Blooming Kalla and then something else

Kalla work-in-progress 26

I've desaturated the images and used brightness/contrast with a heavy hand to make the details show up. I also used a dark backdrop this time, so that the chalky white head won't be drowned in the white background. But yeah, here you see my current progress with Kalla.


Kalla work-in-progress 27

As you might notice, I have added creases to the upper eyelids and added volume to the brow and the bridge of the nose, so that the face isn't too flat.

Kalla work-in-progress 25

The profile has remained the same though. You can also see the ears I have been working on for a couple of evenings. I was actually quite happy about them. But now I see that they are way too far back =_= At least I think so... Or they might be too high. I dunno, something just seems off and I can't put my finger on it. I have never been too good with drawing anatomically correct ears as it is, so making them in 3D wasn't that easy. I already took liberties with the actual construction on the pretence of "let's make them elf ears so I can get away with anything" but I don't think I can actually use that as a Multi-Pass XD

Kalla work-in-progress 24

Yeah and I'm too lazy to actually chop the ears off and just do them again... So this might actually be the breaking point of this work-in-progress. It was a far shot thinking I would ever cast this in resin anyway and now it just seems too much trouble for something I'm not 100% happy with. I mean, besides the ear-issue, there is still tons of work to be done with just the front side. Priming and sanding to make the surface really smooth as there are now scratches everywhere.

Kalla work-in-progress 23

And although I did start to smooth out the insides, it is just really the boring side of doll making. Making the whole thing smooth, mmaking sure the edges aren't too thick so that it wouldn't take up too muhc resin if it comes to casting, making eyewells, making the place for S-hook, making the headcap... Bleh!

Kalla work-in-progress 22

The lips would also still need work. I did figure out how to make the upper lip seem fuller (when actually all I have done is sand it off XD), but I'm not 100% happy with the corners yet. Also, needs a lot of careful sanding to make them smooth.

Kalla work-in-progress 21

Here you can see how the lips are currently lopsided. It's really important to take pictures of the progress, since this doesn't actually shop up that well irl, but is evident from the larger pictures. Also the parting of the lips needs to be deeper. I might need to really carve out the lower lip, to make it separate from the top part. Currently the lips remind me too much of Little Monice Little Harmony Irin's lips, which I thought were kinda meh.

Kalla work-in-progress 28

And here you can see better how the lips just seem like they are slapped on. I really want to make them more 'fluent'.

But yeah, I'm starting to lose the inspiration to continue the work on Kalla. Partly because I tend to have a short attention span on anything artistic (my drawings/paintings need to be pretty much done on one go or I'll just never go back to them), but partly because I already have new sculpting ideas I want to just go ahead and start XD

This one needs a bit of backstory, bear with me.

I have fallen for Enaibi's dolls, namely Satyne, years ago. But given the nature of acquiring one it is impossible for me to ever actually own one. But I kept dreaming of one. I have actually kept a few of my MSD sized items (the cutest pastely things left over from Manna) 'just in case'. Of course, Satyne having those incredibly wide hips of hers, the clothes most probably wouldn't even fit her despite her being roughly MSD height. And I loved Enaibi's new Airelle and Carmalyne dolls, but both of them are just an off size for me.

I had wanted a dream-Satyne in tan, but mainly because of my desire to have that one tan doll. A few months ago I started thinking that the colour of the Satyne wouldn't actually even matter that much. I could take her in WS, or even in mint! And now I have this image of a light mint coloured doll dressed in those white/pink pastel clothes I have in store. And once I started to sculpt Kalla, I started thinking about maybe making my own doll that could wear those clothes.

I wanted the doll to be closer to Yo-SD than MSD in height, maybe 35cm tops. I think Unoa Chibis are about that height? I had some brainstorming and came up with a body, that could be strung with regular Yo-SD heads (so same neck size than Soom TG or Littlefee), have wide enough hips to wear some MSD skirts/bloomers and then wide ankles and a shoe size (boots won't be an option of course) of maybe an MSD? After a bit of scetching, this is the result:

chibilook_scetch

I tried a few different options with the leg shapes, including a more traditional narrow ankle but I just didn't manage to make them look at all cute. This wide ankle look on the other hand makes it more 'chibi' for me or maybe some troll critter of some sort? I mean, I want it in mint, it doesn't matter if it looks that natural XD The actual scetch is made in irl porpotions and I have actually measured my MSD clothes on it to make sure that they'd fit on this one :P

I was actually thinking of maybe making an option feet part, which would consist of a 'foot' and a shoe part, to solve the issue of not finding any shoes for this doll. I could then make 'socks' that have a hole at the bottom for the S-hook to go through and the sock would neatly go inside the shoe.

Now my problem is: it is heavily inspired by Enaibi's work. I won't go denying that since her dolls are what floated in my head when I started even thinking about this. Even the head that I was thinking of sculpting for this is a sort of a mix between Satyne and Carmalyne. None of it will actually be copied. Firstly I don't even own any of her dolls, neither have I actually held any of them yet, just seen them live at LDoll a few years back. Secondly this will be in size that she hasn't made, at least I think from the measurements Enaibi's given for her dolls. The head would be 7-8 size head (Ha! I could have a user for that MSD sized lollipop wig :P) whereas Satyne is more of an SD-size (from what I remember) and Carmalyne is a teeny tiny thing. Thirdly, all of the inspiration dolls (Satyne, Airelle and Carmalyne) all have more anthro details, hairs and spikes at the joints or such.

But I'm actually too scared of even thinking of offering this for anyone else with all the 'copyyyy!' outbirks going on. So it would be pretty much insane to make this doll prototype, then setting up the casting just to make one doll out of it. I mean, I haven't even ever tried casting and from what I've heard it isn't that simple and you'll end up with a lot of junk casts just trying it out. And all of it is costly. I might be better off just trying to get that Enaibi doll with the money XD

But then I thought that hey, if I'm really going to need just one, the one for me... Why wouldn't I make that one out of Fimo/Sculpey? They already come in colours so I could make that mint coloured one from the start! Or even some funny two-toned one :P But I dunno if a fimo doll would still need priming which would make the colouring moot. Or if they can just be sanded smooth... Now this would be hard work anyway, making all the different bits, making them symmetrical, figuring out the engineering etc. But hey, what else do I have on my plate currently to keep be from not going utterly bored?

Kommentit

  1. Aw, sad to hear you won't be continuing with Kalla? I was looking forward to seeing her completed. :) About the ears, yes they seem to be a bit too far back and maybe a tad too high. When drawing/sculpting a human face it helps to draw two lines, one from the upper corner of the eye and one from the tip of the nose and place the ear inside those lines. That way you can figure the general place where the ear should go more easily.
    Also, it would look better already if you'd just move the ear a little forward and attach it in line with the jaw. Ah it's hard to explain in words, would be better to draw the lines on the picture. The general shape of the ears looks fine, though, and they look symmetrical so it's all good. :3
    The ears seem to be tricky to professional doll-sculptors as well so I wouldn't be discouraged by it. On a lot of the doll sculpts I've seen the ears are the weakest part and because they tend to be hidden beneath a wig it might be that most sculptors don't pay too much attention to them...?

    Sculpting a doll with Fimo would be great! I've seen some amazing animal BJDs done with Fimo. About the copycat-issue... are there really people who would accuse someone of making a doll inspired by someone's work? As long as it is not a recast, but an original work I think it should be fine, as long as it is not an exact copy. I think that the kind of body shape with wide hips and a small waist that you've drawn is common in European artist dolls generally, not just to Enaibi.
    Seems like an ambitious, but a fun project that could result in something amazing! :)

    VastaaPoista
  2. Oh about handling Fimo... I think you can sand it when it's baked? It's been ages since I've done anything with Fimo and there are a lot of new varieties nowadays,not just the "original" one! Ah, all this talk about sculpting and different clays makes my fingers itch to do some sculpting myself too! X'D

    VastaaPoista
  3. Yeah the thing with the ears is that I would still have to saw the current ones off and then either try to reattach them somehow, or just make new ones... Currently it just seems like too much of a hurdle :(

    And about the copy issue: Leeke Mikhaila, FL Steampunk accessories, the Dearmine cat-ears... True, some hobbyists can see the difference between influence and exact copying, but there are enough people outbirking about all of these to make it too stressful to try to fight them. But it would be a fun project to try out, even if just for myself.

    VastaaPoista
  4. Yeah there's a whole range of Fimo/Sculpey out there and I really need to read up on them before committing to a certain product. Because I need certain qualities (able to sand without discolouring, not too soft so it won't scratch, hard and durable enough to withstand stringing) and don't want to be half done when noticing that the medium I chose doesn't have those.

    VastaaPoista
  5. Oh yeah, good point mentioning those. But if it's not a commercial project it might be more acceptable or what do you think?

    VastaaPoista
  6. Kalla is looking so good! but if you don't feel inspired you can always leave her like that, maybe someday you will finished.
    In any case it was an excelent start, I'm sure that if you keep up you would be making dolls in the future.
    If you feel your work is too heavily inspired by Enaibi (I love enaibi's dolls too!) you could make more sketches of the body until you find a style of your own, and then start the sculpting. Anything you end up doing I'm sure it will be awesome anyways

    VastaaPoista
  7. Thanks for the encouragement! Yeah I need to do more scetches anyway, of side and back angles at least. So I'll try to find something that I'll still find aesthetically pleasing but not too similar with the established European dolls.

    VastaaPoista
  8. That's why I think it might be ok to do a doll for myself, even if it is a heavily inspired concept. But to do a resin cast it would have to be somewhat pro/commercial, since to make back what I'd be spending on casting materials I'd have to sell them at some level. Unless of course I make sculpting a permanent hobby, and then getting the equipment would be more justifyible, financially speaking...

    VastaaPoista
  9. I also think that Kalla is looking really nice! I love her profile. But as people already said, you need to finish her only if you feel inspired to do so.
    I hope you can get an Enaibi doll someday! And as Fantasywoods say, maybe you can continue sketching the body until you find your own style.

    VastaaPoista
  10. Thanks! I think I'll leave Kalla to be for now, maybe I'll come back to it some day. But now I will do more scetches of that chibi-doll :)

    VastaaPoista
  11. And I'm terribly late. :DDD I thought I commented this one already, apparently not. <.<;

    Kalla looks great! I think her chin arches nicely, nose is cute and I really love how she looks on the angle in 5 picture. :3 I think right side of her face look a bit slimmer than left side, but that might be just the shadows, I'm no sure. And I'm no expert, but as much as I have seen pics from dolls people have done themselves, I think Kalla looks much better than most people's first tries! x3 Shame that you ain't continuing her, but I agree too, it's no good to try to do something creative without no inspiration!

    But as for idea of the lil'thing, that sounds cute! x3 I wanna see more drawings~ Keep it up!

    VastaaPoista
  12. I think the slimness variation is due to shadows, since I can't see it myself. But Kalla isn't actually my very first attempt at sculpting a head... The first attempt years ago didn't get past being an unidentifiable blob of paper mass XD I didn't do any facial structure as the mass got too wet to sculpt and then while waiting for it to dry I lost interest and months later finally tossed the thing to the bin.

    The little thing (I'm thinking of calling it maybe a sprite body?) has gotten more scetches. I'm liking the body scetches more now, it is a bit taller now (after showing it to Valentine who outright said it looked like some sort of disfiguration with the torso being so short). Nowadays I'm getting more Unoa Chibi vibes from the scetches...

    VastaaPoista

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