Through an Artist's Eyes - Ragnarok Repaints

Through an Artist's Eyes - Ragnarok Repaints

I'm Vanillashine of Ragnarok Repaints, but most everyone calls me Bev :). If you had told me two years ago that I would be surrounded by dolls, dresses, and lace, I probably would have said you were out of your mind. I've wondered to myself for a long time just exactly what it is about this hobby that intrigues me so, and I can't really give a definite answer. I don't recall the exact moment that I discovered BJD's, but I know that the obsession was fully ignited when I ran a Google search for Gackt and Hyde wallpapers only to find a Volks F-28 and F-29 cosplaying as the pair :D.

From that point on, it was boys, boys, boys for me and I eventually mustered up the courage (and more importantly, the funds) to order my first, a Dream of Doll U, Evon. I spent about six months narrowing down my selection and at the time, he seemed the one for me. In the process of the grueling thirteen week wait for him, I also purchased a Yen from a member on one of the forums I frequent, so in actuality Talbot became my first BJD and my guinea pig of sorts for stringing, blushing, faceups, and even a little sewing. They're currently undergoing major upgrades as the characters themselves needed better fitting bodies^^.

I've always been very interested in art, it was my life until I graduated high school, at which point I became hopelessly blocked. I decided that maybe painting these dolls could be a solution to my problem. About fifteen faceups later (poor Talbot, haha), and after I became more knowledgeable about the techniques and materials that you should use to produce a quality faceup, I posted that I would be accepting commissions on the Den of Angels forums. I figured I had nothing to lose in trying^^. I literally scoured the internet for hours upon hours at a time for any and all tutorials I could find, and still do from time to time when I want to try something different.

I've been working steadily as a commissioner for about four months now and painting faceups on various types of dolls for seven, I maintain my website, Ragnarok Repaints, and gallery at http://ragnarok.letspositivethinking.net as well as my original thread in the marketplace on DOA. I don't have a waiting list for my work as it usually only takes me about one to two weeks to complete esthetics work (unless I become sick or have some kind of dire emergency, or say, you order sixteen heads o_O;). I work on a wide variety of doll types, you can always check those out in my galleries.

The thing I like most about this line of work is being able to express myself while helping others realize their own visions. I haven't really experienced any frustrations as far as commissions, but for myself, there's always something or another. As in, "I wish I could do -that-" or "Why can't I paint like them?", I'm believe there's always room for improvement, and I know I've still got a long way to go, but I am glad that I have so many wonderful people to see me along on the journey^^.

An Artist's Tutorial

Body Blushing 101 by Bev

I've decided to work up a basic tutorial for blushing a resin body. There are a few things you need to consider and acquire before you start, however:

1. Two or three soft round brushes: I use a Bare Minerals flat round brush for applying and blending pastel, they have very high quality natural bristles and will not scratch the coating. You'll need one clean brush for blending out and one for applying pastels. It's a good idea to keep a spare on hand in case one brush becomes too saturated to blend properly without adding more color. If the bristles of the brush are too stiff it will scratch the coating and leave streaked marks on the body.

2. Mr. Super Clear matte finish spray or Testor's Dulcote spray (whichever is available to you) for coating before to prevent staining and coating after to protect your blushing work.

3. Magic blocks, magic erasers, etc, they have many names but they all do the same thing: cleaning and removing goofs, lol.

4. Oil free chalk pastels, and an exacto knife for scraping the sticks to make the dust for blushing. There are a wide variety of chalk pastels available (Volks, Van Gogh, Conté, etc.), I am using Polychromos for this tutorial.

5. A few pairs of latex or plastic gloves and eye protection.

6. The ability and tools for re-stringing. You -can- coat a doll while they are strung, however, the coating will scratch and wear off much quickly around the joints as the coating does not apply evenly when a doll is assembled. It's always best to unstring the doll before you coat and blush, it lasts longer and makes the job a lot easier.

7. NIOSH certified respirator. This is optional, but the fumes from most of the popular sealants are not only bad smelling but bad for you, and can cause brain/nervous system damage with repeated inhalation. If you coat a lot or a little, this is a good investment for your health, you can find them at Lowe's, the Home Depot and other home improvement stores.

The dear Ashbet of DOA and www.matermetis.com fame has been kind enough to lend me her gorgeous CP Lishe, Aislinn's body for this tutorial, so let's get started :)!

First you'll want to unstring the doll. You might want to get a Ziploc bag to keep track of all the hooks, washers, pins, string, etc.

Once unstrung, remove all of the coating from the doll (fig. 1). This can be done with a magic eraser, acetone, or non acetone polish remover, you might want to don those gloves for this, as acetone and nail polish remover can be nasty to your skin.

After cleaning the coating from the doll, place the parts in a large wash bowl with a little bit of detergent and let them soak to make sure that all fingerprint oil, debris, and removal agents are gone from the resin (fig. 2).

In about an hour put on the gloves and rinse the parts well, place them on a clean towel and and let them air dry. Once you've got all the coating off of the doll, try not to touch it with your bare hands as that will get debris and oil back onto the bare resin which can harm the resin and break down the coating you're about to apply.

Next, after everything has dried completely, you'll want to put on some old clothes and gloves, mask up if you have one, slap on some goggles and pick a -well ventilated area- to begin coating the doll. Try not to spray in the wind even if wearing goggles because the last thing you want is MSC or Testor's in your eyes or on your skin, and it makes it harder to get an even finish. A good, even layer of coating is important in blushing because if your coating is dodgy the pastel will not apply evenly. You want to make sure that it's not too cold when you coat the body. I've found that temperatures below 60 degrees fahrenheit tend to make the coating bead up on the surface and it dries unevenly.

I usually coat in sets, for example, two thighs, two calves, feet, hands, etc. to make it more manageable. Before you spray, make sure to shake your can well to mix the coating, I usually shake it for about two minutes after the ball starts to roll around inside the can. You'll want to spray at least two even coats (spraying left to right and up and down) of MSC or Testor's from all angles on both sides of the parts. Allow about twenty to thirty minutes to dry before you start to handle them for blushing.

Once everything is coated, shave some dust from the pastels using your exacto knife onto a white piece of paper (fig. 3), then use your spare round brush to mix the colors evenly(fig. 4). For Aislinn I'm using a blend of white, light brown and red to make a light brownish-pink color.

Before you start actually applying color, think about where you want to place it. Blushing is usually applied in the areas that would naturally appear darker on human bodies, you can look at the folds and creases in your own skin to see where shading should be.

To start the process, dip your soft round brush in the pile of powder and swirl it around on the paper to saturate the bristles with color, dab it a few times to shake on excess dust and apply the pastel to the body in light circular motions or short strokes making sure to blend the edges of the color evenly with your clean brush in between strokes. If you get too much color onto the body, sweep it off gently with the magic eraser and start again. Be careful not to rub too hard with the eraser or it will remove the coating as well. You'll want to use this same circular stroke and dab method everywhere you apply the color (fig.5). If you want to make the blushing darker, coat the body again and apply another layer of pastels until you achieve the level of color you'd like.

For hands and feet, you'll probably want to use a smaller brush to get into the detail. You can apply color between the fingers, in the lines of the palm, and where the joints in the fingers would be for a natural effect (fig. 6). After blushing and coating, you can apply a clear gloss to the finger/toenails or manicure them in the style of your choice.

For a more realistic look blush the insides of the fingernails with a small round brush (size 3/0 or 2/0), wipe away the excess dust leaving an outline of color around the cuticle area on the fingernail and apply a clear gloss (fig. 7). You can use thinned acrylic paint to paint the cuticle half circle and nail tips if you like.

These are the places I usually apply color: nipples, under and between breasts/pectorals, in the hollow of the neck and collarbone, lightly on the ribcage, belly button and lower abdomen, underneath shoulder blades, along spine, elbows, hands, knees, and feet (fig. 8). Where and how much color you place is entirely up to you. Experiment with different colors and strengths to see which suits your doll.

After you've blushed the parts of your doll that you'd like, make sure there aren't any stray sweeps or marks (gently remove them with the magic eraser if you find any) and coat all of the pieces evenly two or three more times with your spray to protect the pastel, let dry, and you're done!