*SQUEE*
YOU GUYS.
OMG.
I JUST CAN'T EVEN.
I am way too pleased with myself right now omg omg omg
Okay, but first, here's the story.
I was doing a photostory shoot about a month ago for Ghaleon's blog, when suddenly everything that could go wrong with him did. His chest (bloody new-style slim male chest) kept popping apart at the neck, and the metal neck pin kept falling into his stomach. His (very crappy) magic sculpt ears snapped off and his face up got grubby and scratched.
So I decided it was far past time for a little re-haul on him, swapped his chest out for an old-style slim male chest (which pops apart marginally less than the new style, it's something about that new style tummy that makes the chest pop apart so frequently u_u), wiped and redid his face and tossed his old ears.
I liked what I had done with the new face-up, but without his ears I felt uneasy, unsure if I had managed to make him "Ghaleon" enough again. Then tonight I finished sculpting some new ears (this time out of amazing sculpt, which seems to actually want to adhere to the vinyl, unlike magic sculpt), let down his hair and HOLY CRAP IT'S GHALEON.
Now for the sake of padding this post out even more before the big reveal, let me take you back to Ghaleon's first two face-ups...
2007-2008
My very first face-up on my very first obitsu! My very first root job, too... His hair was actually PURE WHITE once, but it yellowed really quickly. *sigh* Some day I'll reroot him in snowy white nylon. I am done with saran forever, I have to say. Moving on.
I then did some refinement in the eyes probably a week or so later.
Those were cute ears, but they were sculpy and very fragile. I think you can guess what happened to them. ;A;
2008-2012
Ghaleon's second face-up and pair of ears. I played with watercolor pencils and mica powder for this one... but the gloss I used for his eyes and lips never properly dried, so he became a sticky dust magnet almost immediately. u_u (btw, that reminds me of a question I was going to ask years ago, but never did. What brands of gloss do you all use for your soft vinyl dolls? I bought Liquitex gloss, but could never get it to work. Works great on hard, non-vinyl surfaces, but won't dry on vinyl. I've read that heating it up before you use it can help, but I haven't given that a try yet. I'm not anxious to potentially ruin a face-up with it if it fails. OK THAT WAS A LONG QUESTION/RANT MOVING ON.)
There's a tiny bit of refinement in the mouth in this picture. I think I just picked the excess paint off with a pin. Which says something for how thick my paint must have been. u_u;;;
AND NOW...
2012-Onward!
YAY!
The ears are slightly chunkier than I would have liked, but I had the hair to contend with so good enough. :B If you're planning on sculpting elf ears on a head, for the love of everything good do it on a BLANK, UNROOTED head! Don't be like me!
Also, side-glancing eyes for LIFE.
So, in conclusion: SQUEE!! >w<