The expression painting series ended a few weeks back!

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Here we have the Mikatan Miku-san!

There are a lot of things that could still be improved, but I still think she looks cute for my first ever expression! :P

You can do everything besides the gradient with pretty simple tools, and it’s actually so much fun to watch the expression slowly take shape! If you missed out on the series, be sure to take a look at the complete series linked below!

Painting a Nendoroid Expression Part 10: Adding a Matte and Blush
Painting a Nendoroid Expression Part 9: Adding in Highlights
Painting a Nendoroid Expression Part 8: Applying the Gradient
Painting a Nendoroid Expression Part 7: Preparing to Apply the Gradient
Painting a Nendoroid Expression Part 6: Pupils and Shadows
Painting a Nendoroid Expression Part 5: Mixing Colors and Eyebrows
Painting a Nendoroid Expression Part 4: Preparing to Apply Color
Painting a Nendoroid Expression Part 3: Continuing to Paint the Eye Borders
Painting a Nendoroid Expression Part 2: Painting the Eye Border
Painting a Nendoroid Expression Part 1: Basic Knowledge & Tools
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Today as a little follow-on from the series, I’ll be taking a look at some of the first Nendoroid expressions made by others!

Most of the staff in the production team didn’t seem to like the idea of me putting their work up on the blog, but I hope it’ll inspire other people to try themselves!

All the expressions in this blog (except for the last one) were all just done as personal practice – they were never used in any actual products.
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Seibu-kun from the production team!

The sculptor of Nendoroid Snow Miku: Strawberry White Kimono Ver.!

At the moment he only works on the sculpting and coloring of figures, but one day he is aiming to be able to do the expressions as well! The very first expression he made was this one!
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It does look a bit too spread out…

I also think the eyes are a bit slanted… it’s a nice simple expression though!

Just as Oda-P said, the first time you paint an expression, the eyes will almost always end up looking slanted. Even looking at my Miku expression above, the eyes are definitely not quite straight… expressions certainly aren’t easy!
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Expression Artist-chan #1

This is the painter who was in charge of all three of Nendoroid Snow Miku: Strawberry White Kimono Ver.’s expressions! While they were still in the rough stages I checked the expressions myself, and there were almost no changes that needed to be done!!

Kawapon taught all the expression artists, and the fact that they’re all so good at their job really shows just how well he taught them!
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These both look really difficult!!

Trying characters with such difficult expressions first must have been quite the challenge. The expression on the right is overall a little bit too big, and I think the eyes are a little bit too far apart. I think if the pupils were a little bit bigger and the line beneath the eye was shorter then it’d look great!

Of course that is all much easier said than done – I know I’d never be able to apply my own corrections. Once you try painting the expression yourself you realize just how hard it is!
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Expression Artist-chan #2

This is the artist behind the Nendoroid Petite Hatsune Miku Selection expressions! The set had many different fan-made characters that were all still basically the same character, which makes emphasizing the little features on the expressions all the more important.

They all came out looking absolutely adorable, so don’t miss out on them!

– Nendoroid Petite Hatsune Miku Selection –
http://www.goodsmile.info/product/en/3853/
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It’s not easy to get the lines equally thick on both sides!

You can definitely notice the difference in the thickness of the lines on the left expression here. This is really just a matter of practice, and the more you work on expressions the better you’ll become at judging the thickness of each line.The things you need to watch while working on the lines is that they look correct, cute and visible to the right degree.

If you compare these expressions to the ones above, you’ll notice that even though they’re the same characters they look considerably different! Even the smallest of details are important with expressions, so when just a few small things differ the expression can look completely different!!
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Lastly we have Oda-P!!

I’d be lying if I said this blog wasn’t made for this section! :P

Oda-P can draw almost any characters expression in such a cute way now… but his very first expression was in fact… this one!
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The fabled Nendoroid Haruhi!!

Apparently Oda-P spent just 4 hours working on this expression so that it could be put in this magazine in time. This is the March 2007 edition of FIGURE Maniacs – that’s from 6 years ago!!!

At the time, Oda-P didn’t think expressions could possibly take all that long, but once he started he realized just how much work they were! It’s one of those things that’s hard to grasp until you actually try it for yourself!!
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It certainly packs quite a punch…

It’s not too bad, right? Shortly after the magazine was published, Kawapon went and redid all of Haruhi’s expressions… which means these expression by Oda-P are actually incredibly rare!

Apparently Oda-P himself had specially been avoiding looking at them again, but went back to them just for this blog post! :P

Conclusion:

Nobody is good at expression painting from the start!

The more you practice, the better you’ll become! Practice makes perfect!

This blog is here for all those that are trying to paint an expression and feel it isn’t going well. Just remember that everyone has to start somewhere! If you believe you can get better and are determined to do so, then you should be able to make perfect expressions with some practice!

Don’t forget about the Sculptor’s Tryout & Finisher’s Tryout: 2013 Spring!
The deadline for applications is Sunday, the 31st March!

Sculptor’s Tryout & Finisher’s Tryout: 2013 Spring
http://www.goodsmile.info/post/ja/3624/

Anyway, that’s all for today!
I hope to see you all again tomorrow!! (・∀・)ノ゛