40–49cm Dolls I shall call him Two Step! (48ish cm male doll) LOTS of pictures

Because this whole project has been two steps forward, one step back the whole way. However as I said in my introduction post- I refuse to give up this time.

So without further adieu, allow me to share what I have finished so far! This is obviously an ongoing project and it will be very picture heavy. I'll be using this solid sculpt to make molds. From there I'll cast a hollow version in stoneware clay and keep going from there. Eventually he'll be cast in resin.


Months ago I decided I wanted to make a BJD, and started with sculpting a rough, wonky looking torso



Over the course of a couple of weeks, the emaciated torso shaped clay lump transformed into something vaguely more body shaped. He was also given the gift of Junk in the Trunk


After that I took a long break, frustrated by the way it was turning out. Something about it just bothered me and I wasn't happy. So for a few months he sat in a box and was ignored in favor of other projects.

Recently I picked up where I left off and made a few changes to the original body. In the time he'd sat out the clay had also dried out and was crumbling. He now needed repairs on top of everything else. Since the clay was dry now, the only option I had for shaping things was to carve it out with an exacto blade. You can see where I'd marked him with pencil to add on with a bit more clay.


I shortened his neck, replacing the top with a ball for more precision, repaired the cracks, and switched out his armpit balls for smaller ones. That's my Bory in the background which I've been using for reference.


Except I didn't anticipate the dried out clay sucking the moisture out of the newly applied layers and this happened.


Frustrated and ready to cry I gave up for the day, packed up my stuff and went home with Chippy the dried out torso stuffed into his box for safe keeping. On the way home I decided to pick up some air dry clay to continue the project with. Like I said- determined not to give up this time.

Once I came home and had a chance to stew in my own misery for a while I picked up where I left off, working at my desk. I filled in the cracks (again) and re-added the neck ball. I also added some clay to the chest to fill in some craters. He also hit puberty and grew a penis because why not. That glue in the background has saved my sanity for sure.




That was going well but the contrast in clay colors was starting to throw me off. I was having a hard time telling where the lumps and bumps were and feeling him up wasn't doing me much good. So I gave him a quick coat of primer just to make everything the same color.



Now that things were starting to go my way, I decided to start making a head base while he dried. Mostly because I'm a glutton for punishment. My goal is to make a blank head shaped lump that I can cast and use it as a base to sculpt as many different faces as I want. So this version will never have a face.

Continued below!~

 

This is how the head started out.


I got the sides filled out to meet the lines of my drawing but the back of his head was still flat. It reminded me of a potato. Next was to fill out going in the opposite direction.


Closer, but still not complete. It got sanded, poked and prodded last night but its still not done. I still need to add a ring of fresh clay around the neck hole so it'll hold on better.

But in the meantime I started the arms!


I have horrible problems with symmetry and tend to get carried away with shaping. As a result I can't make the limbs match for the life of me. The previous two times I've tried to sculpt a doll I never got past making the head and torso because of it. So this time my plan is to make one simple universal limb and cast two of them....Obviously I decided to do this AFTER I spent the time making two arms.


Here's the winning arm after adding more clay, shaping and sanding.


I just love it when things go according to plan. Perfect.



And now that brings us up to date! I'll update this thread again probably tomorrow. Hopefully with legs and possibly hands.

If anyone has any tips, tricks or critique I'd love to hear it!

 

Guess who got hands today!




Here's all the progress so far


More tomorrow hopefully.

As always I welcome and tips, tricks or critique if you have it.

 

Thank you! I'm kind of worried that the hands might look too much like Mickey Mouse gloves...But at the same time I'm wanting to do thick hardy limbs/appendages. I dunno. I'm thinking of narrowing down the top finger joint at least.

 

Actually, speaking of legs and feet, he's got some of those now! As usual symmetry just kills me. So like the arm, I'm making one universal leg to cast two of them. I still need to beef up the thigh a bit but here's what I got done last night at least.


The leg started off as a plain tube just like the arm and the detaily bits were added on after.



He also got feets!


Those toe blobs were made to be a reference point. They got chopped off after I decided I wanted to do individual toes.


In the end I decided to only do an individual big toe and carved the rest out of a wedge. They still need refining to look less like something suited for a troll under a bridge.


This morning I "put together" everything I have done so far and decided that the feet are nice, but a bit too small for this chunky type look I'm going for. So I added on another layer of clay. Now he looks like he stepped on a bee. Twice. And yet I don't hate it. (I also added to the hands a bit and fixed the fingers I broke whilst holding them in a death grip. Oops!


And finally since I made the ankle balls larger, I needed to carve out the leg to fit the new size.



So there's today's progress. Tomorrow I plan to work on the head a little bit, fix the neck and add some ears. I welcome any tips, tricks, critique or comments you may have. Everyone here is so nice. I've enjoyed talking with people!

 

Today Two Step got his head all fixed up!

So this is where I left off the last time I messed with his head. Kinda messy. (And by kinda I mean LOTS)


Rather than sit and sand for hours I decided to just lay down a whole new layer. Doing that would not only give me an even surface to work on, but it would also add some depth to his head which was still kind of flat front-back wise. So I rolled out a slab and laid it on, then trimmed it with a pair of scissors.



Here's what I was left with



His head is now too big for his body, but that's ok. I can fix it. I plan to make a mold, cast, and fire just his head. That will shrink it a bit and then I can RE-cast it at its smaller size. Of course having the arms "plugged in" helps to widen his shoulders a bit. It doesn't look too bad, but its just a smidge bigger than what I had planned for.


Next he got the rough start of some ears! Except I put them on too far back so I had to Van Gogh them and move them up. This picture is after I'd already sliced it off and moved it, but before it got smoothed down.


More of the earses


Finally here's a picture of everything I have done so far. (And I just noticed this picture doesn't show his updated foot) Tonight I'll be putting primer on everything- if only so I can see the lumps and bumps easier.


Tomorrow I'll be going over the body with sandpaper again, as well as fixing up his leg a bit. Tips, tricks, critique and comments are always welcome.

 

Two Step's body got smoothed a little more today. It's looking much better. Wednesday I'll fix up the chipping on his back chest piece too.


I also got to work fixing up his leg. Previously he could only sit up at about a 45 degree angle thanks to his thigh getting in the way of his hip joint. I spent quite a while trying to decide how I wanted to fix that issue. I would either have to cut into his leg or his torso. In the end the leg won. After seeing another doll on here I was inspired to try cutting out just a simple half circle that would blend in with his thigh while at the same time NOT blending in. Here's how that started. The line drawn on is where I cut to.


Ta-daaaa! Look who can sit up now!


Next everything got a fresh coat of primer. This is the first time I've seen everything all put together looking like it matches. It's exciting! You can also see his newly plumped up thigh, complete with sitty-uppy cut out. Wednesday I'll even out the sides of his thigh so that they taper to the same point. It's not as noticable in person, hence why it got primer'd before being fixed.


Obligatory artsy-fartsy photo. This is the box that Two Step's parts live in when I'm not working on them.



Tomorrow I probably won't be doing anything with him. Not only am I out of clay, but the primer ran out too. Wednesday I'll be re-stocking as well as picking up some plaster and plasticine oil clay to prepare for a test run with casting. However the primer isn't the only thing that ran out. So I'll have to wait until I have money again to buy the composition slip I plan to cast with. But I can at least start the first round of molds.

As soon as all that's done I'll be back with plenty more pictures.