Meanae (Mea) from Germany not only provides face-ups for customers, she also takes commissions for modding and dying BJDs too. The artist has also created her own dolls, both human and animal.
~~~~~
Q: First can you tell me a little about yourself and how you became interested in BJDs and how that lead to becoming a face-up artist?
A: I first became interested in BJDs when I found one, by chance, on Deviantart in 2008. I had written my first own fictional stories by then and always had the hardest time imagining my own characters – seeing those customizable dolls was a wish coming true. Over the next two years, I saved up money and bought my first doll in 2010, a Dollmore Ipsae Monahan. At that time, I had no idea that the doll community even existed.
I found a local face-up artist through a Germany online forum, and she did my Ipsaes first face-up. While it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t really what I imagined, so after a few weeks of research, I wiped her and redid her face-up. I didn’t like it (at all!) and did it again, and again, and again – in the end, I painted her like 10 times over, until I was finally satisfied. At that time I got my second doll, a Ringdoll Kay, whos face-up was smudged upon his arrival, so I redid that too. My third doll, a purple Resinsoul Lian, was ordered intentionally blank because I really wanted to do her face-up.
While working on these three, I noticed that I had a lot of fun with painting dolls and breathing life into them. The versatility of each sculpt is baffling to me even today; with a slightly different eyebrow angle, you can go from happy to sad and from angry to sleepy. With these three done, I offered some face-ups for free for other people – that’s when I started Mea’s BJD Salon.
Q: Do you paint any size dolls?
A: I paint any size of dolls, but prefer MSD and SD heads, because they’re in most cases more mature and offer more space to work with.
Q: What sizes and types of BJDs do you own?
A: I currently own a lot of BJD pets, a few MSDs (centaurs) and several mature SDs. That’s pretty much my preference for painting dolls too – fantasy and adult heads.
Q: What kind of materials do you use to paint them?
A: I’m using Munitorium Varnish (formerly Purity Seal) as a sealant and Schmincke pastels, Albrecht Dürer watercolor pencils, acrylics and shimmer powders for the faceup itself.
Q: Have you taken on any especially difficult or unusual projects?
A: I recently worked on a blue skin Merry Doll Round Dango. She’s the smallest head I ever painted, and the owner wanted a fantasy approach, so she got super tiny snowflakes on her head and her body. It was a real challenge to work on something that small! But I love challenges like that once in a while.
Q: What things inspire your face-ups?
A: I get inspired by a lot of things; models, makeup (and faceup) artists, Pinterest mood boards and browsing Deviantart. I have a very soft spot for vibrant and high contrast color palettes too.
Q: Do most clients have a specific idea of what they want?
A: Most people have a rough idea of what they want when they contact me, but there are from time to time both some who know exactly what they want, as well as some who leave most of the faceup up to me. It’s always exciting to read a new commission request!
Q: Do you also do tattooing or any modding?
A: Yes and yes! I love doing both. Modding kind of brought me to making my own dolls too.
Q: You are sculpting your own dolls as well? Can you tell me more?
A: I’m working on my own dolls under the name Quadriga Dolls. So far I’ve made a dragon (Eryn) and a seadragon (Myaree). I sold both online and at conventions in the last years. I’m currently working on a tiny human doll, which I’ll hopefully sell either on Dolly Day or LDoll next year. Besides those, I worked on a more voluminous MSD/SD woman, an SD dog, and a few pet dolls. Oh and a mature tiny woman, who I finished but never got cast.
Q: I know that you have experience dying dolls. Do you also dye dolls for other people, or only for personal projects?
A: I offer to dye for anybody. There might be a few cases where I’ll decline, for example, if someone wants a very specific shade of color, but in most cases, I’m open to everything. So far I’ve done both fantasy and natural colors, as well as light dyes to de-zombify heavily yellowed dolls. Dyeing is always a challenge but lots of fun, so I’m always happy if I can do that for someone else!
Q: Do you paint dolls on the side or do you do it as your main job?
A: It’s a weekend job. I’d like to do it more, but I just don’t have the time.
