doll face painting tutorial

I thought I would finish up the swaddle baby tutorial with instructions on how you can paint the face on your finished doll.  But first I'd like to ask a favor of you:  If you get any photos of your finished swaddle baby, do you think you could send a photo or link?  It would be so fun to share the finished dolls with everyone so we can see everyone's different take on them.  You'll find my email address over on the sidebar there.  Thanks!

Here we go!

Here is a little diagram of how I approach drawing this face so that it looks the same every time.  

First I start with two circles for the eyes.  I suppose they are a bit far apart.

Once I have those I can correctly position the nose and mouth under them.  Two flat 'u' shapes.

Draw little eyebrows.  Eyebrows can say so much.  Position them so they are leaning out, you don't want an angry baby.

For a boy doll draw a simple line defining the eyelid over the eye.  For a girl add some lashes.  For an example of little boy and girl eyes you can look here.

Practice drawing your face on a piece of paper a few times to get it exactly how you want it before drawing on your fabric.  I used pencil and it is slightly erasable.  Be careful though, if you erase too much it starts to wear on the fabric.  I would recommend a fabric marker if you have one.

Now to the paint!  Non-toxic acrylic.

I suggest using a very fine brush for the details.

Dolls usually have little button eyes.  You can customize with a color, but start with a black base.

I wanted a blue eyed doll so I painted a dark blue on top of the black.  Choose whatever color you are feeling up for.

Next I blended brown with white to make a soft line over the nose and for the eyebrows.

For the mouth I mixed red and brown and white paint.  I like the subtle color it gives the smile.

Use a dark grey for the eyelid line and lashes.

To finish off your doll face dab a white dot on the sides of the eyes.  It's just a nice little detail.  For the cheeks you can use regular old makeup blush.  Yes, it will probably rub off, so re-apply whenever you feel like it.

And there she is.  See?  Not too hard. 

Again, please share when you've finished yours.  We would love to see!