How to Rock at BJD Face-Up: A Beginner's Guide to Painting Resin Doll Faces

by Jesslyn Carver

If you're looking at this book, it is assumed you've already been browsing photos of ball-jointed dolls (BJD), and wondering why those dolls look so real. It's actually not hard! One of the major contributors to the effect is the resin they are made of--that's half the job. The other half is you and your tools. The process is called "face-up." It's like make-up, but instead of adding color effects to an already living face, we are adding life to an otherwise "faceless" sculpture. This book was written to help you get started! It begins with a good list of mediums and tools you will need to buy, with brief definitions and why they are used. Next we move on to basic color theory with a list of effects to help you understand how and why we are using them, and then we jump into the process. And there are about 100 pictures and examples to help along the way! This book was written in the order a face-up usually happens. So you can follow along page by page and decide how and in what order you will do your face-up. The art is totally flexible and you can mix and match the effects as you see fit. Jesslyn has scoured the internet, asked questions, and compiled all of this information together so you don't have to. As there is always more to learn, be on the lookout for future editions of this book with new information as well as future books to cover the vast world of doll customization. If you are a total beginner in this hobby then you're in the right place!

89 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 22, 2014

Reviews

[doretha myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

The details were so perfect and easy to follow . This book is great for first timers like myself. And it even tells you the materials needed

[Oriole]

I was expecting more examples. The author only does boy faces in her book and she only works with her two boy dolls. She does explain eyebrows well and the book covers that in better detail. I really thought there would be more types of face up and at least some girl looks.
She spends a lot of time on color theory and mixing pastels which is good for anyone who has never painted but pretty basic for anyone who has. She mostly uses pastels and water color pencils. I feel like the book needed pages with large drawings showing where to apply the colors and then the finished face as a photo.
I was using my small Fire tablet to read the book and even with the ability to enlarge photos I found them too small or blurry to see what was going on. It may be different with the printed version.