Step 7: Base Painting Your Doll
Hello everyone! As some of you may know, my partner's home was broken into, so my tutorial was put on a bit of a delay. I received great advice, and wonderful support from all of you, so I wanted to thank you all so much.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled program!
Materials: Spray Paint, painting surface, old pencil, penetrable surface
To start with, you'll want to pick a paint that works for you. I made a more detailed post about base painting your monster high doll, and you can find that on my blog also under the #monster high tag.
Now, I'm a big fan of Meltonian Nu-Life Color spray; a spray paint actually created for shoe repair that works on both hard plastic and soft vinyl (a must if you ever want the paint to set on the doll's head). Additionally, it comes in more natural colors than other spray paints which, to me, makes it ideal for skin tones.
For Emily, I chose the color 'Bone'. Bone is a nice flesh tone for pale white people that isn't quite as grey-toned as Vanilla. For POC dolls, I like Chocolate or Saddle, but it really depends on the look you want.
Start by putting your doll's skull cap back on her head. Remember, this is why we notched it earlier! It makes putting the cap back on and it staying in place much easier.
Next, stick your doll's head on a pencil. I guess you could use a pen or old stick, too, but I like pencils. They're cheap, and the perfect size to fit inside your doll's neck hole. Doing this gives you complete control and access to the doll head without touching it, which makes hitting all the hard to reach places (like under the chin) with the spray paint easy. As an added bonus, it gives you a handy way to sit the doll head for drying.
Hold you're spray paint about 10" away from the doll head and spray in a gentle back and forth pattern (do this over some newspaper or a tarp or something. I use an old piece of wood). Don't hold the can in one spot too long or you'll get drippy, runny paint. You can always do another thin coat of paint for more coverage if you feel you need it, but build up to that. Don't aim for a perfect first coat; the paint will go on too thick.
Ta-da, you have painted your doll head. Now, stick that pencil in some Styrofoam or a pencil holder or even the yard. Somewhere where it won't be bothered and can dry. The head will take longer to dry then the body and will remain tacky feeling for several hours.
Next, lay out your doll body on the surface you don't care if it gets painted. Again, you can see my scrap wood here. Hold the spray can about 10" inches away and repeat that gentle spray. DO NOT TURN THE CAN UPSIDE DOWN OR SIDEWAYS. IT WILL FUCK UP THE PAINT AND LEAVE YOU WITH GLOOPY ICHNESS ON YOUR DOLL.
Let the doll body dry for about 15 minutes, then flip her over and repeat.
Repeat again to do her sides/fingers.
Don't forget to bend all her joints and get her shoulders, bum, elbows, wrists and knees!
Now that your doll has been fully base painted, walk away. Go read a book or something, because her head needs AT LEAST 72 HOURS TO DRY COMPLETELY BEFORE YOU CONTINUE.
That completes Base Painting Your Doll. Stay tuned for Step 8: Blushing Your Doll.
All steps to my tutorial can be found under #monster high tutorial, please feel free to message me with any questions, comments or concerns!
EDIT: Recently unrepentantly-weird and I opened our own shop. Check us out HERE and our blog HERE.