#i just think these dolls are so fun and they're sculpts are so so good their eyes are SO pretty

[bumpscosity]

disney hasn't released any new ily 4ever dolls in a while i'm getting nervous

[joltrify]

experimentations ft. the Artpop queen herself

Silly little (not so little) unrelated HC I developed later under the cut

₊˚ ‿︵‿︵‿︵୨୧ · · ♡ · · ୨୧‿︵‿︵‿︵ ˚₊

🎀- HC that EVE's most normal hobby - when not occupied with other things - is repainting dolls 🎀- Like in a blue moon you can catch her at the hobby lobby in mom jeans and a cardigan just looking for materials

★- In her down time (which is a bit rare these days) Nadia'll pick those ball-jointed Barbie/Bratz/MH dolls and give them a complete makeover ☆- While she's making them she's fervently thinking 'I will love you in a way that no one else EVER has' and she treats them all that way ★- She'll repaint them in the most unconventional ways possible but they're still gorgeous; a perfect reflection of her studio artwork on a body that isn't her own ☆- Sometimes if she's low on fabrics, instead of making a full-sized mockup of her exhibition fits she'll use her dolls to test the outfit design and make a mini version of the fit with small pieces of the final material ★- She's got this HUGE shelf on her pad that's got these fashion icon dolls displayed with their name and inspiration on a little plaque ☆- Whenever something significant happens and she doesn't want to paint, she'll hold onto the feeling, good or bad, and jot down an idea for a new doll's look ★- and she DOES truly love each of them - though she may have had to learn to love one in particular

🎀- She picked up the hobby in college (before she met Zuke) but didn't really think anything of it 🌸- It was just a means to practice different makeup looks and pencil techniques without sculpting something - and it was fun! She liked having a cute little gal at the end of the process 🎀- When she came up with the idea of using the dolls as models, she created a doll of herself but made the decision to make its skin completely white 🌸- When Nadia met Zuke, she sort of put the hobby aside to focus on her other art mediums, but she looked at the doll of herself and felt comfortable enough to repaint the right side pink (and she laughed a bit to herself looking at the final result, because it looked... Cute! Just like her other gorgeous dolls...) 🎀- After Rapturica, she didn't feel the need to create a doll based on her feelings as she didn't feel as hurt as she expected, but she did find it really, REALLY hard to look at the doll of herself, so she hid it away... 🎀- she picked up repainting again later but went in HARD - they began to look more artsy and alien, just like her other art pieces 🌸- After graduating she didn't really have time to repaint dolls and focused on creating other arts/music again, only occasionally using them to test outfits (but never the one of herself) 🎀- After the events of NSR though, she picked it up again as a form of self-care. It's something she doesn't have to create for the public eye, and she's rekindled the joy of creating a strange little gal and loving them despite their bizarre quirks. 🌸- ... I think she feels a bit more comfortable looking at the doll of herself now, too.

★- She's probably still got doll repaint videos up on her channel from her college days, hehe. ☆- (She's debating whether or not to make a mini exhibition about the concept of dolls.* Likely not, as she doesn't want to taint the tranquility of the act, but she still likes the idea. It's better to not mix work art with home art, anyway.) (* (How they can reflect their caretaker, they exhibit both confidence and vulnerability, they can be broken and discarded but repaired, they're still images that can be moved in a 3d space however you desire, they rely on a person to actually be 'real' ykyk that kind of thing. the symbolism of dolls.)

The doodle I made in the 3rd picture (above the cut) is inspired by those really pretty doll repaints... I think that that look in particular is one that she tested on a doll first... pre-ugly cry, that is.

Thanks for reading my very silly idea... decorated the bullets with Bows and stars because I felt like it, haha. Have a lovely day~🌸

[strangegutz]

Apologies if you've answered an ask like this before, but I've noticed that your drawing style and your dollmaking are very different, with your dolls being more stylized. Would you say that developing an art style for your dolls was easier/harder/different than finding a drawing style, and is there a reason you gravitate towards a 3D art style so different from your 2D one? I ask because I've always drawn in a semi-realistic style but want to make dolls, and I was wondering what it's like to make the jump. Personally, I feel like I struggle to unlearn/make myself get over the rules of proportions and anatomy in order to make more stylized stuff. Sorry for rambling a bit!

I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out a good way to answer the first part of your question, about developing the separate art styles- I might get back to you on that if I can think of anything later (particularly difficult bc theyre both styles ive had for a Long Time that have just evolved over time so it's hard to pinpoint feelings on the development)

As for why they're so different, it's mostly because most dolls you see are pretty realistic, to a degree. I think it's more fun, visually striking, and just all around easier on my brain to make them styled out of a bunch of cobbled together shapes- it tickles something in my brain, and it feels like I'm making something fresh. That being said, it's also my skill level, I couldn't make a 3D version of my usual 2D art style if I tried- drawing noses at all angles is hard enough, sculpting them? I'd explode.

Also with them having bendy wire for bodies, it feels more fitting to be extra stylized, rather than something realistic with rubberhose arms

I'll also add that I can/have drawn 2D work in my 3D style, but haven't in a while- it's easier to jump around to different styles on paper than it is with full on sculptures, haha

I do want to make dolls of a couple of my cowboy characters, it'll be interesting to compare the two styles side by side!

[gamebunny-advance]

Kun3h0 Custom Doll Repaint

So, here's what I've been working on for the past month or so. I've wanted to do a custom doll project for a long time now, and I finally got the opportunity to actually do it. I don't think she's bad for a first doll, but there's a lot I feel I could do better and differently.

Once again, my pictures hardly do her any justice... mostly due to color balancing.

I tried to edit these pics to make them a little more accurate, but it also yellowed out everything else, so... yeah. A photographer/image editor I am not.

That said, aside from the poor quality of the images, I'd say that the pics capture both her good points and her jank.

(More about the process and other thoughts under the cut.)

So, she started with a Cave Club doll as the base (I believe her name was Fernessa).

I unfortunately didn't take any pics of this doll with her clothes on, but I'm sure you can search pics of the original base doll yourself.

Besides being very cheap, I really liked the proportions on this doll for Kun3h0. I like the short torso with the long legs and the huge feet. Even the face is kinda Kun3h0-esque (though, a little more on that later).

I've had the idea to customize a Kun3h0 doll for a while, and I always thought the best base would have been an LOL OMG doll since they also have the big head, small torso, and long legs. But, I was always on the fence about them because their hips are a lot wider than Kun3h0's, and I felt like that would always bother me. But once I found out about Cave Club and also found out they're bascially cheap as dirt for the amount of articulation you get, I knew that this was the best match for Kun3h0.

Sadly, the hands aren't as big, and I did consider resculpting them to be more accurate to Kun3h0, but I lack the materials to make that look good enough to be worth doing, so in the end I just repainted the original hands. So I guess this doll is gonna have the non-standard 5-fingers XP. (I forgot to take pics, but the back of the hands do have the heart detail on them. )

Because I have to tie this back to NSR somehow, I think this doll would be a great base for some NSR characters, or really any other stylized character like this. I could def see a cute Mayday coming out of one of these (but not from me~ If I made a Mayday, then I'd want to make a Zuke to go with her, and I just cannot imagine how to make a Zuke doll without him becoming way too top-heavy).

However, I did resculpt the legs to become her boots, so she stands a little taller than the base Cave Club. While I think doing this works for Kun3h0 since she's a robot, if I want to make some alternate outfits for her, they're gonna have to include these boots, or I'm gonna have to get another doll to make some alternate legs.

Unfortunately, my only material I have for body mods is air-dry paper clay, and it doesn't transition as well into the plastic the same way something like apoxie sculpt probably would have. It's not super noticeable at a distance when they're painted, but under scrutiny, you can see a clear transition. I also forgot to detail her heel, so the shoes are flat even though they shouldn't be~ They do help her to stand on her own though, so I guess it's not the worst thing in the world~

While I was doing the sculpting, I also made the wig.

Finding a yarn that would properly convey Kun3h0's hair color is nigh impossible, given the cartoony shading of them, so I settled for a median between the dark rasperry and hot pink and got this regular raspberry yarn. The unaltered pics make it look a little more purple than it actually is. It really is a warm raspberry color.

(I'd say that this is closer to the actual color, maybe a tad darker.)

Let me tell y'all, brushing out yarn wefts is not fun. I also felt like I wasn't doing it right since I lost a lot of material brushing it out. From the little research I did, this seems to be a common problem, but it doesn't sit right with me for so much of it to get wasted like that~

Another challenge I had is that there (of course) aren't very many resources for getting yarn wefts curly or how to make curly hairstyles using yarn wefts. I know that this is relatively easy to achieve with actual doll hair through boil washing, but that wasn't really a viable option for a yarn wig like this. Since I really wanted the hair to look naturally curly as opposed to looking like it was curled after the fact, I curled the hair before gluing it onto the wig cap, which was a mini-nightmare. I followed a video tutorial about how to make a pigtails wig, I just applied the methods to the curly hair.

I don't know if I just didn't make enough wefts to make the tails poofy enough, or if this method just wasn't suited for curly hair, but I just didn't get the volume I was looking for.

To achieve the fuller look that Kun3h0's puffs have, I glued some scrap yarn fluff in the center of the original puffs and just tried to manage the shape from there. It's not perfect, but I think I've more or less brought her original hair to life. It's hard to see since they get lost in the mess of hair, but I was even able to get those stray curls that she has to look nice~

However, for some reason, the wig really doesn't like to stay on. I dunno if it's the ears pushing it off, or if something else makes it loose, but it really doesn't like to stay on her head. I might try applying heat to the cap to see if I can get it to reshape around her head properly, but I don't have high hopes for that.

Overall, having made the wig and seen it in real life, I've confirmed something that I've kinda felt for a while: Kun3h0 really needs something on her head between her antenna. I feel like her antenna and the top of her head create a sort of "empty box" that is just asking to be filled with something. I recently did a drawing of Kun3h0 where I have her an ahoge, and I think it helps a lot.

It's a little too late to add this to the doll (and I don't even know how I'd go about it), but I think from now on, she's gonna have a curl that sticks up on the top of her head.

Moving on: the face.

I really wish I could get some clearer pictures here, because the eyes really aren't as bad as the pics make them look.

While I am trying to keep her right covered as much as possible, I did still paint both of them with acrylics. I don't have MSC or watercolor pencils like most of the pros do, so I made use of what I had. I'm certainly not getting that "crisp lineart" look that Kun3h0 is basically built on, but I don't think the results are horrible. They're sealed with a gloss varnish, so they don't photograph well, but I do like how the texture is very different from the skin, it almost sells that they're made of glass.

As for the other details, I did do the lining in dark purple, like I usually do for her lineart. I'm on the fence on if this works IRL or not. On the one hand, I feel like the purple lineart is a part of the character design, it helps balance out all the pinks, but when I only use the purple on the doll for the face (and her stomach paneling), I do wonder if it looks strange, and if I would have been better off lining her with dark brown instead.

In fact, I did the original sketch with brown for the paneling.

(Right eye not canon.)

But when I made the actual doll, I wound up doing purple anyway to match the eyelashes, so they wouldn't look as out of place.

Other details I wanted to mention are that the upper eyelashes/eyelid is actually a piece of painted foam that I glued on. I really wanted to achieve that cartoony look of how I usually draw the lashes over her hair, even if it doesn't make logical sense.

I wasn't able to do the same thing for the brows, but I still did something a little "special" with them.

Instead of making myself cry trying to get an accurate color-match with paint, her eyebrows are actually flocked using some of the leftover yarn. I've hardly seen anyone do this for a doll repaint, but I don't think this look would suit most brows anyway~

Overall, I'm only a *little* unsatisfied by the face-up, but my disappointment is mostly in the eye-shape. I didn't want to go against the face mold too much, but that meant that I couldn't really make the eye taller like Kun3h0's actually are. If the eye was any taller, the brows would have been right against the hairline, and that wouldn't be a great look IMO. I feel like 80% of Kun3h0's identity is in her face, so having it be even a little inaccurate does bring her down a little.

Lastly, I think all that's left to talk about is clothes and accessories.

I am personally really in love with the shorts and it's why I chose them to be the preview for this project. I added the beltloops after I took that pic, and I think they turned out so cute, even if you can see the stitching of the belt to the shorts.

I went through quite a few patterns trying to get them right. The Cave Club dolls don't seem to be super popular in customizer circles, so there aren't many if any patterns out there for them. At first I was just eyeballing a shorts pattern from this video and going through some trial and error trying to adapt them to the doll's body.

I made 3 or 4 pairs of shorts this way, but they all ended up too tight. In the end, I wound up using the "wrap-and-tape" method of pattern making, and made the shorts from there. I honestly wasn't too confident in the results, so I very haphazardly made the trial pair with this new pattern, but they fit so great that I wound up using the test shorts for the final product.

The top was not as successful. Unlike the shorts, I didn't start making test tops until I'd already done the wrap and tape. So the pattern making wasn't actually the hardest part: it was putting it together that was a nightmare.

While I was making the top, I would of course have Kun3h0 put it on to test the fit, which stretched out the fabric to a noticeable degree. This was one of the last things I worked on, so I was getting really fed up with working on this for so long, so I told myself that I would probably just hide it with paint later.

That was mistake number 1.

As I should have learned from painting Green's face, the paint hardened the fabric tremendously, giving it almost no stretch. Originally the plan was to use velcro to close the top in the back, but the pattern didn't account for the lack of stretch, so it's actually too small to close edge to edge. So, I had to cut velcro to extend beyond the actual clothes to close it up. So basically, there's a gaping hole in the back of her outfit and is the main reason why I refuse to post back pictures of this doll.

For the time being, I do consider this top to be a "prototype" and I'll probably remake it in the future with some improvements. But, painting the fabric after stitching it together is not the only mistake I made.

Since this top is a prototype, there's a lot of other things that I did in a bad order: I really should have done the hemming and put on the accents before putting the pieces together, but since I wasn't sure if the pattern would fit first, and thought I would have the energy to make a second better top, I didn't bother with it. This included the cuffs of the sleeve.

That was mistake number 2.

The way I made the sleeves is that the arms are really just a large trapazoid with the shoulder shape at the top. The idea was that I would just sew the large side to a piece of shorter elastic band which would serve as the cuffs. I figured this would cause the sleeve to look "ballooned" at the end. And it kinda worked. You can kinda see how it turned out on her right sleeve in the first picture, but actually sewing it together was kinda terrible because the only way I could think of to do this was to sew the cuff and sleeve separately first, then sew them together, and that just seems ass-backwards to me, but I couldn't think of any other way to do it, and it came out with the cuff being mostly obscured anyway. I tried a different method on the left sleeve, so the cuff is more visible, but the sleeve shape is worse.

So if/when I remake this top, I'm still gonna do this in my ass-backwards way, I've just got to figure out how to keep the sleeve from eating the cuff.

Otherwise, I think the top would actually be pretty cute. I was really getting tired of working on it at the end, so a lot of the details are actually hot-glued on instead of being sewn. The faux-zipper pull is a *little* large, but it's something I had that I thought would work, and I actually really like the oversized look. It works for the proportions of the doll and helps bring in the heart motif that's getting a little lost in the sloppiness of my painting~

The last thing I think worth talking about is the mini GAB.

I thought I'd taken a pic of it by itself, but I guess not. Anyway, the only thing I wanted to say about it is that there's a little "clip" on the back made from wire that allows it to hook onto Kun3h0's belt and be held in her hand. I dunno, I just really like the little accessories, and that little feature amuses me~

But that's it for now. I am actually working on two other accessories for her:

The doll came with a pet dinosuar that I'm currently turning into her GAB.

It's just about the right size to be in scale with Kun3h0, and the hair is basically already the same as GAB's. I've already modified the base with clay and cut off the bits I don't need. It's mostly a matter of sanding and painting right now. I have no idea how or if I'm going to get the collar onto it without it looking bad, but I'll give it a try. If all else fails, I'll just make a tiny bow-tie like GAB!classic~

I don't have a pic of this one, but the doll also came with some sort of flower pot thing that I'm turning into her drill using a metal piping tip for the drill head~ I'll post about them in an "accessories DLC" when they're both finished.

But wait... if you've made it this far, and you saw my preview post, then you might notice that there's one accessory missing.

Well, this mask doesn't actually fit Kun3h0...

But it does fit someone else.

[peony-pearl]

Diamond Select Azula review!

oof girlfriend

Diamond Select's atla figures are... strange. Like... they can look decent while looking terrible at the same time. They're often VERY uncanny. (save for Iroh and Katara... Sokka looks fine but in comparison to the McFarlane one it's def a weaker figure imo).

So Azula is here, mid breakdown during the finale, with five alternate hands (one acting as a special effects piece), an effect piece (that is actually a retool of one from an Aang figure), a base, and an adjustable set of pegs to help hold up effects pieces/characters.

The armor looks good, and the detail on this piece is pretty nice, that I will say. The color scheme seems accurate and is pleasing to the eye. However, in some of the details she both does and doesn't resemble this appearance in the show; I think it's the hair sculpt and just her overall face shape, which makes her appear MUCH older than 14; then again, that also happened in the finale when she often appeared much older in the animation.

Also, fun fact about that big effect piece!

It's heavier than the stand (please pardon my dusty shelf ;A:)

I'd seen one video where someone managed to pose her really nicely with said effect piece; but I'm going to have to loosen the screws on some of these pegs to make them bend bc only one will move for me.

This is how I have her posed on my shelf (for now; I DID spend money on her so until further notice she'll go on the shelf), but I have to pose the effect a specific way, because the effect is too heavy and will cause her wrist joint to buckle and won't aim properly (Ozai has the same issue)

So how does she compare to the McFarlane figure?

While the Diamond Select has more pieces and range of motion, the McFarlane figures just LOOK better imo, and I'm not just talking about the fact that the McFarlane figure is pre-breakdown; it just looks better.

I know here soon that DS Azula is going to start wimping out of her pose and falling over (just like Ozai and Toph) and get all loose; however, the McFarlane brand does have issues standing at times, but I've been able to get most of them to stand upright for the most part (sometimes their effect piece balances them out; unfortunately for one of my Aang's I have to lean him against the bookshelf wall so they're not all winners)

Also my DS Azula came with an un-centered skirt which is REALLY bothersome. I am impressed with how the hair is sculpted that way but... like why? Why this version? Why make her first figure out of this design??

Regardless, If you're just looking to have some decent looking figures for an atla collection, just go with the 5 in McFarlane Azula (which is available on Amazon), or even the YouTooz. I mean, unless you don't like Azula then by all means don't let me tell you what to do lmao; but I just don't think this figure is worth it.

Alas, she is now part of my family of figures and I am a big softie so until I learn how to do doll modifications she'll hang out on the Fire Fam shelf.

[inkabelledesigns]

Hey, been having a pretty rough start to the week, and really, a rough several weeks. Lots going on, lots of dread about the world, honestly just wanna go back to bed. But we're trying to look on the bright side and appreciate the little things. So I'm gonna list some good things that have happened recently and that are coming up so we can psych ourselves up. I find that putting something down on paper or in a place where I can see it makes it easier to embrace and appreciate, makes it more visual.

-Someone left a really sweet comment in the tags of my Gooliope custom. I've noticed a lot of people liking that post, and I love all the kind words in the tags so much. Thank you! She's one of my favorite dolls, and it makes me happy that she sparks joy for more than just me.

-I got to see my middle sister for her spring break. She just left to head back to school, but the time she was here was great. We celebrated my mom's birthday with a lot of great food and laughter, and there were many late night conversations that were fun. It was nice to reconnect.

-I got to play Animal Crossing for the first time and found that I love the fishing in it! It's a really fun game and I want to get back to it soon. I also found the Sanrio Amiibo cards for cheap, and I'm eager to see how they function once I'm a bit farther in.

-I'm slated to go to a convention soon! I can't wait to put my cosplays back on and go to panels. Two really awesome voice actors are going to be there, and I'm gonna try and work up the courage to take photos with other cosplayers. I'm especially excited to see the cosplay performers, I missed that last year but won't be this time!

-Another Splatfest is coming up! I can't wait to play more of Tricolor battles, they're such a good time. Thinking of playing on Team Nessie, but we'll see, depends on what my teammates think. I'm not a competitive player, I just have a group of four that enjoys playing together.

-It's my birthday next week (and also international mermaid day)! I'm not sure how I'm gonna celebrate just yet, but I do want to celebrate. I may ask my mom if we can go out to Goodwill or something during the day, I've wanted to check it out for a long time. I have friends who are streaming that night that I'd like to watch, but I'd also like to make some time for my annual birthday stream that week. Birthdays tend to be a time where you talk to a lot of people who haven't checked in in a while, and while I can get a little overstimulated, I do love having a portion of the night where I get to see a bunch of my friends for some drawing or other art. It's the one time of year where I like being the center of attention, it means getting to decide what I want to do and getting to do it together with the people I love. <3

-My persona doll is closer to done! She has a face, she has hair, she has shoe options that I can paint, she just needs clothes and wings (she's a fairy, and I'm debating how I wanna do them). I have some new clothing patterns that I'm excited to try out for her too. It's so cool to finally have a doll that feels closer to me. I loved drawing a face on G3 Draculaura.

-Dollightful released a new video showing off some of the face sculpts for G3 Monster High dolls, and I'm really excited about that! It got me wanting to customize more of G3, namely Lagoona, I have a great idea for a Shiny Vaporeon doll for her, but we'll have to see if it sticks. It also got me going on collecting resources for customizing G3 dolls, I have a post in my drafts that I wanna share soon that may help other doll customizers out.

-I got to design a character that I absolutely love, and brainstorming about it with my friends has been really fun. It's really pushing me to try more with hair. Been feeling really grateful for my friends in general, both those I talk to daily and the ones I haven't seen in a while. You're all wonderful and I'm so fortunate to have you in my life. <3

-Actually, I'm having a lot of fun all around! I got a great new idea for an AU where Henry is a guardian angel type character to Joey and gets stripped of his powers, so now Susie is watching over him and the studio with a cartoon Alice to show her the ropes, and it's SO FUN! I may have to bring that to my Bendy blog at some point. I'm brimming with ideas and gosh I wish I had more time to do art and audio for it, I'd love to voice some skits with Susie and Alice talking to each other.

-Mario Day passed and I finally got my hands on Bowser's Amiibo (thank you little sister for helping me out). I haven't collected Amiibo in a long time, but the siblings and I used to, and this is one we missed. I look forward to training him in Smash Bros. It'd be fun to pit him against Leg Day (Wii Fit Trainer) and Knave (Sonic).

-Been having a lot of fun at the Streamily Livestreams with the Bendy voice cast, lots of really funny fandom memes have come out of those and it's great. They never fail to make me smile. Been having a lot of fun at the ShazzandBoo Pokemon Livestreams too, what an absolute treat those have been!

Yeah, maybe life isn't so bad. There are a lot of things stressing me out, but there's so much to look forward to and enjoy, and those are the moments I'm gonna live for. Life is too short to let it keep you down, so we're gonna do our best and make it through!

Here's sending all of you the good vibes for a great Tuesday, a great week, and a great rest of March! Love you so much!

[negativepeanuthoarder]

YOU WILL NEVER BE ANNOYING IN MY NOTES!!!!!

Dollightfull is awesome and I think I've watched all of her videos thrice at this point!!

I love her videos so much they're like walking into an elementary school art class, yknow? There's a really nice teacher who loves her job and everything is bright and colorful and creative and she wants to share her passions with everyone and it's so much fun!

(long post incoming with a bunch of pictures lol)

I love all of her dolls so much it's really hard to pick favorites so I singled a couple out:

Tamara (the centaur art doll) reminds me of Duskler's centaur au in a really nice way - it's like she could be from the same universe :D I love the airbrushing on her fur and her big fawn eyes and awesome hair - she's such a pretty doll.

I obviously love the werewolf (big fan of werewolves in general lol) - the punpkin orange really hits with the browns and tans of the wolf fur, and the way it blends into the hair AND into this gorgeously sculpted head is INCREDIBLE.

If I ever get access to a 3d printer I want to get her little bunny model and paint it to look like some version of Karl - maybe if I get a cat doll too I could make a matching Karl and George set lmao (I LOVE the inset eyes on these two - and the bright colors on both are just SO MUCH FUN TO LOOK AT!!!! :D)

Aquarian is my favorite of all of her dragons (I really really love the way she did their legs especially - with the suction cups and the big claws) with Terra as a REALLY close second just because I literally cannot get enough of the sculpting on Terra - her entire face is custom-made AND she has a mostly-custom-made body WITH a 3d printed tail AND SHE GLOWS IN THE DARK!

I've seen the entire Eeveelutions series at least 8 times the entire way through and I cannot pick a favorite - all of them are just that damn good!

One of my siblings and I rewatch her Noelle and Yuliya videos every December - I don't rewatch Christmas movies nearly as regularly as I watch these two videos lol

I love EVERYTHING about Charley - from that ADORABLE reroot to her gorgeous eyes and her dress with that pattern on it and the little bows and her BACKPACK with the CAT KEYCHAIN and the WORKING DOLL SIZED WHEELCHAIR THAT TOOK AN ENTIRE VIDEO TO EXPLAIN THE MAKING OF!

I might have to make a part two to this post at some point because there's SOOOOO much that I didn't cover about Dollightful's characters - Guinevere the Unicorn, Luna the Moth (ESPECIALLY her dress), the entire demon family, the mermaid dolls - but especially the recent Sirena redo with the festival hair and the big chunky horns and the glow in the dark and - the little extraterrestrial doll, Red the lesser panda (I love the hat :D), ALL OF THE FAIRIES, Mai Tai, the steampunk dolls, Juwon (and his sick cloud pants), Jade, Minty, Macaron, the banshee, the witch, etc, etc, etc.

I've been scrolling through her YouTube for like 45 minutes looking at all of her dolls lmao.

[tinylittlealien]

stuff I've been thinking about

today I might bake a cake, but I got nostalgic thinking about bjd dolls that I used to see when I was fourteen so I looked them up and they're still selling them. There's a girl on instagram, octotlum, who makes her own ball joint dolls an I actually have a Japanese magzine with step by step instructions on how to make one and once I saw a YouTube video on how to make them but I just never got around to it. I'm feeling really lazy today but I think at some point I'm gonna buy the materials and make my own special balljoint doll. I'm pretty good at sculpting bodies, I am an artist, but I'm not that good st sculpting faces and eyes are really hard for me so I don't know if I can make the face of my dreams so maybe I'll make one for fun and then buy one to have. just little thoughts. ^.^

[quilleth]

I was going to say now that a cat isn't using my arm as a pillow i can post an unboxing for the dream valley vanora head, but freya decided to nap on me again xD (it's ok she's older--14 this month!-- and her health's not very good so she can use my arm as a pillow if she wants). i just need to type one handed i guess lol

so the reason the box felt so hefty when it arrived? is because this is what the box for the head looks like! cushioned and padded inside and that black outer is fabric! like damn this is a NICE box y'all (featuring uninterested inspector #2)

She came with a postcard print of Adria and one of Vanora, and the COA (also really nice. like wow dream valley lure me in with nice boxes and holo coa printing! unfortunately they're not releasing the body as a human body so i probably won't actually be getting more from them, but never say never!)

She also came with a nice pair of eyes that sadly, won't work for anyone I need eyes for and couldn't get a nice picture of, but they're a pretty purpley grey

My lack of spatial reasoning strikes again because i thought these ears were a LOT smaller xD I almost feel bad that i'll just be using them to test dye formulas

The Dream Valley White is a warm toned white more like a cream color as opposed to the paper white from Loongsoul (and Ringdoll and Charm Doll I hear, though I don't have any white dolls from them). I'll have to keep that in mind when I look at dye formulas.

These ears are SO cute! I don't think the 1/4 bunny girls have the same detailing on their elf ears, but the new jellyfish girl does i think. I think this could be really fun to paint for my Vanora, since she is a genasi and I usually draw her with some pink/ coral on her ears (like fishy fins without actually giving her more fin like ears)

I apparently have a thing for sculpts with slightly open smiles like this xD Idk i just think it's cute! and it matches the first dollmaker thing I made of my Vanora.

She also has a cute profile!

now I just need to figure out a body for her. Interestingly, she's listed as having an 8.6 cm neck, but when i was looking at her it seemed larger, so I thought I'd see if she could fit the 62cm Loongsoul boy body which has a 9.4 cm neck. Her head fits fine and moves ok on it, but the aesthetics don't look good to me (the neck looks too thick, and obvs it's a boy body), which is good to know and keep in mind when looking at bodies for her! Some of the 60-65 cm girls have like 9.5+ cm necks, so I'll know to avoid those ones. Also it was just generally funny xD Her head is 21.5 cm and Bai Jue (dollhua) is like 19, so it's definitely a shift in aesthetics in my bunch I'd say xD

The only thing making me waffle about it (other than there not being muscle bodies in the 60cm ish range) is that i could (should?) get a body for her and figure all that out now, or I could get a head for Faolan now and try placing a custom order for their bodies through Resinsoul at the same time (cen for him and asking if they could do a custom muscular girl body like i've seen them do with their 1/4 dolls before). The latter would potentially save me needing to dye as much (easier to request a custom body color to match the dyed head than try to dye a head to match i think) and potentially be a bit cheaper, but if i get her sorted now, then i can customize her and potentially have better luck getting a switch head in milktea rose for him if i find one i like second hand or get really lucky and they rerelease Ryuzo again. Most of the dolls i've got bookmarked for him second hand are normal resin, so I'd have to dye them a light tan. Which i don't mind per se, but also milktea rose and ryuzo are really pretty xD But if I don't get something for him now...then the heads i do have marked might sell by then...and then i have to find another option! There is one head that's tan that I have bookmarked, but it has a pretty faceup already and I'd feel bad wiping it :/

Decisions are hard ><

[starboundsingularities]

Willow fun facts before plot progression! Bc I don't feel like writing it all rn but the positive feedback makes my brain go.!!

In actuality, her name is Willow because I read a story with a character named Will before going to bed. But I like to think of it as that's her name because she can supersede your free *will* hahaaaaaa

She isn't affected by light or shadow! She just is. Always. Is that an excuse to not shade any drawings of her? Only partially.

She likes to call herself different names depending on what she's doing. They're all Willow, but she calls the part of herself that picks people apart "Marion" (she plays with them like puppets) and the one that makes Labyrinths "Loke" (one who entangles). She also changes her outfits.

She wanted to be "dolled up" because her first memory is her creation, her being sculpted. And it was really nice! The only pleasant interaction she had with dad.

Dad sends hunters after her sometimes. They don't succeed. There's a cool, chill version of dad out there, but she hasn't found them and never will.

She doesn't eat food, but she likes orange juice so much she sometimes has an IV of it set up (the only way she can consume it is through injection).

When she's not wearing the bandages, her friends will draw expressions on her face like a whiteboard. She also does this to herself, but she isn't very good at it.

Any world she takes over is permanently overcast and 60 degrees F. That was also just weird dream lore. Also, she likes trains and owns multiple. Like, entire steam locomotives. More dream stuff.

When she would split people (Marion pictured below) up she liked putting them into video games. She doesn't do any of that anymore, though. Not evil anymore she wants to be loved. Also this random doodle I found.

OMG I LVOE HER SO MUCH!!!!! /GEN /GEN /GEN /POS /POS /POS SHE'S SO COOL!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

[dolljunk]

So I actually bought Daphne Minton and Sheryl Meyer a long while ago but between getting covid, my mental health, real life and everything in between, I haven't gotten around to photographing them. But yeah, honestly I wasn't in love with any of the series 1 dolls, and series 2 had me intrigued but series 3 absolutely knocked it out of the ballpark for me in terms of the fashion design, the makeup direction and the fact I much prefer the new head sculpts compared to the big ol' original eyes. I do think series 3 marked a massive shift in direction and it's really changed my opinion of the brand as I honestly thought it would have a few waves and fizzle out as the budget got reduced like doll lines tend to do.

Also I know if I just reviewed them separately I would go on major long gushing tangents about them but I figure today would be a good day to just photograph as I styled them. Daphne, a fan of mint haired dolls, was practically made in a lab for me with her fashion and colour choices. I also am a huge sucker for rosy gradient lips like hers as well as freckles on dolls. I also love how gold and brown have been added to make her design pop, especially the brown eyeshadow paired with her blue eye makeup.

Sheryl is a really fun reference to Clueless but honestly I am a huge sucker for how monochromatic she is since even dolls like Daphne had complementary tones added to break things up. I really do admire blonde designs that stick to having brown eyes instead of blue, and the lip liner is a fun 2000s throwback I thought I'd never see on a modern play line doll ever again.

I'm definitely not the biggest Rainbow High collector since I am notoriously picky about what dolls go into my collection, but I am really surprised how much I love these two. They really appeal to my design sensibility and if these were more realistically proportioned I would have definitely bought more. As is though, they're still incredibly lovely dolls to add to my collection.

[isa-ah]

@surprisinglyfriendlybirds i grabbed pics of most of the stuff i used to make my art doll to give you an idea of what i used! im a beginner with all of this stuff so that's the best insight i can offer, youtubes got tons of resources though!

he got three different kinds of clay for us to play with, so here's how i felt about them:

the paper clay was the hardest to work with. it's light weight though, and would be good for padding out shapes and then sculpting over once it's dry! i didn't use it myself, I filled in the skull and belly with tinfoil instead.

the air dry clay was a lot easier to work with and it smooths pretty alright if you use water to wet it down. it dries really heavy but i kinda like that personally! fun to play with but not my favorite.

the polymer clay was definitely my favorite texture. it stuck to itself really easily, was pretty easy to smooth out, and bakes to dry so you don't have to hurry with it. this is what i used for my deer, over tinfoil since it's pretty heavy and expensive. we got sculpey brand!

we got a bunch of clay sculpting tools but the biggest ones by far for me were a plastic tube (you should definitely get a tube if you're going to sculpt i think) and a rubber tipped end that let me smooth the clay out in small corners. you should definitely have an exacto knife to cut clay, it will make your life so much easier.

the armature he bought in two sizes and i used both. i didn't check the gauges but the thicker one is hard to bend (not ideal for a poseable doll, it's pretty hard to bend my deers legs..) and the thinner one bends really easy. i ended up using the thinner one to keep the doubled heavy one together and for posing the tail!

we got a paintbrush set that's good for a few different things, tho im still not sure which is best to use for blushing bc the pigments rlly stuck to the brush. it worked well enough though!

these pastels are nice so far, i think! the color range isn't what you'd expect, mostly oranges and browns with some black, white, grey and cyan, but im okay with that cause i like having a range of browns. id double check the palette you're buying to suit colors you like to use :-) you don't necessarily need pastels, they're just nice for gradients.

i don't have a picture of the acrylic paints cause i used my roomies for that, but they seemed to be average paints. just double check that the paints you get won't react poorly with the clay you're using!

we have some basic matte spray on finish to protect the paint and blushing! it did kinda blow away some of the pastel work i did which sucks but im pretty sure that was user error. if you wanna be fancy, getting some paint on gloss finish for eyes and detailing could be cool :D

and then in lieu of owning.. wire clippers.. i used my roomies dog nail clippers for the wire and it worked great. 😂😭

id suggest getting some sandpaper if you really want to smooth things out! poly-fil is a maybe and a simple sewing kit is a must if you want to make a cloth body over the skeleton! be sure to have pins, needles and thread if nothing else. i used scrap fabric to bulk up the armature and soften the feeling of the wires, and then sherpa over that for softness. what you use is up to you though! i cut up paper towels to figure out the patterns for skinning it if that helps. :)

tinfoil can also be your best friend for padding out the skull before you sculpt onto the armature so your little dude won't be too top heavy to stand up! i also used it for his belly & for baking him. and finally, i used ziploc bags for a smooth clean surface to sculpt and paint on. 😂

i hope that helps! my fiance did a wide swing on art supplies (there's a bunch of other stuff too haha) so im still figuring them all out, but that worked well enough to finish the deer so! lmao

[theliterarywolf]

Lol if you wanna see drama in a doll hobby, check out the BJD hobby. It's aimed at adults, but some times it doesn't feel like it. A company owner compared his dolls to the BLM movement, bc they're apparently the oppressed group in the BJD world. And he's got the biggest victim complex, and is incredibly block happy if you don't kiss his ass. He's revealed the location of people with a map on insta showing all the "recent" purchases, and told a buyer that a doll owner lived close-by, completely unprompted. Cancelled orders from people for daring to ask how shipping works after covid restrictions started. Also has sent his rabid fans to harass critics of his dolls and their some times shoddy QC. Then you get artists who sculpt their own dolls scamming the shit out of people, one of these people is super infamous, but for some reason nothing has happened. Literally nothing, not even a report, and she's still active on social media, she took the pre-order money and bailed, and even 3 years later, there are people that paid 500-800 usd for a single doll, who haven't gotten theirs. She for some reason has dolls to just give away for free to friends and other artists tho. 🤔 There's apparently a surprising amount of scamming or bad work happening by big name artists in the hobby, and people are just... fine with it. I actually don't even know if a single big name artist is without dirt in the hobby. Then you get people complaining the doll hobby is "too white" even tho most of the big name companies are literally Asian, and the biggest part of the Hobby is in Asia, and a lot of sculpts are East-Asian and/or fantasy/anime styled. Can I mention how stupid people are when people make black dolls tho? They want more afrocentric features, but in 2020 people were shitting on non-black artists for making black dolls, because "You're making money off using black features!" Also a huge deal with BLM, and some French artist got shit on, even tho BLM is more US based, so not everyone will know about it. Even after people still have this weird attitude where they want black dolls, but are also gonna freak if someone does it and they don't like it. Bonus: People WILL say stupid shit like "I need a spicy hot chocolate babe." when a afroncentric doll concept art is shown. Do you know how cringe that is? You never see this stuff with Euro-Asia-centric dolls. There's so much more drama, but this is already long, so... yeah... just know, the BJD hobby is a fucking mess, hilarious mess, but still a mess. (Most parts are chill I think, I just think the drama is fun.)

See, with the doll artists who scam people, I wish I could say I'm surprised that people feel comfortable scamming that much money from people, but I still hear accounts of artists scamming people out of $400+ reference sheets, so...

That this is the third or so instance of people telling me about the BJD scene drama is really telling.

Also, good Lord... That 'spicy hot chocolate babe' comment. See, I almost always have in mind the whole discourse about 'oh, you can't use food-related terms to describe minority characters, especially black or African ones'. And my position is typically 'yes, yes you can' but that comment up there? Especially if it's unprompted or unwarranted? Yeah, that's the kind of case where I would say 'Yeah, no. Shut it down.'

Especially if it's a case of:

'Thanks for commissioning me! What kind of design/character were you looking for?'

'Yeah, I need a thick, spicy, chocolate hottie. You think you can do that, sweetcheeks?'

'Aaaand I will unfortunately be unable to continue with this commission. My apologies.'

Just... These are dolls, people. Calm down.

[m0nster-l0ver]

My bjd came!! She's adorable, unfortunately she's a recast I only found out after she was ordered! I don't know her sculpt or who the original artist is :( I'll definitely post pics of her later hopefully someone can identify her! I was really scared that learning she wasn't legit was going to cause a issue with bonding but it really didn't at all! I do feel really guilty but that's what I get for lack or research. I hope this didn't harm the artist hopefully it like a old sculpt or that she's from a huge company! I don't know what to do now that I have her! She's on a dresser type thing where all of my dolls are in with my big sister lol dolls! I have a bunch of random stuff for her that I packed just for fun :3.

Things of note! (Good and bad!)

She's pretty well strung as far as I can tell but I also have never owned a bjd just watched things about them and like stringing comparisons! :3

Her eyes are very beautiful, and a perfect color! I requested a different eye color (she originally had yellow) and her eyes are so purple and pretty! The detail is like super cool! :D

Her wig is soft like super soft, it was hard to put on but I'm pretty sure that's because I had no clue what I was doing! It took me like 5 minutes- she also came with a silicon wig cap which is so so cool!! :3

Her outfit is perfect and super detailed! It's soft and nice with really good colors!! I really love her shoes they're just perfect! She also came with underwear which is really good! Everything fit really well!

She's not made of resin she is listed to be made of vinyl! She is super smooth to the touch and it's just a really nice feeling! :D

She was very very securely packaged which is great because the delivery guy decided that shoving her in the mailbox was better than putting her on our doorstep -. -

She's a amazing height! 11.9 inches in fact! I just love that alot :>

Her faceup is super well done and I'm pretty sure the seller actually did it themselves, it's pretty symmetrical and super nice!! Very perfect for the type of styles she'll be in later on!

The seller included a sponge to clean off stains from clothing which was really sweet if them because I never would of thought of that ;-;

Now for the not so good!

I am too nervous to open her head cap but I'm pretty sure her eye putty is the source of the really weird chemical smell that she gives off which isn't super great!

She came in a regular brown box which now that I know she's recasted does totally make sense, I don't really care about fancy boxes but they are cute! So yeah no display box!

Her joints are kinda weird, I think she was supposed to be double jointed in the legs because there's an extra line, but she just bends like a normal joint! She's clicky and that makes me nervous however her chest joint is good!

She's a recast ;-;

-------------------

That's pretty much it!! By the by I'm not against recasts as long as they are from huge companies or really old sculpts! Bjds are a expensive thing, my family isn't well off or anything so I feel really blessed to be able to own a bjd regardless of her legit-ness! I'm so happy I finally have a bjd I'm so excited for the future possibilities for her!! With that said, please don't be hostile if you stumbled across this post. At the end if the day we all are in the same community, we should respect others even if we don't see eye to eye!

Anyway, I'm happy to welcome Finch to my family!! I can't wait for the future fun we'll have :3

[wolfeyedwitch]

Because I do not have enough hobbies, I am now adding BJD sculpting to the mix.

Okay, story time. Gather round and hear the tale of how I threw myself down this rabbit hole.

I am an artist. One of the things I have trouble with is visualizing poses and drawing people without references, but it can be hard to find just exactly the pose you want when you look for references, and I don't have friends I can easily rope into helping me by being my models.

I thought I could fix this by getting a mannequin. After doing some (but not enough) research, I bought a Body Chan a year or so ago. If you aren't aware, they're highly posable artist... dolls, I want to call them? But the problem is: they're tiny. Like, ridiculously tiny. I think the doll herself is less than 6" tall? The measurement I read when I was researching was significantly larger than that, but that was because it included the base you can use to pose her.

Okay, so that didn't work. Jump cut to me a year later (aka last week) getting into drawing again, and getting out my Body Chan once more. This made me remember why I had shoved her into the Drawer of Forgotten Things in the first place.

So I go, hm. There must be a way to get what I originally wanted: a reasonably sized artist mannequin with a good level of detail, at a price that won't break the bank. I do some more in depth research, and it seems the answer is a resounding no. Everything was either way out of budget, or way too simplistic and didn't have the detail I wanted.

So then I go, I know how to sculpt. How hard could it be to make one myself?

This is where I found the rabbit hole that is BJD. There are a loooooot of tutorials and techniques and just generally people sharing information out there. So, I get myself a few kinds of clay and get to work.

Now, I have a giant mess of clay shavings from carving out pieces on top of my blueprint, and a lot of pieces in various levels of detail. Its fiddly and time consuming and detail oriented and a loooooot of work, but I'm having so much fun.

I'll keep photographing her as I go and keep you updated! If you have any suggestions for names, feel free to share them!

[inkabelledesigns]

Anyone who knows me knows I'm never done crafting, and last night was no exception. I finally have the courage to start a project that's had me nervous for ages. Four years ago, I began my journey into the art form of doll customization, and it all started with one doll, Twisted Alice Angel. Malice was a huge turning point for me, I dove into a bunch of different mediums with little clue what I was doing and made something unexpected. Nothing compares to the excitement I felt holding her complete in my hands for the first time.

Time has not been kind to Malice, the way I made her has not held up, and while I wanted to wait for five years to redo her, after fixing Sammy last year, I couldn't leave her like this. So we stripped everything down and started from the ground up. We're off to a good start, I'm actually sculpting her face deformities this time! Quite happy with them at this stage, a little paint and they're sure to shine. ^^ I haven't made her halo yet as I want to attempt polymer clay for it, since I feel like I have more control over that.

My concept is actually a little different this time. I really want to put her in a ballgown, to match the glamorous look of the ballroom in Chapter 4. It's got some Phantom of the Opera vibes that would be fun to play with. I've got some feathers I'd like to find a way to include as well, that would be cool, have a wing motif somewhere in there. Hopefully we can pull it off!

But that's not all. We also have Henry! I've been saving this Jurassic World Owen doll for ages to use for Henry, and I've been putting it off because I don't have any sewing patterns for him. Well, recently in a Mercari purchase, I got a doll that came with this shirt, and it fits him perfectly! If I can rough it up with some black paint and find where I put his pants, we could totally start on his project. Seriously, you have no idea how much clothing gets in my way. X'''D I fear it. His face is smaller than I'm used to, but I'm excited to work with it. Also, I think it's hilarious that this doll is of a character played by Chris Pratt, so in some ways, we now get Henry Stein played by Chris Pratt, which is just, an extremely amusing meme. X'''D

So yeah, I try to do a BATIM project each year for Halloween, and these are my plans this year. It's okay if they don't happen on time though, Malice I expect to take longer. XD