Discussion The Joint: BJD-making discussion

Thanks so much everyone! I think I will start with polymer clay, since my sculpting would probably be fairly small (and I know I can get it at my local craft store).

Also, I've been thinking about how I'd make the headcap and eveything, and I'm wondering: do you guys who sculpt tend to do everything on a core and then cut the headcap off later? Or leave a space and sculpt the headcap by itself? If you do the former, how do you even get the core out?

...I'm realizing I have no idea how to do this, haha...

 

@KiyoshiSenshi When you make any part with a core, you have to either leave an opening to pull the core out, or cut the part open to pull it out.
In terms of a head, the easiest thing to do would be to cut the line for the headcap before baking, then pop it off and remove the core after baking.
With polymer clay, just make sure you use a core that will bake okay! I tend to use tinfoil or paper towels, and wrap them in masking tape to make the core smoother. A smooth core will pull away from the clay easier, with minimal fuss and chipping of the clay. Do NOT use any kind of styrofoam! It will melt and make toxic fumes when you bake the clay. (Many paperclay users use foam, because the clay air dries with no heat needed.)

 

What @Miss_Pygmalion says. With paperclay, you can cut through it after it's dry, but it's easier if you score it while wet.

 

@KiyoshiSenshi I am currently trying this approach. It is working for me well enough so far with the baking part and is the easiest way for me to understand the whole process. I just thought I would share.
Molding and Casting A Doll Head

 

Oh man... I've been in this hobby too long lol. I actually remember when participants of that workshop originally were posting their stuff.

 

@Miss_Pygmalion I'd always wished something like it could happen again. But I know a lot of work has to go into making something like that happen.

 

i have been thinking about tips when sculpting and here is one! (that took me YEARS to figure out ;;; ) if your sculpting in a soft clay put that head on a stick or you will inevitably crush/shift/deform a prat of it while working on another section, it improved my symmetry like you would not believe!

 

Yeah, I can't imagine the logistics of planning that. 1) Finding a venue or event that will even ALLOW the kind of equipment and chemicals for baking, molding, and casting. 2) Having enough interested participants commit to the workshop ahead of time to make it worth it to invest in all the materials necessary. 3) Any host of said event would most likely be an experienced doll artist or studio, and anyone like that already has enough to occupy their time with their craft without adding such a big undertaking to their to-do list.

As much as I would LOVE to attend something like that, I don't think I could justify the cost. I don't spend money on travel unless absolutely necessary, so unless it's an event in my area, I most likely wouldn't go.

 

Hello hello! I've been lurking in the thread for a while and finally decided to post. I've been working on a 1.5 faced anthropomorphic cat head for a little while now.

The top row is after the first time baking and the bottom row is after the second. As you can see I ran out of the blue clay and had to switch to tan. Though I'm almost out of tan too so next up is white.

I've also sketched up some blueprints for the body. Still need to figure out what kind of joints I want.

 

@SarahJK It looks great. For a cat creature the mixed coloring will probably work really well.

 

So I actually started sculpting today! It was quite the experience. I actually really enjoyed it~ Very relaxing. I think I may have messed stuff up by not starting with eye holes and a neck hole? Are those things you can cut out later? It's a learning process. (Some sculpting tools would definitely help... I had my fingernails and a mini wooden chopstick.)

Also, does anyone have any tips for sculpting lips? The character I'm working on is older, and I'm having trouble getting a bit of projection while keeping the thinner -lipped look that some older people have. Any advice would be super useful!

 

I think youtube is the best place for you to find tips on sculpting lips. Sculpting is one of those things that is almost impossible to teach and explain without images.

 

I wanted to have a try at sculpting a tiny head (my other sculpts are 1/3), so I started this project a couple of days ago. A smily 1/6 guy for a mature body. I had a small amount of Miliput Terracotty left and wanted to do something useful with it.

Process on Sunday
Happy 1:6 guy by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

Almost finished head.
Almost there by Evie ex Machina, on Flickr

 

Love the textured hair, Evie! I've never seen that done.

 

I actually only sculpted the hair because I had some leftover clay that started curing. A bit of texture might even help holding a wig in place.
I think Soom once had a mold with textured hair - Lupin?

 

Why is everyone so good at this? xD I started my first doll and shes not nearly as beautiful as all of you guys's!

 

@stormi don't give up, try to make them more, and try to folow some tutorials, you don't need to start from zero when we have good people to share their knowlage with free tutorials. I am keeping my first made head for reference how I improve and it always make me happy and proud.

 

Aw that's really sweet thank you so much yeah lol I need to watch tutorials haha Aw that's such a good idea about keeping your first head! I love that thank you for your encouragement!!

 

@stormi Most of the people here have several years of sculpting experience, and I bet they all struggled with their first head, too. Well, I'm still struggling with every sculpt …
Just keep working, you'll get there!

 

Idk why DOA stops pinging me with thread updates after a while. There's so many nice new sculpts up :0c

 

@BoneLace That happened to me too! I don't know why.

I started sculpting a pair of heads yesterday with premier. It's slow going waiting for it to dry. I'm wondering if a hair dryer might help speed things up a bit.

 

Aw thank you so much I really appreciate the encouragement by the way I LOVE your doll Nandi! did you make him?

 

Oh!! Are you new to sculpting too?
I just started and it's been a great experience so far

 

Yeah!!! Oh my gosh I've seen your 3D printed doll and he's beeaaauutiful!!!! Do you do traditional sculpting too?

 

Lmao oh man. I sculpted one (1) time traditionally and ended up with a clay potato haha. Traditional sculpting is seriously tough and I admire people who can do it lmao

 

@stormi I believe in you. I hope I can get to see some of your work some time. I'm pretty new to sculpting, too. I have a couple heads before this current one I am working on (which is my profile pic) but they are awful. I also keep them around for reference. They sit on my bookshelf.

 

Aw hahaha that's awesome xD I'm the complete opposite: I admire so much people who do it on the computer!! I tried it a few times and I suck at it so bad xD I want to get good at it though! I want to take a few 3D classes at my college :3
Btw what program do you use? And do you use a 3D mouse or a normal one or like a cintiq or something? :3 (sorry for all the questions haha I just want to learn )

 

I really appreciate that thank you so much!! Oh my gosh I I LOVE your sculpts they have so much character!! They're so cute and unique aww I'm glad you keep them around for encouragement I love it do you sculpt their bodies too?

 

Oh man if only I could take a class on it! Tbh the head I have sculpted is my second time sculpting and my first time trying a bjd head so it's been a wild ride!

I use sculptris! But lately I've been trying out a trial version of zbrush.
You can use either a mouse or a tablet and it's not much of a difference but I find a tablet is more comfortable for me I have an intuos pro
(Also it's fine to ask! That's what this thread is for )

 

Awesome!!! ok cool-- I got this 3D mouse for pretty cheap so I bought it and it's really cool! It's pretty easy to use it it takes a lot of getting used to
Aw do you not have a local university near you that you could take a class at?

 

Also thank you I appreciate your kindness!!

 

Oh whoa :0c I've never tried anything like that before. It sounds neat!

There probably are though! I just don't have cash to go take classes right now

 

It's pretty cool but idk what I'm doing haha I hope I can be half as good as you one day, your character looks amazing!!
Oh I understand yeah classes are expensive it's so dumb Dx I'm already a student so it's easier but yeah this hobby is not cheap that's for sure!! But I think it's awesome to design your own bjds cause then they can be specifically your own characters without compromise do you have characters?

 

@stormi Thank you so much! And I haven't sculpted a body yet but I plan to soon. I already have a little blue print.

 

No problem!!! aw awesome!!! oh cool!! What's it gunna look like? :3 I can't wait to see them all complete!!

 

oh goshhhhhhhh I bet you will! it's all about sticking with it and learning!

My sculpt is actually a character of mine! A fan character anyways haha. This boy actually. I have a lot of crappy old art of him so everything is like a year old lmao but i think sculpting him will help me refresh his design a bit! He has way too many limbs for his own good and it's gonna be ass to sculpt lmao

 

Hahaha no that's gunna be awesome xD Aw I wish he was an original character so you could sell him though D: But yeah that's gunna be super hard to sculpt but it's gunna be sooooo worth it!!! he's gunna look AMAZING!!! have you seen Souldoll's Shiva? :3 she has four arms too and I bet she'll be good to reference! It's gunna be awesome :3 I can't wait to see him finished!

 

Lmao given that the design is mine, I should be able to sell it just fine haha. The character doesn't look anything like this in the show so I should be alright. I'll be getting him casted and selling the extras so hopefully i'll break even on getting his head made in resin.

I have! I love her but I think I would prefer a diferent design for the 4 arm placement though! I'll have to see how they would need to be set up though haha. And possibly sketch it up first

 

Lol yeah true!
Sweet!!! oh cool! Yeah have your own 4-arm design that'd be so awesome! :333 yeah sketching it up first will help a lot I think! I can't wait to see him turn out

 

BoneLace your character design looks really cool! could you post pictures of your sculpting again? i am not sure where it was back in the thread lol >A>;;;

 

Oh sure! It's quite a few pages back by now so I'll just repost the images!
Here is his concept sketch from last December. I'm afraid all of his art has been embarrassingly old since I took a hiatus and got into looking at bjds.

Here are his current renderings!

Spoiler: Extra Angles

And humble beginnings for rendering the body:

Spoiler: Extra Angles

 

Oh my gosh, it's my swap newbie! I love seeing people out "in the wild" that I have corresponded with.
What is a 3D mouse, exactly? I've been using Sculptris as well, but I'm just using a normal mouse.

A 4-armed BJD will be awesome! Good luck with those joints, though.
You're the one who mentioned Sculptris having a problem with perspective, right? I just got my second 3D printed head today, and the problem is even worse this time. I'm wondering if ZBrush/ZBrush Core have the same issue.

 

Aw yay!!!!! Oldieeee!!!! a 3D mouse is kind of like a joystick to use in 3D scouting supposed to make it easier to navigate the 3D area
You've been rendering? Can we see your progress? (If you want to of course )

 

The one whose print I just got in the mail looks like this:


It's weird, though. On the print, her chin and jaw look huge, so I had to dig out an x-acto knife to cut them down. When I get a chance to prime the head (so it'll be gray and easier to see...white plastic messes with depth perception, apparently) I'll post pictures of it, too. Hopefully, I'll be happy enough with it to start designing the body

 

Wth why is everyone so good at this??? xD that looks AMAZING!! She's beautiful!! What program do you work with?

 

Thank you!! It's gonna be tough because he has floating arms and I have no idea what im gonna do for that >.>;;;;;;;

yeah I did! I recommend checking ur sculpt with as many different 3D viewing software as possible!
I've been messing with Zbrush trial version lately though and it's been confusing but kinda cool to work with :0c U need a lot of intro to zbrush videos to really get started unfortunately

Can you show the differences between the print and your sculpt though! I remmeber the last one but idk if ive seen the new one :0c

 

Don't feel bad. I tried sculpting heads in clay too, and I never thought I had fat fingers until I tried sculpting tiny lips on a BJD head I figure clay will be easier for the body, but for the heads? I'm finding digital way less frustrating, even considering the perspective issue. It might be more expensive, though. Each head is around $30 to print, vs. less than $10 for a package of clay, which is enough to make lots of heads.

I'm using Sculptris, which is a free program by the makers of ZBrush.

@BoneLace I just got the new print today, but unfortunately I was so eager to start cutting into the head to fix it that I didn't take any "before" pictures. I'm having to shave away at the jaw line and chin, though. It looks a lot bigger in person that it did on the computer. I'll take some pictures now before I do anything else to it, though.

 

Haha right?? The lips are a paaaiiinnnnn xD I tried to grow out my nails cause I love long nails but then I started sculpting I'm like NOPE lol-- I might try sculptris it sounds awesome!! My school has a 3D printer so I bet I could get it done there ah! I'm so excited for everyone's dolls!!

 

Does anyone have any tips for getting Premier clay to dry? My house is pretty cold and humid and the layer and details I started about 18 hours ago are still a little soft and wet. Would a hair dryer help?

 

Using a hair dryer would only work on the surface and you'd risk having cracks appearing, since the surface would dry too quickly while the inner layers are wet. Your best option would be to make yourself a drying oven. I've found this tutorial to make one using a UV light:

 

That's AMAYSIN', thank you!!!

 

BoneLace thanks for posting pictures again ! i am impressed with your 3D modeling; i tried it once and i was garbage at it (i got weird pits in unexpected places and seem to have glitched out the program and it would not fix it LOL orz) but if it's sculpting by hand i can make you a human (well mermaid) figure out of a half dried paint tube -__-;;;

 

@BoneLace I was suppose to answer your question on the differences between Sculptris and ZbrushCore, and sadly haven't gotten around to it. But there are a few overviews of Zbrush which might give you an idea, and here's one ZBrushCore is OUT! - ZBrush Guides.

 

i guess i will post my other ongoing project a mature 1/6th centaur, i have been at it for over 2 years ;;;; these aren't the freshest photos but i haven't really progressed much further so....
the human portion (i am making a human body as well) still unbaked

and the horse body! baked i am afraid it's probably too small now that i decided to make the human portion a more average 1/6th scale to make clothing less of a hell but i still think it turned out pretty neat! this is fresh out of the oven with almost no modifications to fix any of the wonkyness (more pose photos here Evening Dreams — x___X decided to bake the horse part of the... )


maybe i will make him a younger brother and use it for that xD (MORE PROJECTS NOOO)

 

The horse body looks AMAZING!!! so does your human part! That looks so cool I can't wait to see it finished!!

 

The Joint was very exclusive and wouldn't allow anyone who wasn't actively engaged in dollmaking to join, so I haven't been able to learn anything about dollmaking since it was severed from DoA. Will "lookie-lous" be allowed to access the forum when it is back here?
I apologize if this has already been asked and answered, but I couldn't manage reading 355 posts.

 

Dude no!! I'm seriously impressed with your centaur sculpt!! that horse body looks super good :0c Now I wanna try a lil weird owl monster in mini before i try out a full sized bjd 'cause starting w/ SD size seems a lil intimidating ngl.

Yours seriously looks really nice!

Nah I got the trial version of zbrush! So I'm messing around with it now and I'll probably be buying zbrush core when zbrush trial runs out in like a month and a half

 

stormi thank you! me too

kcurry9 i am not sure what your asking, is this your The joint user name? i believe they said they would be merging accounts (that have been somewhat active) for people and transferring threads and posts, sorry if that doesn't answer your question!

BoneLace thank you ;u;! i worked really hard on studying horse anatomy and used a lot of reference pictures (of major muscles and such) now i have learned some more so i see problems but it's more of a "this horse does not have great confirmation" vs "wow is that even a horse?" type of way so it's something lol i'd love to see you try and sculpt something like that i prefer sculpting in the smaller scale my self because it's easier to handle, to store and to see any errors you have made (the bigger the project the further back you have to step to see if you screwed up the proportions)

 

I think I may have asked that a few pages back. Do you feel that ZBrush (or ZBCore's) boolean and 3D printing features justify the extra cost, compared to free alternatives (such as 3D Builder or Blender)?

No idea. I avoided joining there for the same reason. I would imagine any DoA member would be welcome, otherwise there doesn't seem to be much point in merging the sites. You could try asking in Ask the Mods to find out for sure, though.

 

Yeah! I noticed omg and it really shows! It makes me feel like I should have tried to make a centaur haha.

I'll post some sketches or something if I ever get around to it!! I'm still primarily an artist so I tend to prioritize art over sculpting for now! It's been really hard balancing between painting, sculpting and just bjds in general

Where do you get the string for yours? :0c and how do you get the little bar used for like ankles and stuff?