Lena Lae's Dolls

[Lena_x]

Well basically I've been looking over other people's dolls and things since I joined, and even before that. I've made a few but they were horrible. So today I was looking at tutorials for things and I decided to try it again. I made one and I think it turned out great. Basically I'm gonna keep trying and making more, I love criticism (please be nice about it though) and ideas are good too.
Oh, and the photobucket account I use isn't mine, its my cuz's, so yeah

This is my first:
Basically my inspiration was this dress I got for my cousin's homecoming dance.
Hope you like it. I think it turned out great.
Oh, and I made that signature today too. Is it too big?

And I'm not exactly sure where I got the base, I got it months ago. Anyone know?

[TheHayleyDoll]

It's Spirit_Queen's base. xD

I think it's pretty. ^^ Kinda pillow-y, but black is a hard colour to work with.

[savanna214]

wow i think its rly pretty =D
but i think the hair need a lil more shading =\

[Lena_x]

Thanks for the base info, Hayley. I'll find the link tomorrow and edit it in.
Black is pretty hard, my dress was black and purple with glitter but its kinda hard to do glitter on such a small base.
With the hair, it's shaded and I'll probably do a different color (my hair's actually brown but I wanted to see how blond worked out) and if you look closer its shaded kinda well, but any suggestions on how to shade better?
And how do I shade like, the straps and the ribbon along the waist?
Hmm, what else? I think thats it, thanks guys. I can't draw pants or shirts worth crap so I think I'll start to posting dress ones up for now haha
but any suggestions on bases or things to do next?

[TheHayleyDoll]

You can always enter the handdrawn contest. ^_^

I'm sure either a link to her thread or just her name would be find considering she's a user on the site and people know who you mean. xD

It's hard to shade hair on small bases. Next time, try highlighting in "V, Y, or H" shapes.

[Lena_x]

Ok :)
I think I'll use this base again, it was pretty easy to shade on.
And I couldn't figure out how to save the doll, when I did it changed it in a way and it got rid of some of the shading.
And V,Y,and H shapes. Thanks. :)

[TheHayleyDoll]

Do you use MS Paint? If so, it should automatically change in BMP. I keep it like that, then use iaza: Free Online Image Conversion - Simple & Easy Converter (Images, Graphics, Avatars, Anime ...) and "add transparency". It makes the background transparent as well as converting it to .GIF. Going through that process shouldn't get rid of any shading. And make sure to use contrast to your advantage, too. The contrast on the dress is okay, but the hair shading almost blends together because there's only a subtle difference in colour.

[Lena_x]

The palette for the hair is from xandorra's dolls (is that how you spell it?) anyways, there wasn't much difference in the colors on the palette either, so I'll make sure to find a different one next time.

And I actually use animation shop, don't ask me why, but I find it A LOT simpler than paint or paint shop pro.

[TheHayleyDoll]

Paint is uber simple. So simple, that some dollers don't like it because they feel like they need more then the tools MS Paint provides.


I don't use tutorials. I just make mine as I go. I'm hoping on making some official ones that I can send out for other people to use soon.

[WHiTELOvEx]

I Agree with Hayley, but you should look at least 1 tutorial for an idea. I didn't you know you were supposed to shade before filling 'till now xD I would use paint, but when i doll, sometimes the base is "Index color" >.>