Repaints – A Fashion Doll Masterclass with Barış

A treasure trove of repaints – as created by a master of the art. Follow his guide to transforming your favorite fashion dolls.

Tonner’s Tyler is modeling Eclectic by Integrity, and a size 4/5 Paris wig. Lucien wears Tonner’s Hardy Boys beanie and Twilight James’ jacket, with a tablecloth scarf by Barış, and his original wig from RDG (Les Rêves D’un Garçon). They’re both have 6mm flat back glass eyes and had full repaints using pastels and acrylics, and applied eyelashes.

Fashion doll repaints are ubiquitous these days, but few of them match the quality of those by Barış (pronounced Barysh as in Baryshnikov), a Turkish artist living in Chicago. In this story he shows you exactly how to go about doing a repaint for yourself. Initially by preparing the doll and completing the eyes, then finishing off with lips and blusher, plus tips on the use of color.

Marlena was originally an Antoinette Bloom Mannequin, a blank doll re-sculpted to make her jaw less heavy. She was painted using pastels and acrylics, and has had lashes applied. She’s technically not a repaint since she wasn’t painted to begin with, but she’s still gorgeous! Antoinette wears the Frivolous outfit by Tonner, My Scene hair band from Mattel, and her jewelry, from Claire’s, has been modified.

To inspire you, some of Barış’s work is shown here. He generally aims for a softer, more naturalistic approach and says he actively dislikes some of the “porn star” repaints out there. The key to a successful transformation is a muted palette – subscribing to the less is more school of art. Generally don’t use more make-up than you’d like to see in real life!

The Spiderman Mary Jane doll by Tonner, shown factory fresh in the inset vignette above, was taken three centuries back in time in this astonishing transformation. Her make-over was inspired by Kirsten Dunst’s look in the movie, Marie Antoinette. To achieve this look her hair was been removed and replaced with mohair (from Carolyn the Flying Ewe), partially re-rooted along the hairline, the rest trolled and styled in a simple updo. Her skin tone was lightened with white pastels and actual powder to stay true to the period, and her face was painted with pastels and acrylics, finishing with applied lashes. She is wearing the Versailles outfit by Tonner from the 2007 Paris Fashion Doll Festival.

Barış’s masterclass begins with a Sybarite doll, Swallow. The owner of this doll wanted a look that was still fashion directional but would be more versatile. The inspiration for the repaint was another Sybarite, the highly desirable Pony.

Step-by-step in 12 stages, left to right, top to bottom:
1. Carefully remove the applied eyelashes (save them to put back on when you’re done).
2. Remove the original paint with cotton tips dipped in pure acetone.
3. Now we have a blank canvas to paint.
4. Apply pastel powder with a soft brush.
5. Seal and keep applying pastels in layers, you can define the brows at this stage.
6. Start by painting the whites of the eyes.
7. Paint in the irises.
8. Paint the pupils and trace around the irises with a darker color.
9. Add eyeliner, eyelashes and feathered brows. You can add reflections on the pupil/iris and shadows in the corners of the eyes and under the upper eyelid.
10. First apply a lip liner to shape the mouth, and then fill in the rest of the lips.
11. Seal the lips with high gloss varnish for a wet glossy look.
12. Apply real lashes last after the whole face is finished and sealed

GETTING STARTED
Remove the factory face paint by careful dabbing with cotton swabs dipped in pure acetone (nail varnish remover). Take great care not to smudge the removed paint onto the doll’s face or body. Remember, work inwards slowly and patiently – don’t remove more than you want.

Once the eye paint is gone, you can work on the lips. You’ll need real pointy cotton tips to get into the corners of the mouth. Always work with caution because the red paint usually used on lips may spread like clown make-up.

You may decide to keep the original blush on the cheeks, or you might like to start with a completely blank canvas. Keep in mind it is hard to achieve a blended look with acrylic paint alone. So beginners might want to retain the original blush. There’s no right or wrong here – it’s your choice.

Now the fun starts and it’s time to apply some shading. Use good quality soft pastels (not the oil pastels you used in kindergarten), rub the pastel on sandpaper to make a fine powder and apply with a soft paintbrush (as if you are applying make-up). Shake off excess powder before applying it to the doll’s face. Use a separate brush for each color, so they don’t blend together (unless you want them to!). You can blend the applied pastel even more with a big clean brush. Go slowly at this stage – it’s easy to overdo it – and remember you can remove/reshape the pastel shading with an eraser. Once you are happy with the result, seal it with a spray-on fixative (like Mr Super Clear but other alternatives are available). Once the fixative is dry, you can add more pastel color and keep building layers. Apply fixative and let it dry completely between each layer.

Paint the whites of the eyes with acrylic paint. Not pure white straight out of the tube, unless you’re aiming for a cartoon effect! Look at the colors of real eyes and you’ll see that all the pigments are somewhat muted. Next paint in the irises, keeping them circular, but covering the top quarter with the eyelid (if you paint a full circle your doll will have that deer-caught-in-headlights look). You can use flat color, or add more detail like the subtle radial lines you see in real eyes, it is totally up to your personal taste. Place the pupil in the middle of the iris as a black dot (the top should touch the upper eyelid). You can apply little white dots as reflections, or choose to finish off with a glossy varnish and let the real light-source create reflections naturally.

Use a real fine brush (size 0) for the eyeliner and eyelashes. Keep your hands steady and use ink-consistency paint for a even, smooth flow. If you are going to use applied (glued-on) real lashes, don’t paint upper lashes on your doll (one or the other, not both). Aileen’s Tacky Glue works great to hold eyelashes in place. Try to keep the eyebrows similar in size and shape, but they don’t have to be mirror images (remember, real people are not perfectly symmetrical). You might have one eyebrow lifted higher than the other for a little more attitude. Always have a reference, Barış finds it helpful to look at photos while he works.

APPLYING LIP COLOR
Start by outlining the shape of the lips by using the thinnest brush and very dilute pigment (to avoid building up thick layers). It is a good idea to start from the middle and go to the corners of the mouth as if applying lip liner on real people. Paint outside the natural lip line to make them look fuller, or inside to downplay excessively full lips; this is your opportunity to reshape the mouth as desired. Once you are happy with the overall shape, fill in the lip color, which could be a shade lighter than the lip liner. A thin dark line between the upper and lower lips helps to define the parting mouth. You can also apply highlights in the center of lips for more detail. Finish off with a glossy sealer to achieve luscious lips.

WORKING WITH BLUSHER
Prepare a fine powder of pastel color as discussed in the previous issue. Use a bigger brush to apply lightly under the cheekbones going up to the temples to make them pop, and blend smooth with a clean brush. If your model has a wide face, apply the blush over the cheekbones to downplay them. Use a spray-on fixative to seal permanently (you may also use it as a base coat if the blush doesn’t want to attach to the surface).

FINAL TOUCHES
You can always go back and touch up you work as you go along. Add more painted lashes, touch up the reflections on the eyes, darken the eyebrows, paint radial lines on the lips for more definition (refer to photographs of people or the lips of ball-jointed dolls), apply beauty marks (dip the back end of your brush in dark-brown / black paint and put a tiny dot on the doll’s face) or freckles (use very dilute burnt sienna, paint on small, uneven marks scattered over the cheekbones and bridge of the nose, and keep the spacing random for a more realistic look).

APPLIED LASHES
You can get lashes from suppliers like Antina’s Doll Supply, Mini World Dolls, or Denver Doll Emporium. The ones that come as long strips are best, but you can even use people-sized eyelashes from beauty stores. Trim them to size, curl by rubbing between your nail and thumb, and then bend to the shape of the eyelid. Do a dry run to make sure they fit, and apply a thin strip of tacky glue to the bottom of the lashes and drop them in place using tweezers (Aileen’s Tacky Glue works great, Krazy Glue is not recommended as you can’t remove it if you make a mess). Try not to move them around too much as it spreads the glue, but you may use toothpicks for minor adjustments. The glue should dry clear, but if you need to, you may go over the lashes with black paint and then seal.

SEALING AND FINISHING OFF
A variety of sealers are available, pick a matte one for the face (eyebrows, eye shadow, beauty marks etc). Spray-on MSC fixative results in a smooth, matte finish, and absolutely no brush marks! Choose either a satin or a glossy finish for the lips depending on the look you are going for. Use clear sealer with a hint of pink/red pigment added to achieve glossy nude lips. Eyeballs can be sealed matte, or glossy for a more realistic look, it’s your choice.

The finished doll wearing a Pony wig.

You should take you time and enjoy the process – don’t worry about making mistakes, if you don’t like the end result you can always clean the paint off and start again. And even in the worst-case scenario – you could send your doll off to Barış for him to rescue! You can see more examples of his work on flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/baris-repaints/

The original Blonde Tyler by Tonner is shown in the small inset portrait. Barış transformed this doll with a full repaint using pastels and acrylics and applied lashes. She wears Citrine Dream by Tonner, with jewelry from Claire’s, modified by Barış. If you don’t have a wind machine at home, a blow drier in cold setting does the trick to achieve that windswept look.
A quartet of repainted Tonner’s Mei Li dolls. When Barış posted a similar image on Prego he was inundated with requests for Mei Li repaints – so much so that he’s stopped taking on this doll for now! He likes all of his dolls to look different from each other so that they are true one-of-a-kinds, even though the starting point is the same doll. They are wearing the ultra basic swimsuit by Tonner. The original ‘before’ doll is in the circular inset. (Before shot of Mei Li by Jan Mitsch).
Barış’s first repaint commission was Trends Esme, whose owner wanted more glamour, and glamour she got! Esme is wearing Live Wire by Integrity Toys. The original untouched doll is shown in the circular inset picture. (Before shot of Esme by William A. Peterson).
Barış teamed up with the talented San Francisco doll couturier, Deanna Marconi to create this sixties-inspired doll. Before the magic Trends Sydney as she looked straight out of the box (top inset photo, by Jan Mitsch). the other inset photo shows the same doll partially re-rooted in Copper Penny saran hair from Dollyhair.com, blended to give more drama to the style. The hair was given an asymmetric razor cut and swept back on one side.
Dancing with Carlos Sydney (circular inset) with burgundy hair and bangs, before she got the star treatment. Under the meticulous art direction of Barış, she became Agyness Deyn ca. 2010, the top British fashion model and actress. Her hair was re-created in platinum faux-fur mohair for maximum versatility in Ms. Deyn’s trademark short style. She has the model’s piercing blue eyes and wears striking monochrome. Shown left in Jeremy Voss’s Tyler Who? t-shirt from Tonner, suspenders from Karma’s, vinyl pants by Superdoll, hat from Michael’s Craft Store, and tablecloth scarf by Baris. On the right, the simple charcoal funnel-neck top is from Superdoll’s Sybarite Basique collection.
AInspired by Superdoll’s Cosma Shiva, this basic Sybarite Venus was taken apart by Barış. He painted her entire body with acrylics, sealed it with MSC, sueded the joints and restrung her before repainting her face with acrylics and pastels. This one is in his personal collection, but he was commissioned to create another with a more metallic skin tone. The mohair hard cap wig was made especially for this doll by the extremely talented Carolyn, at The Flying Ewe. The fuschia top is from Hot Pants Jadde Lee by Mme. Alexander, the scarf is from Pirates of the Caribbean Will Turner, and the gold jewelry from AvantGuards Live Wire.
The former Simply Breathless doll from Tonner’s Dick Tracy collection (shown factory fresh in the inset circular picture). Her hair has been washed and relaxed, and she’s had a full repaint with pastels and acrylics. Her grey eyes are accented with smoky eyeshadow, and she has nude glossy lips for a dramatic look. She is wearing a little black dress by Empire Clothing.
Mayuri was an Antoinette Honey mannequin head by Tonner swapped to a Jac body. She has had lowlights and highlights added to her hair and a center part rooted in. She wears Aqua Angelina’s dress by Tonner. The before photo (inset) shows this doll’s original blank face. Mayuri has a removable bindi so she can move seamlessly from traditional to contemporary dress.

This story is from two features that originally appeared in Fashion Doll Quarterly magazine in 2010

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