So, first, let me start with the character that is Alia. She is a reincarnation of a vampire/goddess that lived eons ago. She was actually never supposed to come back but neither was her counterpart, who she was born to go against. Like, without Pandora, her rival god, she wouldn't need to be. But, because Rai messed up (okay, actually, my character ASH is the one to completely blame for that snaffu), Pandora could be resurrected and so was Alia. In my story, mage magic counterbalances itself whether you want it to or not. So, say you want to magic yourself breakfast or something. Well, somewhere else in the world, breakfast will appear instantly for someone else. It's to cause balance so that the world doesn't completely fuck up. It's like the threefold law but that's for human magic since, in my stories, humans weren't designed to ever have magic so they have to have more happen to counterbalance it.
Anyway, long story short, Alia is reborn. This has been the cornerstone of my characterization for her. Everything after that has been a severe work in progress, some of which I have only recently come up with. Like, her living with Reslin, who takes in stray kids. That's new. Her style, which I never really gave too much thought to, is also new. This is also when I realized, shockingly, that I designed Alia off the me I would love to be. I used to dress like her, in all sorts of crazy crap that sort of didn't go together but was bright and happy so I loved it, but that was before I became completely self-conscious about my weight and just stopped. Alia also has the figure I would want which is very much hourglass-y and thick and va-voomy. :D So, yes.
So, I then started trying to come up with a concept for the rest of her. I decided she had black hair with blue and yellow streaks in it and one blue eye and one yellow eye. Naturally. Why? Well, I had this idea that she represented the Earth and Sun within her because of her goddess self. It actually made sense at the time and I rolled with it. Then I had to pick a mold and, after searching, the mold that stuck completely with me is Dikadoll Lola. I don't know what it was about her but every time I saw her I thought of Alia. Even later, when Iplehouse Lahela came out and I wondered if SHE could be Alia, I looked over at my Lola versus Lahela and STILL chose Lola! She was just perfect! So, here she is not much longer after she arrived:
I LOVED how she looked here! I actually 100% loved her except for one thing.... her faceup, while so absolutely GORGEOUS!, was not her character. Like, looking back on it, I still adore it but it's still not right for her. And, I hate that! Only because A) I wasted the money on the faceup and B) my skills are NOT up to par to this faceup, it's just not. But, despite all that, I hated even more that she didn't look how I wanted her. So, one day, I went absolutely insane and wiped it.
And here's where the insanity/adventure begins.
I don't have pics of ALL her faceups, mind you, but I have a couple so let me share them. All in all, I would say she had four that I actually kept long enough to put eyelashes in and thought were great at the time. But, ontop of those four were about ten or more that either only made it a few steps or got as far as the gloss stage and I was like HOLY SHIT NO WHY?!!! So, yes.
So there was this:
I honestly have no flippin idea what the hell I was thinking. I actually liked this faceup enough to gloss it and put in eyelashes. But LOOK at it! And this wasn't the first I did with her, those pics I don't have. I think I took one with my phone, though, but this was before Google's instant upload so I lost them all when I cracked my phone.
Then here's the next one I have photographic evidence of:
Ok. This one wasn't as amazingly hideous as any of my previous attempts. In fact, there's a possibility she would've kept this faceup had it not been for the unevenness of her eyebrows. Like, if any of my other dolls have uneven eyebrows, I have yet to notice. But, with her, it was ALL I could notice. And then that led me to focus on her other flaws and just.... this faceup had to go. It had to epically go. LOL!
So, I didn't do much with her for MONTHS after this. I tried a couple more times but I lost all, like, hope for her. Than I had to deal with moving and, when I deal with moving, I become a stressed, depressed mess and I honestly could not focus on her (or ANY of my BJDs). In fact, even till recently, I still couldn't deal with her and she's been headless/faceupless for awhile. But then I decided to try again. I have no picture of that fail but, then this past friday, I decided I wanted to give it yet another go! And then this happened:
WHAT IS THIS EVEN??!!! Ok, so I know what I was going for. I actually was inspired by Cats10 and SoftPoison and I think I was trying to combine them but also be really dramatic/crazy and myself, you know? And it failed. The eyebrows are HORRIBLE for her face! Too thick and obvious and far too dark. The eyeshadow makes it look like she decided to do her makeup in the dark and forgot where here eyes were and, frankly, and this is a personal preference, I HATE chin blushing without cheek blushing so I don't know why I did that. Plus the white is too obvious for my tastes and the lips, while you can't see it in the picture, in person, once I had put her head back on her body, were colored so weirdly that she looked like she wasn't smiling anymore, which freaked me out. So, yes. This one also had to go and I was so FRUSTRATED! For one, it had taken me all damn day and I had thought it was going so well until I was done and put her on her body and looked at her the next morning in the sunlight. Also, and this is just annoying, the faceup before this one, I got the blushing right but did the same eye thing I did this time. So I told myself not to do the eye thing again but I ignored myself and never did the blushing I liked from before. What the hell, man?!
Anyway, yesterday, after staring and staring at her, I decided this faceup would just not do and to give it yet another try. So, here is Alia her faceup from yesterday!
So. I know it's not perfect but AAJLSDKJPAEUPJDA!!!! I LOVE HER SO MUCH RIGHT NOW! I actually CRIED once I put her back together. Like sobbed and clasped my hand to my mouth like I had just won an award. It was ridiculous but she makes me so happy being together and not making me angry. Like, I keep looking at her and she STILL makes me happy, unlike every other time before. She hasn't made me this happy since I first got her and that's not an overstatement, it's just true. It was actually getting to the point where I was wondering if it was her or me. Like, not saying I am a Faceup Goddess but I USUALLY can get a faceup to what I want in about 3 tries or less. The fact that she needed so many tries made me wonder if she was just not inspiring me. Which made me way sadder than I cared to admit. This faceup actually came out almost exactly how I wanted it to. It combined the last three tries together, taking what I liked from each (the thin brows, the eyeshadow colors, the blushing) and it came together rather nicely. Idk WHY I added the heart but I actually like it. I find it so cute! :D
Now, for why she has a style change. Well, truthfully, I lost her eyes. I have no clue where they are but, frankly, I don't think they'd fit with this faceup at all anyway. But, even so, I was horrified I lost her eyes but it made me sit and contemplate on her as a whole for awhile. I always thought the hair and eye thing was a little too Marysue-ish. In fact, my friend pointed out that it was toeing that line but I was gungho about it because I am stubborn as hell about my characters. Like, I HATE changing them and I hate critique on them. But, in Alia's case, I think it worked for the better. These were going to be just temp eyes but I think she may keep them. I know they're unrealistic for her skin type but she's a vampire who used to be a god, I think maybe I have some leeway on this. LOL!
Her hair is a wig in actual character life. Another trait from me. She loves her black hair but, like me, sometimes she wants to explore other hair shades without destroying her ACTUAL hair. I plan to get her a pink and a red wig some day because, honestly, those are MY favorite hair colors. I also plan to get her a cute black wig, I just have to find one I like. I also want to get her some really cute and colorful clothes. This is the one time I wish she was on a 1/3rd body and not on the 65cm boobalicious body because finding clothes that are cute and colorful for her is rather hard. But, I will not give up! Right now her top is a colorful sock. And I know people shit bricks over sock clothing but I LOVE the sock colors and it fits in with her character (which is again, like me) and how she upcycles things. So, hee!
Anyway, sorry for boring you to absolute death with the long journey of Alia but, frankly, I am so pleased right now that I can't even deal. She has been incomplete now for, get this, a YEAR TODAY! In fact, I found proof on my Google+:
November 11th, 2011, I decided Alia's faceup was driving me nuts, since it wasn't her character, so I wanted to redo it. Can you even stand it? One year! HOW INSANE IS THAT?!!! I can't even deal. LOL!
Thank you very much if you read all of this. I know it was insane and long as hell but, I wanted to share. Now, here's hoping tomorrow Alia isn't like "nope! Hate this faceup too!" I'd bring her to life and then kill her. Literally. Somehow. :D
