The Potbelly Pixie

Seriously...

... I need to stop dorking around with Photoshop and pretend, pretty playthings.

Here's a little slideshow I made. 

And now, I'm leaving the house, so as to recapture what a REAL (vs. fantasty dolly) life looks like for the day. :)~

Another digital faceup

It's not just goofin'... I'm practicing my pen & tablet skills.  Honest! :)~

Here's another digital faceup for my Nabi Kiss.  It's fascinating to me how different this doll looks, depending on hair, eye color, and makeup/face painting.  The skin color hasn't been adjusted AT ALL, nor have the features.

Ooh, she's here!

And now, I will squeak like a little girl.

My first ever ball jointed doll, Nabi Kiss by Garden Of Dolls, arrived today in all her naked glory.  She's a sculpt by an independent artist here in California, which made her affordable, plus I get to give some notice and a leg up to a fellow self-representing artist.  She's a great way to get my feet wet in the hobby.  If I love it, I'll move on to costuming and maybe even sculpting my own doll.  We'll see where it goes.

Here's my girl, unwrapped and (not) staring up at me.  She's roughly 16 inches, give or take, and has "normal" skin vs. tan or white skin.  I admit, I didn't actually measure her, and she's snugged back into her cushy yellow bag right now awaiting eyes and hair and clothes and a face, so that will come later.  I think the auction said she was 43 cm or thereabouts.  Basically her face is the size of an apricot, if that helps any with scale.

I've been collecting the appropriate materials to give her a face-up (which is BJD-speak for "face paint").  It's really important to use stuff that won't harm her resin!   I'm not quite ready to sit with her at my studio table (I have to work up the courage to unstring her, so I can get her head free of her body, to paint it), so I played around a little tonight in Photoshop, using the above photograph.  The first image is more western in its aesthetic; the second, more typically Asian Ball Jointed Doll (or ABJD, for short.)

I'll for sure be using a tibetan lamb wig; maybe I'll even make it myself.  Love those fluffy, hairy things.   I have in my head that she'll have light green eyes -- and lucky me, she came with green eyes in exactly the color I wanted!, although they're not GREAT eyes -- and dark hair, probably nearly black.  Not sure why I'm leaning that way. I just am. 

Still imagineering a theme/costume for her to wear...

BJD Whee!!!

So, a few cool things today.

First, my eagerly awaited copy of YOSHIDA STYLE: BALL JOINTED DOLL MAKING GUIDE arrived today from Japan.  Can't wait to dig into a good read of it.  It looks AWESOME!!

Second... After weeks of scouring every online and local resource I could find, I finally found a darling ball jointed doll (BJD) that felt just right to break me into the hobby.  She's *Nabi KISS* by GARDEN OF DOLLS and was on ebay; measures 16", so she's a good size; was reasonably priced; has "normal" skin (a natural skin tone, vs. "tanned" or "white" which are other popular colors), with lots of potential, no face-up (meaning it comes bare-faced and without paint or shading); was sculpted by a Californian (meaning she's unique); is made of resin (which is preferable to vinyl); and was positively beckoning to me.  So I bought her.  Whee!!!  My first BJD!!   I can now play in the dolly sandbox with the similarly afflicted.  I'll be conjuring ideas for her "look" and costuming over the next weeks.  Must... order... wig... eyes.  God knows, I loves me a good project I can sink my teeth into.  She'll be one, for sure.

Photo courtesy www.gardenofdolls.com

Third... if you have no idea what I'm blathering on about and would like to learn more about ball jointed dolls, check out this awesome site which explains so very much about ball jointed dolls, so well, all in one place --->  BJD - WTF. 

For those of you more visually inclined, why not get edumacated via the graphic-novel approach?!  Check out the comic book styled BJD Guide & FAQ, here.  It's fun to read and gives great insight into the "mindset" behind BJD's, their owners, and why they're such a fun and addictive collectible.