Time to share this with the world... *BIG GULP!* I've been working on my own OOAK BJD artist doll. Urban & Eden is a concept I came up with in 2012 but could never make part of my collection to my satisfaction using existing dolls. I finally realized I wanted to make the doll that I couldn't find the way I wanted. It is a child of larger MSD size (comparable in measurements to Dollstown 7year and Kaye Wiggs) with a head proportion that works with the dolls I have (Dollstown Elf Soyu and SD Elfdoll Soah specifically). It has no specific gender and can be boy or girl - Urban or Eden as I'm calling them. The style of the sculpt is on the realistic side but not 100% true to life scale. Here you can see Eden in progress with some of my dolls... Here is the doll as "Urban" (a boy)... I am happy to share many of the photos I took thus far showing the making of my doll. Although I am far from finished and there were even more photos not shown of rejected attempts (particularly of the knees - argh!), I think you will enjoy seeing my process. Link to gallery of Making of Urban & Eden: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21831999@N02/sets/72157641076708483/detail/ I would love to hear comments on my doll although I admit this is a very scary step in the process! *sweat*
Absolutely lovely! I love Urban and Eden's face and expression. I looked at your gallery on flickr and was just amazed and inspired. It is so nice for a beginner to see the doll-making process in steps as your photos showed. Is your doll now almost finished? What kind of paper clay did you use and will you use a final coat of something on the surface or did you already? I assume you have made a lot of BJDs before Urban and Eden? Please keep posting your progress.
I'm glad you enjoyed the photos! I actually have a long way to go still. LOTS of sanding and a bit of reshaping in areas I think. I also have to smooth some of the inner parts of the joints and fix the headcap. Once that is complete I will apply Mr. Surfacer resin prep and then sand and repeat as needed. I used a combination of Creative Paperclay (which is air dry) and Polyform Sculpey Ultra Light Polymer Clay (which is oven bake) and a little Testors Contour Putty as needed. This is my first attempt at making a BJD but I did redo a lot of the parts and I don't show the nearly 100 photos of rejected work. I hope people are inspired seeing my photos but also know that I'm just a beginner and I'm sure there are better ways to do what I've done.
The second and third photos of Eden literally made me gasp. Beautiful! That adorable child's tummy is perfect.
Thank you! I LOVED doing the tummy!! Last night I made more adjustments - reductions in the chest, bottom and uppser shoulder blade areas... I love the profile more now. Before kind of looked too buff. Reduced bottom by Forever Virginia, on Flickr
added more photos! The smoothing process is taking FOREVER, but I really hope to start making molds soon. I also still need to put the places for the magnets in the head. See all the photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21831999@N02/sets/72157641076708483/detail/
I love it when artists sign in the head! It's a small thing, but it makes the hand of the original artist feel "closer" to me. I guess it's the feel of painting on a blank canvas on my own or creative a cooperative project with another artist.
I just uploaded a bunch of new photos showing the progress I've made on my artist doll, Eden. I'm just starting the casting process, still making molds in fact. It's a slow process but VERY exciting! Click here to see photos >> http://www.flickr.com/photos/21831999@N02/sets/72157641076708483/detail/
Oh she' so sweet! Lovely expression and such a cute body too :3 it's very cool to see all your progress photos and casting work on the flickr as well, thanks for sharing all that!
