Props Making a fantasy art doll for my crew

Hey everyone,

Its been a while since I last posted anything, so I figured I'd share my process of making an art doll for my bjds to ride. I thought I should put all the fantasizing about all the amazing photography I would take to an end and make it a reality.
The idea for this creature is originally based on the Dolyak from Guildwars 2, but now is something in between that, Yaks and Bisons. I also have set a small challenge to only use things I already have at home and use up some stuff this way.

I have already started to sculpt the head and hooves as well as make the armature


For the armature I am using an old cable that I cannot use and a small tripod that was lying around. The cable armature idea is loosely based on this post:
/threads/making-a-horse-any-size-possible.807104/
The cable I have is a bit too soft, so I attempted to wrap it in tape and wire to make it a bit more stable, but had to add chopsticks to seal the deal haha.

I did a quick test and started wrapping some fabric scraps that I've been collecting for this project to see how my armature would hold up my dolls plus seeing whether I got the sizing right.
The legs will be a bit longer when I add the hooves.

To hold up the head I glued a pair of chopsticks inside.
I'm only a bit worried about the weight and how it will hold up, but I guess I can just find a weight somewhere to but on the back to balance it out?

The next steps will be to:

add the hooves
Finish the armature and make it stable
Add fabrics raps to build the body shape
️Stuff it to make the outside a bit softer
Drape a pattern for the fur
Paint the hooves and head
Dye the fur brown (cuz I only have white) and sew it on
Make a saddle, harness, some bags and accessories to finish the whole doll

 

Thank you so much I'd love to see what you made and will update

 

Thank you

 

I found my concept sketches for this creature. I've been planning to make him since last year. I thought I'd give some background on how I came up with this.
I always wanted a riding animal for my dolls, but was very hesitant about horses. On one hand I'm not really into horses personally (and am a bit intimidated by sculpting horse heads too) and on the other hand I wasn't sure whether a horse would fit in my worlds fantasy setting as well. Quite a bit of the early inspo for my characters and their world stems from Guild wars 2, so their Dolyak also inspired me on this one. I didn't want to copy 1 to 1 though so I picked the details I liked most.
Now this creature (still needs a name) makes me think of wide flat grasslands but also mountains, busy town squares pulling merchants' carts and working on the field alongside farmers.

 

The next step was to somehow mount the head on the body. I tied the chopsticks on with a ribbon and for a bit more stability used a cable protector. I was a bit worried how stable this would be and how well it could support the heads weight, but so far it seems rather stable.

Now it was about getting the basic shape of the body right by tieing on some old fabric scraps.

Here's also a size comparison to my tallest and smaller Msd. I think it looks about right. What do you think?
Also had to sit them all on it to see how much the armature could support.

And the result was pretty good! I don't think I'll ever put them all on my creature at once, this made me happy. I've attempted riding creatures in the past, but they all failed due to the armature being too weak to hold up even one doll.
Some stuffing later the shape starts to resemble my sketches.

Still needs more on the front, but I'm thinking whether to put on the hooves first?
The one thing I can say for sure now is that it's already pretty heavy and it's only half way at most done xD but well, irl these animals aren't light as feathers either, right?

 

Thank you so much^^

 

Thank you so much^^ it means a lot

 

Aww thank you so much^^ your comment is really touching and I appreciate the kind words a lot I am also so glad you like my creature
I did try to make as lightweight as possible, but now it's of course only gonna be heavier, but hey, it can carry my crew and that's what counts huh xD also if I do photoshoots outside ... Someday... In the future... Wind cannot blow it over easily.
Thanks again for your sweet words. These really motivate me to keep going