20–39cm Dolls Little Mono (update mar 20, 2020)

Saying hello to the future of doll sculpting …
I've been trying to keep things "traditional" when sculpting dolls, but with 3D printers getting more efficient and cheaper, I'm welcoming the future now.
I have worked with 3D software before, so the sculpting process feels pretty natural to me.
Here's my first project: A semi realistic model of my character Mono. He's one of the characters in my drawings, and his looks are not perfectly defined. He's a small boy with exotic/Asian features.

My first result. I ususally start from a cube (not a ball), subdivide it a couple of times and start sculpting once I have a basic geometry.
1 by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

Spoiler: More process pics

I referenced the geometry of the body from real children, but I'm concentrating on the head first.
3 by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

1 by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

5 by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

8 by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

12 by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

13 by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

I made a lot of subtle changes on the face after seeing the prints. Head looks longer irl, and the features need more emphasis.
15 by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

One of my test prints. This head is very tiny, like 3 cm in height. I'm surprised that you can actually sand the material without any problems.
My printer is very new and I need to experiment.
Test print by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

That's it for now. Thanks for watching.

 

Thank you! Ears have such an interesting shape, and I really love when a doll has nicely shaped ears. I might make these a bit bigger, they looked too small on my test print. Not sure if this body will be stable enough, though.

Thank you! His size is limited to what my printer can do, but he won't be as tiny as the test print in the photo. I planned about 30 cm.

 

I also consider myself oldschool, and I enjoy sculpting with real materials more than working with software. On the other hand, I am interested in eco materials, reducing waste and saving space … 3D printing quality has improved a lot in the last couple of years, even the budget printers for home-use offer reasonable results. I guess, there's still a lot to do on the printed prototypes. Depending on how small your model is, the details don't show up soo well …
I like the idea of making a smaller doll that can wear action figure sized clothes.

You're right, I only printed part of the ears on that prototype, but I have another with complete ears. It was probably orthographic view, but the ears do look bigger on the sculpt than on the print. And I love ears that stick out from the wig.

Thank you! I was looking for a tiny doll to shell my character, but I couldn't find a realistic child mold with features like that.

 

I'm currently working on his jointing. He has a neck joint and articulated shoulders. I printed some body parts in draft quality and at a smaller size (about 20 cm for the whole doll) to test if they are working. Had a lot of failed attempts printing the arms, I actually wanted to slice them differently for a better look …
Very small prints don't work so well, but a 30cm doll should be fine. (But I really like this super tiny size a lot.)

Drafting joints by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

Spoiler: More Mono

Drafting joints by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

Drafting joints by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

 

My draft boy is all printed for the moment - and he can pose! I didn't do much sanding on these parts, the residue from the support structures is quite stubborn, especially on the very tiny parts.
But the actual construction of the joints works. I have to make a some adjustments and then I'll get into the aesthetics …

@ElphieWhizan I think shoulder joints are pretty cool, and even well-known companies like Dollzone and Luts had them back in the day. But it seems the majority of collectors don't like too many joints, I also see the 3-part-torso constructions disappear more and more...

Pose by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr
Pose by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr
Pose by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

 

Thank you! I'm super happy I can hold my doll in my hands "already" … It's also great that those prints feel like a "real" toy and are quite durable. Gone are the days of messing up detailed sculpt due to fragile modelling clay …
I'm also super excited to print him full size. But there's still a lot of work to do in Blender first.

 

@ElphieWhizan Yes, I want to change the shape of some of the joints and I need to emphasize the details of the face even more.

I'm currently printing the full-sized parts, but I can't get the support structures off. I hurt my hand and can't do any manual work …

But what I've printed so far looks cool!

 

Involutary hiatus by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

Most of Little Mono's parts are printed, but I'm still wearing an orthosis and can't do much with my hand. Removing the support structures and cleaning my prints will have to wait … Can't work properly on my computer either. Argh, this is really frustrating.
Trying to make the most of it watching Blender tuts.