Painting seamless bodies (NSFW?)

Update and response to Ovy

The oil-based ink method is not quite as irreversible as I thought. As I mentioned, if you rub some water onto it, it can smudge a little bit. Well, if you rub it just a little more vigorously with (for example) a wet q-tip, you can pretty much completely remove the ink. This is both good news and bad -- the good news is that it is reversible, in case you make a mistake or change your mind; the bad news likewise, in case you wanted to be certain that it is stuck there forever. But if you are not going to wet and rub the figure (we're still talking TBLeague silicone body here), the oil-based ink seems like a reasonably stable option for tattoos and body hair or whatever.

Ovy, I don't quite follow what you mean about a tattoo machine, but I'm sure soon enough you will show us. I did try to replicate your pencil graphite discovery, and it works just like you say. I did a quick little X on a bit of paper, making sure to make it thick and full, then just rubbed it a bit onto the silicone surface, and sure enough it left an offprint. Then I tried to remove it with a wet q-tip. It gradually turned into a smudge but eventually came off completely. It performed the same way both before and after removing the protective powder. Looks like another reversible approach.

Ovy wrote:Hah, nice one, good to know there is a 'precise' method like this.

Btw, attacked a Jiaou dude's covered leg with the tattoo machine just for fun, while it did not work like a real tattoo, somehow this ink sticks to the body. But still some experimenting to do there.

And a happy little accident: I outlined the craft paper wings for Fyyit with a graphite pencil to cut them out. When trying on the wings, the line of the pencil seems to have transferred onto her back permanently.
Have not reproduced that yet, as I am out of testing bodies. But maybe someone would like to experiment further if it is possible to draw fine pencil tattoos on the paper and transfer them to the skin.

Thanks for the update, GF. It seems like very few things are truly ‘permanent’ on the silicone, so it’s not surprising. But it’s still an interesting technique that could be useful for specific needs and perhaps be fine in smaller areas (with less chance of constant handling and getting rubbed or smudged). Such as if someone wanted to add just a bit of chest hair on a figure with an open-necked shirt, or tattoos on a bare arm or something.

I appreciate everyone performing these experiments to test the various materials. Sometimes we make breakthroughs, and sometimes it’s a ‘false alarm’ — I was so excited at first when I thought I’d managed to colour the body with the white oil pastel, but then sadly realized it was all washing off. But it’s helpful to do that process of elimination, as otherwise we might always be wondering about it.

Update on painting/drawing on TBLeague silicone body surface with oil-based ink.

Oil-based ink seemed like the natural candidate for drawing small details (like tattoos or body hair) on this surface, and I reported on my experiments in an earlier post (post 162 in this thread). As I noticed and noted, it seemed like a fairly stable solution, but it is possible to smudge the lines if you rubbed them with something wet. Continued experimentation confirms this. In fact, with enough effort, that solution can now be classified as reversible rather than permanent.

If you do not handle and rub the body with wet fingers or tools you will probably have stable and clear lines. But if you do, you will get some smudging. The silver lining is that this means that if you make a mistake in the painting/drawing or simply change your mind and want to remove it, you can. Getting the body wet and rubbing it down on purpose with a modicum of effort produced much more smudging, eventually an artsy wash effect that I wish I had photographed, and finally (after some recourse to soap, not just water), the oil-based ink washed off, leaving almost no trace. I say almost, because there are still some faint variations in coloring, in effect reminiscent of slight pitting or hairing on the body. The process also removed the oil-pastel coloring on the nipples (I don't know whether it would have the same effect on larger surfaces painted with that medium: this instance affected very small areas, which were also not given quite as thorough a treatment as when one paints the entire body surface with oil pastel).

Here are a couple of shots of the body (the same one featured in post 162) after removing all the oil-based ink hairs. While I'm somewhat disappointed by the reversibility of the oil-based ink method, it resulted in a more nuanced (and natural) appearance (remember M30 bodies were a bit greyish in skin tone to begin with) and allowed me to continue experimenting on the same body with other options (more on that presently).

Interesting effect -- looks almost like he's got a five o'clock shadow where his body hair used to be. ;D 

Curious to see what you do with it next...

That’s actually not a bad effect. It gives the impression of hairiness without being over-the-top.

I think it looks a lot like skin pigmentation/freckles, great discovery.

Maybe for your next novel.

Lmao, Ovy !

skywalkersaga wrote:Interesting effect -- looks almost like he's got a five o'clock shadow where his body hair used to be. ;D Curious to see what you do with it next...

Yes, I thought so too -- faint body hair and color variation, just like real skin. Not as fine as what ADD Toys managed on their muscle war wolf, but still...

Stryker2011 wrote:That’s actually not a bad effect. It gives the impression of hairiness without being over-the-top.

Agreed. Shall we call it light fuzz?

Ovy wrote:I think it looks a lot like skin pigmentation/freckles, great discovery.

Maybe for your next novel.

I thought so too, although the process might be a bit laborious. As for the photo, the poor guy... is this sun damage?

I agree with everything that's been said and will add:
This could serve as a nice henna tattoo effect!

Hey guys, new collector here, I bought a figure that came with everything except the body, the recommended ones were pale skin Phicen/TBLeague, but I don't live in the US so these type of things are a little expensive, I found a Jiaou at a decent price on Ebay, it arrived yesterday but as you can see I f up, their pale skin is soooo white compared to the headsculpt.



I wanna fix this by painting the body because I can't spend money on a proper Phicen/TBLeague right now, besides you know how things are going in China atm, I can't return it either and ask for a different skin color. So if I mess this one up then I guess I'd have to buy a proper one later but obviously that's not the idea...

So my question is would you guys recommend that Staedtler paint method for this one?? Again it's a Jiaou, I really wanna be extra careful, I've never painted figures before. Any help would be appreciated!

Hello, and welcome, TheFlyingRaccoon!

First of all, so sorry for your disappointment —skintone matching can be a gamble in this hobby , so I can understand your frustration. And Jiaou skintones are often marked in a confusing way, depending where you purchase from, so don’t feel too bad about it.

Now, regarding the oil pastel colouring method... I feel I must caution you against using this on your Jiaou body. While GubernatorFan has used it with some success on a couple Jiaou’s before, I personally had a bad experience with my attempt, and the Jiaou body ended up getting scratched up by the pastel stick. The problem is that the TPE material that they are made of is basically the same consistency as styrofoam, and is fairly delicate , and doesn’t hold up well being washed with soap, either. In comparison, the silicone that the tbleague bodies are made of is much more robust and holds up much better with this method. Of course, by all means, feel free to try it out, but I just wanted to mention that I’d had a negative experience when I attempted to colour a Jiaou body with the oil pastel method.

Where are you located, out of curiosity? Just wondering if you could maybe try to sell the too-pale Jiaou body on ebay and recoup some of your funds that way. I’d recommend doing that if you can, and then saving up for either a tbleague or a different Jiaou body that matches the head you want to use better. : )

If you are worried about sellers to use , GianToy are very good and ship quickly to the U.K. (that’s where I’m located). They are back open now, and I have already received my most recent order from them, if that helps at all. : )

Welcome aboard Flying Raccoon! (rocket is that you???)

Sorry my knowledge is very limited on this topic, I suggest you wait for an answer of one of the pro league body painters here as phicen and jiaou dolls bodies are not made of the exact same material...

In the meantime, since your goal is to darken the whole body skintone, you might find this other topic interesting as well

dyeing phicen bodies

Once again it applies to phicen bodies, so may be wait before going adventurous on your jiaoudoll body(btw if you plan on changing the body, I think the "wheat" color from jiaou or the "suntan" from phicen would match better seeing the headsculpt)

Again, welcome aboard!

skywalkersaga wrote:Hello, and welcome, TheFlyingRaccoon!

First of all, so sorry for your disappointment —skintone matching can be a gamble in this hobby , so I can understand your frustration. And Jiaou skintones are often marked in a confusing way, depending where you purchase from, so don’t feel too bad about it.

Now, regarding the oil pastel colouring method... I feel I must caution you against using this on your Jisou body. While GubernatorFan has used it with some success on a couple Jiaou’s before, I personally had a bad experience with my attempt, and the Jiaou body ended up getting scratched up by the pastel stick. The problem is that the TPE that they are made of is basically the same consistency as styrofoam, and is fairly delicate material , and doesn’t hold up well being washed with soap, either. In comparison, the food grade silicone that the tbleague bodies are made of is much more robust and holds up much better with this method. Of course, by all means, feel free to try it out, but I just wanted to mention that I’d had a negative experience when I attempted to colour a Jiaou body with the oil pastel method.

Where are you located, out of curiosity? Just wondering if you could maybe try to sell the too-pale Jiaou body on ebay and recoup some of your funds that way. I’d recommend doing that if you can, and then saving up for either a tbleague or a different Jiaou body that matches the head you want to use better. : )

If you are worried about sellers to use , GianToy are very good and ship quickly to the U.K. (that’s where I’m located). They are back open now, and I have already received my most recent order from them, if that helps at all. : )

Ha, here come the professionals!

Ah, looks like we cross-posted — Blackpool also gives good advice.

Hey, thanks for the warm welcome you two!  

skywalkersaga wrote:
Now, regarding the oil pastel colouring method... I feel I must caution you against using this on your Jiaou body. While GubernatorFan has used it with some success on a couple Jiaou’s before, I personally had a bad experience with my attempt, and the Jiaou body ended up getting scratched up by the pastel stick. The problem is that the TPE material that they are made of is basically the same consistency as styrofoam, and is fairly delicate , and doesn’t hold up well being washed with soap, either. In comparison, the food grade silicone that the tbleague bodies are made of is much more robust and holds up much better with this method. Of course, by all means, feel free to try it out, but I just wanted to mention that I’d had a negative experience when I attempted to colour a Jiaou body with the oil pastel method.

I see... personally I am willing to try, perhaps by next week I'll scout around for the oil pastel. I'm thinking I could start testing it on the body around an area covered by clothes, see how it turns out and go from there if it works

skywalkersaga wrote:Where are you located, out of curiosity? Just wondering if you could maybe try to sell the too-pale Jiaou body on ebay and recoup some of your funds that way. I’d recommend doing that if you can, and then saving up for either a tbleague or a different Jiaou body that matches the head you want to use better. : )

I'm in South America, packages usually take a while to get here (I ordered the body early January but it probably took longer because of all the virus stuff), I'm sure there's more collectors around here but if I had to buy another body, I was planning to leave the Jiaou for reference and posing. I like to draw and work with 3D programs so these seamless bodies are very useful for stuff like that. But I may consider reselling it too if I get the chance.

blackpool wrote:
In the meantime, since your goal is to darken the whole body skintone, you might find this other topic interesting as well

dyeing phicen bodies

Once again it applies to phicen bodies, so may be wait before going adventurous on your jiaoudoll body(btw if you plan on changing the body, I think the "wheat" color from jiaou or the "suntan" from phicen would match better seeing the headsculpt)

I did check that thread out too, that's an interesting method but I find that one a little scarier, not gonna lie hahaha.
If I order another body I'll make sure it's Phicen/TBLeague, the Jiaou hand pegs are a little big for the sculpted gloved hands the original figure came with and I find the legs too long. I definitely feel dumb for buying this body but I guess it's just a rookie mistake : P

I'll post results if I start working on it, again thank you guys! Nice to be here

Welcome aboard, FlyingRaccoon. Unfortunately, you just discovered the reality of this hobby much faster, but probably for the better, than many. Look around the forum, there are many experienced collectors/kitbashers here, and we are always willing to answer any questions. We all had to start somewhere, and often we learned from mistakes more than anything. This hobby gets expensive fast when going by trial and error, but that’s often the best way to truly learn. That being said, don’t be afraid to ask questions, someone may have the answer before you consider trying/purchasing something.

Oh goodness, don't feel dumb, FlyingRaccoon! Seamless bodies can be a bit confusing thing to get into at first. And you don't even want to know how many crappy plastic jointed bodies I purchased prior to actually taking the plunge and getting a tbleague, lol. So you are already ahead of the game.

Totally understandable that you'd want to keep the body in this instance. And as Stryker says, it's certainly always good to experiment, please don't let me put you off. Just would have felt bad if I hadn't at least mentioned the potential for damage to the Jiaou bodies. If you are careful with it, you might have more success than I did. Perhaps if you just make sure to not wash it with harsh dish soap, and instead just gently rinse and/or mist it with water, this might help, as I believe the soap dries out the TPE and makes it more fragile and easily scratched.

Good luck with whatever method you end up trying! : )

Thank you, I gave it a fair amount of thought and decided I'm just gonna buy a Phicen/TBLeague figure later, I'll list the Jiaou on a local website along with a bunch of stuff and hopefully get some money back

Once again I appreciate the responses! If I have questions I'll be sure to ask, this is a lovely community and I look forward to seeing more stuff here!

I think the others covered what I would have said (besides, it is already in various posts above), but I'd only add that on the basis of the photo TBLeague's "suntan" (which is not very tan in the female version) might be closer to your head sculpt. Unless of course I'm thrown off by the extra pale color of the Jiaou body.

Based on the color of the head sculpt, you might want to consider a Jiaou Doll “Wheaten” body — it’s closer to the Old Suntan that TBL used to make. I know this is probably not what you want to hear...

Update on painting (e.g.) body hair on TBLeague seamless bodies

Since the oil-based ink solution that initially looked so promising can now be classed as a reversible one (see Post 174), I continued looking for an alternative. I experimented with other options, such as Pigma Micron archival ink pens by Sakura and the Art-n-Fly Fine Line drawing pens, which were available with an even finer tip than the oil-based ink ones, "003" = "0.03" (which actually corresponds to 0.15 mm). Sakura went on most smoothly and made the cleanest lines but these, too, would smudge and come off.

The most permanent result was achieved using Uni Pin Fine Line fineliner drawing pens with water and fade proof pigment ink. This, too, is available in 003 (0.03), and that results in lines palpably finer than the 005 I used in my earlier oil-based ink experiment (see Post 162). The Uni Pin pigment ink pen was much harder to use on the silicone surface, leaving less clear or consistent marks than the others, resulting in a more muted appearance (which might be a good thing if trying to draw body hair in this scale); but then again after these dried, they did not smudge or come off like the others (you can smudge them before they dry, but it still doesn't come off -- so be careful if you give it a try). The Uni Pin pens also come in different tip sizes -- if you get them as a commercially-sold pack, they typically include one each of 0.03, 0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.8; I ordered a couple of 3-packs of 0.03 from eBay. While working with it, I had to clean the tip (from the oil, silicone, dust?) by running it over clean paper from time to time, and helped myself by swapping back and forth between three pens.

The permanency of the solution, the finer lines, and their more muted appearance make it a better option for drawing body hair on TBLeague silicone surfaces. The same would be true if you were drawing tattoos (although there you would often be able to use some of the wider tips, and working with those is easier). Here are a few photos -- using the same M30 body as before (the painted hairs on the harder plastic hands and feet are from the earlier experiment with 005 tip oil-based ink which proved permanent on that surface, hence the mismatch).

Very cool experiment, Ian. The body hair turned out really good on this one.

Stryker2011 wrote:Very cool experiment, Ian. The body hair turned out really good on this one.

Thank you very much! Glad you liked it. I also think it is more successful than before, both in permanence and in appearance.

A great improvement! Thanks so much for taking the time to experiment and document your results for us. Will be interested to see how you utilize this technique in future.

skywalkersaga wrote:A great improvement! Thanks so much for taking the time to experiment and document your results for us. Will be interested to see how you utilize this technique in future.

Thank you very much! I've learned a lot from others in this hobby, it's only natural I'd pass on whatever I stumble across. I suppose I will make a few more body types with hair, but not really in a hurry, as the process is quite time consuming.

Question for those who have been using the oil pastels.... I recently coloured a tbleague body blue for an upcoming Aayla Secura figure, but was somewhat frustrated by the results. I first tried one colour, but it turned out too bright blue. Then I added some 'shading' in a darker blue colour, and now it's a bit better colourwise, but I'm worried it's too dark? Or just looks weird? I don't normally share WIP photos, but to illustrate, here's some pics....please excuse the background mess.


[photos removed for privacy reasons]


Does it look recognizable for the character? It was the best skintone I could achieve with the materials I had at hand. Wwondering if I should have used a pale body, since maybe the original lighter blue colour would have turned out better on the first try that way? I'm not bothered about 100% screen accuracy, since I'm going for an amalgamation of various versions of this character (film, animated, comic book, etc), but I still wanted the shade/tone to be recognizable.

ETA: This is more the sort of skin colour I'd originally wanted:



I'm at one of those points where I've looked at the thing too long and can no longer really be objective, so just looking for some feedback...

I don't know this character, and with differences in the ways colors are processed, saved, and displayed electronically, it is hard to say. The image of the character might be just a tad lighter and ever so slightly greener, but it would be very difficult to achieve that with what you've got (or from scratch). I think the body you painted with the oil pastels works very well both in itself and for the character. Especially in the first photo, which is better lit, it actually comes very very close to target.

Seems like she gets depicted in various shades. The blue of your figure is brighter/more saturated than in the photo you posted, mostly the because of the darker areas, which seem more saturated. But considering how many shades I've seen this character in there doesn't seem to be a right or wrong. So just do whatever you like most?

I certainly agree it works the way it is right now. Lighting will also play a role. Maybe place her where you intend to display her and see whether you like the look of the shades there?

Thank you both for the feedback -- it is indeed too 'green' for my tastes, but that was the limitation of the available oil pastels. Glad it looks passable, at least. I'm too much of a perfectionist, so I do sometimes get rather hung up on these things.

That's a good idea about seeing how it looks in my display area, Diana. I'll check that out first before deciding whether I'll re-do it or not. I'm inclined to leave it as-is, simply because I am swiftly running out of energy for this particular project -- it was supposed to be a 'quick' kitbash and then ended up turning into a full-on custom figure. Perhaps with the right paintjob on the headsculpt it will look alright. : )