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More Progress on my BJD sculpting project.

So, I’ve got the lips looking more natural now, and I brought down the nose a little and gave it some more shaping. I also started rounding out the cranium in the hopes that I can get wigs to fit better on her since her head shape was a little off. My only concern with rounding out the cranium is that her head is getting a bit larger and I worry that her head may be coming more MSD size and perhaps a bit too large for her body. I won’t really know until I get a chance to lay out the doll again though which won’t happen until after I get the last of my comic work done for the week (probably Sunday night or Monday). Still have a lot to do with this head, but I am still happy with the direction it is taking.

Shot this pic right before I had to clean up my drawing table. I made some joint progress, as you can see the torso joint is coming along and all the joints are in place for the whole left leg. The right leg still needs it’s knee and ankle joint fitted though. The hip joints are giving me grief of course, but I won’t mess with them too much more until I am able to get the legs strung so I can see the balance issues and make corrections. The right knee joint is going to be a bear though because the foam core got twisted so the leg walls are thick in places they shouldn’t be among other problems. XP Just writing about it makes me anxious to be able to get her back out and get to work on those leg joints. I really want to see if she will stand at all, and as soon as I test that it will give me insight into better hip joints.

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Artist BJD Progress

I’ve decided to return to my doll project after having been inspired by other artisans great looking dolls. So here is my progress on “Cookie” who is looking less to me like a Cookie the more I work on her, haha. Anyhow since this picture was taken I’ve made her upper lip a little less thin and have been endeavoring to make the lips look a little less pinched/pursed. I think I am on the right track, but I will see after I post this latest bit up for critique in a doll making forum I frequent.

I plan on adding the ears soon and then cutting off the headcap. Once I am able to do that I’ll be able to drill out the eye sockets and start fitting in some eyes and better forming the eye shape. I’m hoping she will take a 14mm or even a unoa size eye since I have plenty of that size lying around.

I also cut the legs at the ankle last night so now I will sculpt the feet and add the ball joint. I noticed too late that I cut the ankle straight through the joint area so I will need to trim off a few millimeters of the ankle. It’s not a critical error, but it is one that will require extra work down the road…sigh.

You may notice in the picture that I accidentally sanded down to my styrofoam core. I ended up making a patch on the inside of the leg so as to keep the outside shape. Styrofoam cores are a bit tricky to work with when you are dealing with a smaller doll as any thin areas of styrofoam are apt to break, which is exactly what happened in both of my ankles. This in turn caused a drifting of the core so they weren’t perfectly centered…thus a thin side. XP

That’s it on my progress for now. I’ll post again when I have any substantial changes.

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Cookie’s Progress – 1st Stage Face Sculpt

This is the first stage of sculpting cookie’s face. Obviously there is a lot more work that needs to be done, but the clay is just getting way too sticky at this point so I decided to give it a rest for the night. I’m going to let her air dry and sand and add more clay to her tomorrow. Hopefully she will come out looking as cute as my drawing. I think I’m on the right track, but boy, sculpting is hard work. :p

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More of Cookie’s Progress

I’ve added more clay and have done more modeling to Cookie’s torso. I think her torso is really starting to come along and by working on the torso first I think it is helping me get a feel for the La-Doll clay. I also started sanding and shaping the legs a little bit. The left leg can totally stand on it’s own, which was a happy moment for me, but her other leg cannot since I realized that somehow the foot got cocked in an odd direction, so I’m going to have a big repair job there. Pretty soon I’d like to find a ball form to get the hips joints done so I can better shape the hip joint sockets. I’d like to do as much as I can with the styrofoam core still in the body, because La-Doll is so light, it makes me fear that I might crush it when sanding if the core wasn’t in there. I’m probably being ridiculous though. Afterall Yoshida’s dolls are all OOAK BJDs made from La-Doll, and are not cast, so obviously they can hold up!

In a bit of other news, I got notification that my Dollmore Kid Sona shipped! Still waiting for the tracking number to work, but I am excited that she is on her way! 🙂

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Cookie’s Progress – Torso Shaping

I made some more progress on Cookie today. I’ve been sanding and carving into the base layer of clay, and I came up with a pretty good starting shape to add more clay to, to begin shaping out her bosom, behind and etc….. I had a sorta accident and ended up sanding into her foam core, but, because I plan on pretty much adding her bust anew with fresh clay, I am not too worried about it. After I carve out her foam core I can also add some extra clay on the inside to sure up any thin areas.

I haven’t begun working on her face yet….the head always seems so darned hard, and I’d like to get a better feel for the La-Doll clay before I work on something that has so many small details. I am going to have to put my Japanese classes to good use and actually try to read the sections on sculpting the face in the Yoshida book. I’m pretty sure I just need to get the right tools in order.