Re: this
Some factors that people often forget:
HUMIDITY: What's your level of humidity? High humidity can make pastels stick regardless of how little you use. (Also hard to remove.) Low humidity can also be a problem bc the pastels will stick to where it's more moist. If you breath on it, or maybe have oil on your fingers: Pastels get stuck. Oil makes it harder to remove as well.
PRIMER TOOTH: What's the tooth of your primer? Even something well known like MSC can differ in tooth depending on how much or little you apply, or again: humidity and weather. Also distance and angle.
Too large tooth can grab onto pastels and it'll be hard to "clean it out" again, or you risk the tooth being rubbed off if you erase too hard. Small/No tooth is going to smudge because the pastels can't stick to anything at all, so it'll just "move around."
TOOTH DENSITY: Don't get me started on the "tooth pr mm" aka tooth density. More relevant if you have a horde of primers for different purposes, projects and uses. Some of my different primers seem to have varying tooth density, so I can have a "medium tooth" but it might be less dense or more dense and that also changes how my materials stick and apply. Eg how many layers I need to get a more intense colour. (It's not really as relevant tbh, unless you're already in several hobbies where you DIY paint and shade them)
DRYNESS OF PRIMER: Was the primer dry? Even a primer that feels dry to the touch can still be "wet". (Actual drying times can vary heavily from what's listed on the can. Again, weather and humidity are a huge factor.) In that case your pastel might get stuck in the wet primer, and you simply can't remove it anymore when it finally does dry. Especially if you use a waterbased primer, something like liquitex is sometimes used as "middle" sealant. (At least I use it like that. :p)Btw: I use a mix of the green and orange liquitex, the green one has too much tooth, and the orange one too little, just get a good ratio, try a few times. (Can be applied with brush, but airbrush is easiest. :p)
1st layer can be either Liquitex or MSC. Any layers in-between: Liquitex
Last layer (final sealing): MSC Liquitex can be "reactivated" with the application of moisture, especially if it hasn't hardened yet. I've gotten the tip that if I use liquitex, do a MSC layer over the pastel layer before painting. (With water based primer: Once again, be aware of the humidity and dryness.) Personally avoid wet primer on "wet" primer. It just makes it worse when you do mess up. Just take your time.
HOLDING: Where are you holding the doll during pastel application? Even if you've completely cleaned your fingers; no oil, and/or are wearing squeaky clean gloves, you should try to avoid touching the area you're blushing or running your finger over it repeatedly.
REMOVAL: USE ERASERS! Or magic erasers, kneadable erasers, whatever, just use those! As mentioned in the notes by others. USE kneadable ERASERS or Magic erasers. I've seen some people scratch off the sealant with their nails. Some people try to rub it off. I personally recommend doing neither, especially the "rubbing off" you might just rub on finger oils. : p Also, you might rub random dirt into the primer. Using kneadable erasers also allows picking up lint, and small dust that might float on by.
PRESSURE: What's the actual pressure you're using to apply the pastels? If you just limb wrist it you might "puff" the pastels. If you do it too firmly you might push the bristles too far out and it applies outside the area you wanted. This is just something I noticed in the beginning, when I'd tap the pastels to try and make the general face blushing look more natural. Turns out, what looks more natural for a light face blush, or some blueness under the eyes does indeed not work for eyebrows. lol
I'm no expert, I only do this as a hobby.
~Anonymous
