls now, three of which I customized myself, two customized by other doll artists that I admire.

I've known my entire life that I was going to have a career in art and my first serious ventures into art were at a very young age. Both of my parents are hobby artists with a lot of different interests - everything from doll making and fine woodworking to drawing and 3D graphics, so I believe that early exposure and their full support in my interests really influenced me. I took art courses as often as possible while in school, and graduated with a BFA in Illustration and Graphic Design. I'm currently working towards a full time career in freelance illustration, but painting BJDs has turned out to be a great hobby on the side.

I began offering faceups as soon as I was happy with the one I gave my own first doll - which wasn't that long ago - I've been a BJD collector for not quite a year! I already knew how to work with acrylics and pastels, so it was just a matter of getting comfortable with this new canvas. I do tattoos and often get requests for small facial modifications like sanding down features or opening eyes. The most rewarding part of the job is definitely seeing someone who is completely happy with their doll's new look. Hearing someone say that I captured their doll's personality perfectly can make my whole week brighter! I also enjoy the opportunity to see so many different dolls in person. The most frustrating thing for me is that I'm a perfectionist and I sometimes work slowly. I'd rather redo a faceup ten times than send back shoddy work. Balancing commission work with my regular full time job can also be a struggle at times. It's been a while since I've had a day off , but I think it's worth it to get to do something I enjoy so much.

My favorite parts of the faceup are definitely the lips and eyelashes. I find both features easy and fun to paint and I like experimenting with different looks. The eyebrows always give me the most grief. That's when my inner perfectionist will really kick in, and I'll be completely stymied by a hair being a fraction of a millimeter off. Sometimes the most difficult part of doing the eyebrows is just psyching myself up to start them!

My favorite piece of work would have to be a toss up between two - my own Takai (Volks Tohya) and Tsukio (Volks F09 MSD) who belongs to a friend. Takai was the most difficult doll I've painted yet, and it took me about 5 full repaints and many goes at sanding his lips, jaw, and nose to get his look exactly like I wanted.

Tsukio was just an utter delight to paint, because he was one of those times where everything worked out perfectly on the first try. I was even pleased with his eyebrows and his final look was just so boyish and sweet.

I take commissions through my own websites (kiriko-moth.com and http://lanternlost.kiriko-moth.com) which I also use to display and sell my non-BJD art. On the rare occasions that I purchase a doll head to repaint and sell, I go through eBay. I was initially surprised to find that I was getting enough requests for faceups that I did have to start a waitlist. I'm currently booked through November, and it only stops there because that is when I have to close commissions for the year. We get so much humidity and rain in San Francisco during the winter that steady work becomes impossible - the Mr. Super Clear (MSC) that I use as a fixative doesn't react well to moisture, and I don't yet have an indoor studio where I can spray toxic substances.

But really, I think I'll enjoy taking a few months off to enjoy my own dolls and experiment with some new techniques!

An Artist's Tutorial

Painting the Lower Lashes by Kiriko Moth

Typically before I start the lower lashes, I will have already finished most of the pastel blushing and the base coats for doll's lips. I like to define the shadows, shape, and colors of the eye before I add lashes, because it helps me to choose a lash color and style that fits.

Hana, a Volks SD10 Megu who lives with my friend Kellyhime, is going to have medium-length feathery strands with a few bolder lashes for a dramatic effect.

I work with Liquitex acrylics, thinned with Liquitex Slow-Dri retarding medium and a couple drops of water. The paint I work with is usually about the consistency and opacity of heavy watercolor. I try not to use a color straight out of the bottle, because it can look flat and unnatural. For a warm black, such as Hana's lashes, I will mix a little Taupe or Burnt Umber with Ivory Black. For a cooler shade, I would mix it with Phthalocyanine Blue. I use a 20/0 liner or detail brush with synthetic sable bristles for most of my painting.

The first step in painting lashes is to paint a few light guidelines for the length and direction of the lashes. If catch them relatively quickly, small mistakes at this stage can be wiped off with a damp paper towel. If the paint has dried, I use a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol.

When I want feathery lashes, I usually don't paint them directly on. Instead, I will line the lower eye wall with paint, and pull the clean, damp brush bristles down through the paint to draw the lashes. This gives them a thicker base and fine point at the end. I clean my brush often, because if it gets too loaded with paint I'll end up with clumpy lashes. I try not to make all of the lashes perfectly aligned and flowing in the same direction. I feel it looks a little more natural if few of the hairs cross over each other.

For Hana, once I've painted all of her softer lashes, I go back with the paint brush - with just the tiniest bit of paint on the end of the bristles - and thicken some of the lashes.

I let the lashes dry for a few minutes, and then clean up any mistakes with an X-acto blade. I use a clean, brand-new blade every time, so that the paint can be scraped off with minimal pressure and effort - I don't want to strip off the primer coats of Mr. Super Clear with it! Since I've used retarding medium, the paint will not be completely dry at this point, so I also have to be careful not to smudge it.

Once the lashes have fully dried, I fix them with a coat of MSC and then apply a light layer of skin-tone pastel blushing over the lashes to soften the edges. On Hana, I've also added just a touch of brown pastel to deepen the color. Finishing touches for the eyes will include more blushing around the rims, and a touch of gloss at the inner corners and around the eye wall to give it a realistic wet look. You can also gloss the eyelashes themselves if you want them to really stand out!

Here is Hana's finished look!