The Ultimate Guide on How to Make a Reborn Baby Doll
CHAPTER 2: How to paint a reborn doll from beginning to the end
Once we have got the vinyl parts of our reborn-to-be spotless and all the necessary supplies to bring her and him to life, it is time for painting. Painting is quickly said, but it is a long process that will require dozens of layers and lots and lots of patience. Do not forget, thought, that now it is when the real fun starts, so you will need to apply the best of your artistic talents and transform your vision into a reality.
In order to achieve the realistic look of a newborn’s skin, the painting process goes through several (many, many manyyyy) steps.
Overview
STEP 1: Base coating
To give the natural skin colour found on real babies, the first thing that needs to be done is to apply several layers of translucent paints. Base coating is a step that not all reborn artists use. The main reason for it is to protect the vinyl from future layers of paint and also start giving the doll a homogeneous skin color.
You will need flesh coloured paints, paint thinner, a mop brush and cosmetic wedges. Make a base of paint thinner on your palette and add the flesh paint until you get a watercolour consistency. You will need to prepare a fair amount of paint in order to cover all the limbs and head of your reborn (maybe you are even working with belly and back plates), so make sure you have a sufficient amount of paint mix for all the different parts.
Start by applying the base coating with a soft mop brush on the creases of the skin. Once you have covered all the little details, you can cover the bigger surfaces of the vinyl by using the cosmetic wedge. Work one single part at a time, going from the beginning of the process to the end. Once you are finished with one, perform the base coating in the next one.
Tips: for the head, make sure you cover all the edges of the eyes, nose and ears. You do not want to forget those, as they will have a different colour later. Do not let the paint to accumulate in the creases. You can remove the excess of paint by passing a dry mop brush that will absorb whatever is not necessary.
STEP 2: Mottling
After we have given a good base coating and it is finally dry and set, we need to proceed with the mottling. Mottling is a really important part as it is crucial for the baby’s skin to have this newborn appearance. Artists usually use three colours for the mottling: vein blue, genesis red and ultramarine blue, and of course, the usual tools (paint thinner, palette, sponges and brushes).
It is very important that the mottling layers are translucid. That means that you must be able to see through them. They must be soft and gentle.
The first mottling layer is done with vein blue colour. For the second layer you need to get a purple tone by mixing in genesis red and ultramarine blue, for example. You should apply them with a cut cosmetic wedge or a little piece of a sea sponge, in a way that it prints out an irregular pattern.
Apply the paint very gently all throughout the limbs and do not forget to lightly cover the creases by using a small brush or a cosmetic shadow sponge. It is better to leave the head for the end, so you had a chance to test your paint mix and your technique in the less risky areas of the doll’s body. It is important to use a clean brush to remove any excess of paint and make the vinyl surface look smooth and without strong marks. Let the first layer dry completely before you apply the purple tone. With second layer, you only need to repeat the process.
Tip: you want the paint mix for the head to be more diluted than that for the limbs, as babies do not usually have so much mottling in their faces as in the rest of their bodies. You can apply some around the temples and scalp, by do not apply so much on the chicks, nose or around the eyes.
If you want to add one or more additional blue layers for mottling, make sure you keep them very translucid. You can also add a final dark red layer. You can have between 2 to 6 mottling layers.
Once you are done (and satisfied with the result!), fit the vinyl parts in the over for 9 min at 250 degrees.
STEP 3: Veining
It is the process of drawing and painting veins on the baby’s skin to make it look like a real baby. You can choose to paint the veins without having applied any layer of mottling. However, make sure that you always apply the base coating as a basic.
For the veining, you can easily use the vein blue colour in a very diluted translucid mix. You will need to draw little tiny wavy lines with a really thin brush and use a small sponge to fade out the extremes to make the veins slowly blend into the skin, as it happens in real babies.
If you want to add a high quality touch, you might try to duplicate anatomically correct veins, just by looking at your own or finding some diagrams. Just make sure you do not paint the whole vein, but only the visible part of it.
You can take the chance that you are using this dark blue to apply a preliminary layer of blue shading in many of the creases no the face, for example around the eyes, the nose, the ears, on the chin, etc. Make sure your blue is not too dark. It is better you make it really translucid as adding additional layers is always easier than removing an excess of paint
STEP 4: Blue Shading
This is an optional step, but if done properly, it will really add realism to your reborn. The most important spots where you want to apply this additional shading are in the corner of the eyes, the area around the temple, the creases on the forehead, the chin, ears, feet, hands, and any indentations present on the vinyl.
Do not forget to always fade it off with a sponge and remove any excess of paint with a clean mop brush.
Once you are happy with the result, let it dry and put it in the oven to set the paint for 8-9 minutes to 250 F degrees.
STEP 5: Complexion Layers
Once we have mottled and veined, it is time to add the layers that, one after the other, will give the vinyl the desired skin tone.
You can start with any light flesh colour and see how it goes, deciding to add other tones to get darker mixes. It really depends on the vision you have for your reborn doll. There are plenty of guides and tutorials out there on how to mix colours for ethnic and African American reborn dolls. Shop around, try it out and apply your judgement to decide what works best for you. For sure, with time and experience, you will find those colours and mixes that really transmit your special touch.
The paint mix for these layers is not as translucid as for the mottling or veining, but still very runny and watercolour like. Start by applying the paint to the creases with a mop brush and later apply evenly to the whole surface with a cosmetic wedge. As usual, remove the excess of paint from the creases and do the same with the rest of the vinyl surface by passing a dry clean sponge. Put special attention not forget any blank spaces or any spots that are excessively shiny, as that means that there is for sure too much paint.
Tip: when painting the head you might want to divide it in different areas to avoid the paint from drying before you are completely finished. This video tutorial here is great to get a very specific idea on how you can do this!
You can do as many complexion layers as you want, probably you do not need to do more than 7 layers, as it seems the colour does not change anymore after this amount. Just keep in mind that you want to keep the mottling and the veining under the skin, so you need to get the complexion layers to gently cover the previous ones.
STEP 6: Blushing
There are many ways of blushing your reborn baby doll. However, as for most part of this guide, we are going to follow the suggestions of professional doll artist and reborner Kim, from custombabydoll.com
She advises to divide the blushing into three layers: a general blush layer, a second one for accenting and a final touch for the last blushing details.
The first general blush layer will warm up the skin. You can use a very translucid dark reddish purple for this. As usual, apply with a foam wedge all over the vinyl surface and then over the creases with the brush. Remove the excess with a clean cosmetic sponge and with a clean brush and even the whole layer of paint.
The accent blushing layer is very useful to highlight key spots: cheeks, knees, feet, etc. You can use dark but intense red colour. Remember that around the creases, the human skin tends to be pale, so make sure to avoid them during the accent blushing layer. Apply the paint with a thin brush and spread it and blend it with a sponge or a cosmetic shadow sponge for the smaller surfaces.
For the face, choose carefully the areas that you want to blush in order for your reborn doll to resemble as much as possible a real baby. You can use a photo of a real baby to get an idea. Normally, you want to blush part of the cheeks, under the eyes, above eyebrow, inside the ears, the chin, around the neck, etc. Make sure you blend it nicely with the complexion layers.
Tip: if after the accent blushing, you find that the unblushed parts of the doll are too pale, you can always add an extra general layer on top.
The third layer is used to enhance little spots. You can apply the same colour that you used for the accent layer. Choose very little spots and apply with a liner brush. Blend it gently in with a sponge. op.
Put special care on the face, as you do not want it to go too red. The sweet spots on the face are the cheeks, the chin and the nose.
If, after the blushing, the creases (that you are avoiding) look too pale, you can always apply a clear purple/bluish on top of them with a really fine liner and diffuse the excess with a cosmetic shadow sponge.
STEP 7: Baking or drying
Regardless if you decided to paint your reborn doll with heat-set or air-dry paints, you can get impressive results. At the end of the day, it goes down to the taste of the artist and what she feels more comfortable working with. However, these two different kinds of paints require different procedures to be followed during the reborning process. Here you will find a brief summary.
Air-dry paints for reborning are available in many colours and, as any other kind of paints, allow the artist to create her own mixes. They can be used directly from the bottle, however, you might want to use paint thinner to achieve the translucid watercolour texture required for most of the layers of the skin. These paints work really well on vinyl and are considered safer than the heat-set paints as they do not require baking. This prevents the potential exposure of the user to the emission of fumes and chemicals when the vinyl is heated up.
Their drying time goes between 10 and 30 minutes, so they allow the reborner to work quickly. You can also add a drop of slow drying method to the mix to make sure you have enough time to finish your piece.
On the other side, many artists prefer to work with the most traditional heat-set paints. The favourite ones are GENESIS. Most reborn artists like the fact that baking the vinyl parts will set the previous layer of paint, protecting it from any kind of future erosion. Once a layer has been baked, it is set and it cannot be removed. This allows the reborner to wash up the last layer (not baked yet) without compromising the previous ones, in those cases where she is not satisfied with the result.
The vinyl parts can be baked after each single layer or after two or three layers. It depends on the artist’s flavour. Baking time is generally 8-9 minutes to 250-265 F degrees.
I hope this article was useful. Please feel free to comment and leave your thoughts, opinions and insights. We will be happy to hear your point of view and experiences, as for sure they can complement this information.