Momma & Crazy

[Momma2Boog]

Okay well, I'll start by telling you a bit about myself and then we'll get down to business.

My name is Amber Nicole but feel free to call me Niki or if you want you can call me Boog. I'm 19 soon to be 20 and I live in Kentucky with my husband and our two boys. I've been dolling for roughly 9 or 10 years so I've been around for a while. If there's anything else you want to know about me just ask .

If you have a specific WIP or WIPs that you want to work on just post them and tell me what you want help with. Or if you prefer we can start on a completely new project. I've got a lot of free time lol.

[Crazyredhead]

I'm so excited .
I'm Crazy or Maja. I'm *sigh* 31, and live with my boyfriend in Denmark. That's why my English is not always as good as it could be . I'm a student (interpreter, Danish Signlanguage) but I'm on leave form school due to stress. I have actually dolled for 3-6 years (can't remember when I started out), but I just haven't grown as an artist. You can see my dolls at my blog I finally updated with my latest work. My avatar is also new . Other than dolling I love scrapbooking.

I don't have any WIP at the moment so why not start a new? Yes, Let's start a new . Or I try to, haha. I have it in my head, but let's see if I can get it out, haha. A fantasy-fairy-thingy or a goth-like-thingy.
I'll be back
edit: My avatar doesn't show .

[Crazyredhead]

Here she is:

Base credit: http://sissy-baby-dolls.sindlene.net/ (Cassandra, set 3, first pose )
Only outline for skirt and top at the moment. I tried to shade a bit on the skirt.. it's kind of an outline for shading, lol.
I don't know if I got the outline for the shading right at the skirt, where her left leg is "pointing out"? Should there be more on the back, where the skirt is lying on the floor?
The top kills me! Maybe I should have picked a 100% front base, haha, but I liked this. Shading sucks.

[Momma2Boog]

Okay, bear with me since I'm horrible at explaining lol. I decided to start on the skirt since that's the largest part of your doll at the moment. Essentially you're on the right track but there were a few things that needed to be adjusted, that is assuming that I was right in thinking you were going for a trailing flowy fabric; if not just ignore me .

DARK RED - Anyway... I'll stop rambling. I'm not sure if you use reference pictures or not but I do, I find that it helps to pick a fabric and bundle as many reference images of the fabric as you can, even if the images aren't exactly like what you're going for it will help you get an idea of how the fabric flows in different situations. Since I didn't know what type of fabric you were going for I sort of just went out on a whim and picked a flowy one.

RED - When you're going for a draped/trailing dress it's essential to look at the angle of the base and determine where the fabric would land on the floor and depending on the overall looseness of the fabric just how it would fall. Will it pool or lay flat? The same rule applies to the drape of the fabric over body parts. Since yours seems to be loose it would pool around the bottom and over the tops of the feet, most likely bunching in those areas and flattening in others such as around the knees and crotch area.

BLUE - When I'm doing outlines I usually draw a simple skeletal frame of the base, that way, if I forget exactly where something was I don't have to go back and reference the base.

Finally, even though the bases belly button is centered it seems to be off balance with the rest of the body so I move the outline of the waist area to align with the center of the torso rather than the belly button.

[Crazyredhead]

Don't worry, your explaining was good -the only problem is, me getting it out the mouse and on the screen .

(palette byXandorra)
So besides a bit outline changing, I changed the colours. I realized I have to get used to use palettes instead of choosing the colours as I work.
I searched for a reference photo, but I couldn't find one that looked as I wanted it it (not even near it). BUT I actually found one, where the model stood almost in the exactly same pose, and luckily the dress wasn't that "fluffy". So I did find something I could use . *Note to self: make a new folder in "Inspiration" with pictures that inspire for new dolls*.
Thank you for the tip with drawing in the legs that way. It really helped !

I changed the shading a bit (a lot actually lol). Don't know about the highlighting yet, or if it needs more shading. I guess there would be some shading a bit under her left thigh (arrrgh, spelling?)? At this point I'd pick up the smudge tool. But not today.

[Momma2Boog]

She looks a lot better :3

Palettes - You don't necessarily have to get used to palettes. They're definitely helpful but there are a lot of dollers out there that make their palettes up as they go along. It's more of a personal choice to use pre-made palettes and if you decide to by all means do but I did go ahead and make something to help you out in case you decide to stick with creating your own palette.

This method works in any program but I used MS Paint for demonstration purposes.

And incase you're feeling lazy ... http://lexicalsanctuary.deviantart.com/art/Palette-94747635

Shading - I think a lot of the issue you're having is that you aren't using enough colors. Minimal shading isn't bad but for what seems to be you're emerging shading style it would probably be better if you incorporated more colors into your palette. Using extra colors is a good way to blend without having to dither (not to mention a lot less time consuming :3). You can use each color to build on the other to create that "blend" effect. I have a tutorial here that demonstrates blending with the use of a 7 color palette. The base size of course will determine how many colors you need to use but in the case of dolling most of the time less isn't more.

Another big thing in the dolling world is light sourcing. Sound scary? Don't worry it's not. Basically all it is is picking which angle the light is coming from and then working your shading in based on that angle and the angle of your base. Say for instance you choose to go with a "straight on" light source. The shading you've already done is on the right track, the area in front of the knee will be highlighted more and the areas behind less. That's not to say that the areas behind shouldn't be highlighted though. They should be just less substantial. Just using one less color for the highlight in the darker area.

I hope that helps you. If not I'm always open to doing redlines if you want them :3

[Crazyredhead]

Just wanted to let you know, that I'm still here . Things have been quite hectic here the last couple of weeks, and I haven't had much time for dolling ;-(. I'll soon be back though, hope it's ok, I really miss it.

[Momma2Boog]

It's alright, take all the time you need, I'm not going anywhere :3