When we take the time to study facial features, we see they often don’t follow stereotypes. Men and boys might have full or highly-colored lips, and pink or red cheeks. Women often have thin lips, and may not have much blush in lips or cheeks.
But it’s still the case that there are tendencies in features, (women TEND to have higher coloring and fuller lips, for instance), so the easiest way to signal a masculine face in the painted features is with thinner lips and less pronounced facial coloring. It also helps to use a more peach, apricot or tan color, rather than pink or red.
In this tutorial, I will show how to paint a boy’s face on our Hitty Girls Souvenir Model, Charlie Boy.
Steps 1 and 2 : Paint the Irises, then the Pupils
Begin by painting two circles for the irises, in any color you like. Then paint the black pupils. Place the black circles toward the top of the irises, rather than exactly in the center.
Step 3 : Paint the Lip and Cheek Color
Use a peach or apricot color, and dilute it until it’s fairly pale. Concentrate on the lip-line when painting the mouth, and spread a little of the color from the center toward the edges of the lips. It’s not important to define the edges of the lips on a boy’s face.
Use the same color to create a very light, widespread ‘flush’ of facial color on his cheeks. Dilute the color more than for a girl, and spread it across a wider area of the cheeks. It looks perfectly natural extended up onto the temples and almost down to the jawline, as long as it is very light.
Step 4 : Add Brown Shadows and Detailing
Use diluted brown to add various details and shadows to the face. This boy has shadows under his lower lip, along his lipline, and in his nostrils. Darker brown is used to emphasize the corners of his mouth, and to paint eyeline, eyelid line, and eyebrows.
Step 5 : Paint the Final Details
There are several options in finishing the face. On this doll, I outlined his irises in black, and added white sparkles. He doesn’t have sclera (whites of the eyes).
Here are a couple more boys I recently painted. None of these guys have freckles, but they are always a great option on a boy! If you want to paint freckles, use the same brown you used for the detailing, and paint teensy flecks. Don’t forget to use varnish to protect your work!
