Wyn Painted!

I finally finished Wyn! Or at least painted him... It took a while because I wrote to that other BJD owner first to see what I could do to avoid the bubble issue, and she didn't write me back for a few days. Then I just decided to go for it and hope for the best. The result was even better than I hoped for.

So to get Wyn looking his best, I hung all his pieces up on a clothesline to be sealed. It was definitely creepy looking, but a very effective way to seal a BJD, which is the only reason I'm sharing this somewhat disturbing photograph. Having the pieces at different heights didn't matter, and I was able to spray easily anyway.

Since it was inside the garage it totally eliminated the factor of wind (even with the garage door open), and hanging took care of the flat surface problem. It also allowed me to go without touching the pieces more than at the very tippy top of each to turn them to spray. Even more, I was able to stand back from the pieces while I sprayed because the spray actually went straight at the pieces thanks to no wind, and that eliminated the bubble issue.

So now for the spam of photos of this spectacular paint job. First, a look at his whole body. What's kind of interesting is I definitely painted him in a bluish/gray tinge where the blushing was needed, but the more light the less you can see of the paint job. Maybe that's the characteristic of good blushing? That you can't see a stark contrast between his natural resin and the blush on top?

For his torso I blushed all those lovely abs and muscles. It's a little hard to see in the photos because of that wonderful blending illusion of the light blue/gray blush, but it certainly added depth to his torso.

From the side you can see it a little better, and that leads up to a special feature I added.

A "snowstar" birthmark on his neck. I did this with watercolor pencils and blushed over top of it. It turned out great and from a distance it almost disappears as well.

On his back I blushed his shoulder blades and such.

I blushed his arms in all the "nooks and crannies?" Is that an acceptable term here? Anyway, I gave them a soft bluish tint in all the appropriate places.

I also gave his legs a good tint of blue in all the right places. Especially on his knees.

His hands and feet were my favorite pieces besides his face. The hands turned out so good. They looked really realistic to me for a guy with white and blue skin... I used the darkest blue blush I made to enhance the veins on the back of his hands and make them stand out. His nails looked great too. I wanted to be careful with them so they wouldn't look too feminine. So I made them light blue and glossed them only one time to give them the appearance of real fingernails.

Inside his hand I used the darkest blush on the lines in his palm and the bends in his fingers. I wasn't sure if he needed that in his palm, but I'm glad I did it because it totally works.

On his body over the blushed parts, I used a pearl-ex powder to give him an "icy" sheen that would make him look more like a winter character, one made of ice and snow with the power to control it. For all the other pieces I just put the pearl powder over top of the actual blushing and not on the normal resin, but on his hands, feet, and face, I put it all over because those pieces will be seen. You might be able to see it in the photo above of his hand, but it's difficult to photograph.

I did the same things on his feet as I did on his hands. The darkest blue enhanced the veins on the feet and the shadows inside his toes. I made sure to do his ankles also, but I did them lightly.

On the bottom of his feet I darkened under his toes and around the edges of the ball of his foot and his heel to give it "depth" and a sense of realism. His feet were really non-shaped anyway, so I wanted them to look like they had something for shape.

I gave his face a nice blue tinge around his eyes and cheeks. There's less blue on his forehead and chin.

I tried to give a darker shadow on in the inner most part of his eye beside his nose and just beside his nostrils.

His lips, eyebrows, and around his eyes are also blue. I used a variety of blues in his eyebrows and also used some purples and a little white to give a depth of colors. I even went so far as to buy him some blue eyelashes and put them in to complete the look. I'm not always a fan of real eyelashes on dolls because they can be easy to knock off or ruin, but for a doll this size I made an exception and I think they look really nice on him.

In his left eyebrow I used acrylic paint to add a little bit of a light blue scar.

I used the same paint to give him a little scar on the other side of his face by his right eye.

Now, his blushing is a bit difficult to see in all the other pictures, so the one above was taken late in the evening with my iPad. As you can plainly see, there is in fact color in all the places I noted. But the more light, the less you can see it, which is a good thing, I think, and makes the blushing appear natural. Even in the darkish dusk, though, I think the paint job still looks pretty good. He's blushed in all the right places and the blushing does appear just like shadows.

All blushed up and nowhere to go, Wyn is one chill dude. Now I'm even more excited to make him clothes and give him a whole range of outfits and props. It can be really fun to focus on one doll for a change, and I highly recommend it. Having a number of characters is great, but focusing all energy on one gives a clarity that makes designing for a doll a lot easier. If buying a doll blank to body blush it and give it a face-up is something you've always wanted to do, but have hesitated, I wholeheartedly recommend it. Take it from someone with little to no art talent, it is a lot of fun and easier than it seems. It can take a day, or two, but it's worth it in the end. This paint job took two days, just because I got a late start on day one and had to quit before I was finished. Otherwise, it would've only taken a day.

Anyway, all that to show off Wyn and to say go for it if this is a dream of yours. I don't think you'll regret it if you do.

~SilverStar-Burst